Years of founding of Russian football clubs. The oldest football clubs in Russia. If you have enough for Turkey, that’s already good

Which football club was the first to be founded in Russia? It seems that football statisticians, passionate football fans and ordinary fans have sometimes seriously asked this question, perhaps coming to different conclusions. This time we also studied this topic, identifying the three most worthy candidates.

"Kolomna" - founded in 1906 (108 years)

FC Kolomna from the city of the same name in the Moscow region, currently playing in the West zone of the second division of the PFL, is de facto the oldest existing professional and even amateur football club in Russia.

The history of Kolomna football began in 1906, when the first football team was created at the Struve brothers’ machine-building plant (hereinafter -) - KGO, “Kolomna Gymnastic Society”.

Even in the pre-revolutionary period, the team was admitted to the Moscow Football League (MFL) and the Football League of Dacha Clubs (FLDK). In 1911, the Kolomna Football League (KFL) appeared in the city.

And after the revolution, in 1923, the Kolomna team took part in the first USSR championship, held in Moscow as part of the first all-Union festival of physical culture. In it, the Kolomna team reached the semifinals, finding themselves among the four strongest teams in the country.

In the post-war years, Kolomna was first represented on the all-Union arena in 1948 by the Dzerzhinets team. The “locomotive builders” spent two seasons in the second group, taking ninth and tenth places respectively among 14 participants. Then “Dzerzhinets” played for 11 years only in the championships of the Moscow region and its society.

But in 1960, the team from the Avangard diesel locomotive plant returned to the all-Union level, where they spent eight seasons in class B (from 1960 to 1969 with a break in 1961/1962). The best performance result during this period was fourth place in 1964.

After the reform of the USSR football industry in 1970 (when class B was eliminated), the “diesel locomotive builders” lost their place in all-Union competitions. The team again started playing for the Moscow Region Championship in the top group, but soon dropped to the second.

At this time, the team of the Oka Heavy Machine Tool Plant (ZTS), founded in 1923, took leading positions in the city. Over the course of their history, the “machine tool builders” became five-time champions of the Moscow region and five-time winners of the Regional Cup.

In 1988, Oka became the winner of the zonal championship tournament of physical culture groups (KFC) and 20 years later returned big-time football to the city, debuting in the Second Union League in 1989.

And in 1990, a revival began. The confrontation between the two Kolomna teams led to the fact that in the first Russian championship in 1992, both clubs started in the same zone of the second league and finished next door (in eighth and ninth positions). In four more Russian championships, Kolomna was represented by both of these teams, and best result performances was Avangard's second place in the fourth zone in 1993.

Before the start of the 1997 season, the Kolomna municipal football club was created in Kolomna, which united Avangard and Oka. And before the start of the 1998 season, FC Kolomna teamed up with the Voskresensk team “Giant” - the 1997 Russian amateur champion.

Kolomna's last major achievement came in 1999, when it took second place in the Center zone of the second division. Then came the decline of the team: in 2000 - 12th place; in 2001 - penultimate 19th place (she was supposed to leave professional football, but by decision of the PFL she was left in the “Center” zone); in 2002 - 18th place out of 20 (the club lost its place in the second division and was forced to compete in the amateur championship).

The club spent 10 seasons in the third division, where the best result was sixth place (2008 and 2011/12) and reaching the final of the Moscow Region Cup (2011/12 and 2012). However, in 2012, in the Moscow Region LFL zone, Kolomna took first place in the one-round tournament and, due to sporting reasons, returned to the second division, where in the 2013/14 season in the West zone it took 13th place out of 17.

History of name changes: 1906-1919 - KGO (Kolomenskoye Gymnastics Society), 1919-1923 - Golutvinsk Sports and Physical Culture Club (Physical Culture Section), 1923-1936 - KFC (Physical Culture Circle), 1936-1942 - "Dzerzhinets", 1942-1945 - "Tractor" , 1945-1952 - Dzerzhinets, 1953-1993 - Avangard, 1993 - Victor-Avangard, 1994-1997 - Avangard-Kortek, since 1997 - FC Kolomna.

Highest achievements: third place in the USSR Championship (1923), 1/32 finals of the USSR Cup (1936), 1/2 finals of the RSFSR Cup (1990), second place in the second league/division zone (1993 and 1999), 1/16 finals of the Russian Cup (1992/93), winner of the Moscow Region amateur zone of the third division (2012), finalist of the Moscow Region Cup (2011/2012 and 2012).

"Chernomorets" Novorossiysk - founded 1907/1960 (107 years/54 years)

This is also one of the oldest Russian football clubs: it was originally founded in the port city in 1907, disbanded in 1917 and re-established in 1960. From then until 1978 he played in class B of the USSR championship, and until the collapse of the USSR he continued to play in the second league.

The main flowering of the club from the city of Novorossiysk began in the post-Soviet period. When the first Russian championship was formed, the team got the opportunity to play in the first league, where at the end of the second season it became the winner of the western zone, but was unable to enter the top three in the transition tournament.

In 1994, the Novorossiysk team again became victorious in the now unified first league and received the right to play in the elite of Russian football. Chernomorets played continuously in the top division until 2001. Twice he managed to get into the top six, which allowed the club to make its debut in European competition.

However, already in the first round of the 2001/02 Cup, the sailors lost both times to the Spanish Valencia (0:1 at home and 0:5 away). They also played unsuccessfully in the 2001 Russian Championship, finishing the season in 16th place.

The following year, Chernomorets again won the first division tournament, and in the 2003 season, it again failed to stay in the Premier League, but reached the final of the RFPL Cup. In 2005, after a difficult season in the first division, the club lost its professional license.

Renamed FC Novorossiysk, it played in the amateur league, where it won in the South zone, and then in the final tournament and rose to the South zone of the second division. Since then, the Novorossiysk team has not been able to get rid of the status of an elevator team.

So, in 2007, Chernomorets took first place there and returned to the first division, from where they dropped out again in 2009. In 2010, the club secured its return to the top ahead of schedule, and also won the PFL Cup among the winners of the second division zones. However, in the 2011/12 season he again failed to stay in the FNL.

In the off-season, the team was headed by the famous and most successful coach in its history, who managed to create a new team, which at the end of the 2012/13 season only by additional indicators (with equal points scored) lost the lead in the “South” zone to Nazran’s “Angusht”.

In the previous championship, 2013/14, Chernomorets remained in second place in the standings after Astrakhan Volgar. Well, this season the “sailors” are seen as the main favorites of the southern zone, divided into two groups after the inclusion of three Crimean clubs.

History of name changes: 1907-1930 - "Olympia", 1931-1941 - "Dynamo", 1945-1957 - "Builder", 1960-1969 and 1978-1991 - "Cement", 1970 - "Trud", 1992-1993 - "Gekris" , 1993-2004 and from 2006 - Chernomorets, 2005 - Novorossiysk.

Highest achievements: champion of the RSFSR (1988), winner of the RSFSR Cup (1988), winner of the zones of the second union league (1969, 1988 and 1989), 1/16 finals of the USSR Cup (1989/90 and 1991/92), sixth place in the major league/division (1997 and 2000), 1/4 finals of the Russian Cup (1993/94), finalist of the Premier League Cup (2003), 1/64 finals of the UEFA Cup (2001/02), winner of the first league (1993, in the western zone and 1994 ), second (2002, promotion to the top division) and third (1992, in the western zone) places in the first division/league, winner of the PFL Cup (2010), winner (2007 and 2010), second (2012/13 and 2013/14 ) and third (2006) place in the “South” zone of the second division, champion of the LFL and the “South” zone (2005).

“Banner of Labor” - founded in 1909 (105 years)

For many years, the team from the city of Orekhovo-Zuevo, Moscow Region, was officially considered the oldest football club in Russia, at least non-amateur.

The first football match took place in the city in 1888. According to researcher Vladimir Lizunov, this date is based on the memoirs of the director of the Morozov factory, the Englishman Harry Garsfield (Andrei Vasilyevich) Charnock, who invited foreign specialists who could play football to work in Russia.

And in 1909, on the initiative of the Charnock brothers, the workers of the Morozov manufactory officially created and registered the charter of the Orekhovo Sports Club (KSO), which is why the team later received the nickname “Morozovites”. Before the 1917 revolution, adult and children's football leagues were organized in Orekhov.

At the same time, KSO was the first and subsequently four-time winner of the Moscow Football League. In Soviet times, “Banner of Labor” flashed by the fact that in 1962 it reached the final of the USSR Cup, in which, however, it lost to Shakhtar Donetsk with a score of 0:2.

In the Russian championships, the team from Orekhovo-Zuev twice made it to the first league/division, but failed to gain a foothold there for more than one year. And after the 2003 season, the club lost its professional status for four years. In 2007, the team returned to the “Center” zone of the second division, and from the 2011/12 season began to compete in the “West” zone.

History of name changes: 1909-1935 - KSO (Sports Club "Orekhovo") "Morozovtsy", TsPKFK (Central Proletarian Club of Physical Culture), "Orekhovo-Zuevo", "Red Orekhovo", "Red Textile Worker", 1936-1937 - "Red Banner" , 1938-1945 - "Star", 1946-1957 - "Red Banner", 1958-1991 and from 2003 - "Banner of Labor", 1992 (until the 12th round) - "Sly Foxes", 1993-1996 - "Orekhovo" ", 1997-2002 - "Spartak-Orekhovo".

Highest achievements: champion of Moscow (1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913), finalist of the USSR Cup (1962), winner of the second league/division zone (1992 and 1998), winner of the third division (1996 and 2006 in the amateur zone “Moscow Region”).

Finally, it is worth adding that the oldest Moscow club is considered to be CSKA, which traces its history back to 1911, that is, the moment of the formation of the Society of Ski Amateurs (OLLS).

After 12 years, the society was reformatted into the Experimental Demonstration Site of Vsevobuch (OPPV), in 1928 the team became known as CDKA (Central House of the Red Army), in 1951 - CDSA (the same, but already Soviet), in 1957 - CSK MO (Central Sports Club), and finally, since 1960 - the Central Sports Club of the Army.

In St. Petersburg, the oldest football club remains Dynamo, founded in 1922 (by the way, a year earlier than Moscow), even despite several renamings (to “Trudovye Rezervy” in the 1950s or “Petrotrest” in the 2000s) or the disbandment of the team (in 1953, 1999, 2003 and 2010).

And, according to the official version of the club, it appeared only in 1925, and initially under the name “Stalinets” (then it defended the honor of the Metal Plant named after Stalin in the city of Leningrad), which it bore until 1940.

Other news, materials and statistics can be found at the Russian Football Championship.

Just a century ago, the now popular football was far from the most famous sport. At least in Russia, only at the beginning of the 20th century did it make its way, and, surprisingly, came to life both as a sport for the “highest circles” of society, and as entertainment for the proletarians - the so-called “wild” football.

You can learn about how different classes perceived football differently and how the British diaspora played it in Russia from Sergei Arkadyev’s book “Another Football is Possible.” VATNIKSTAN publishes an excerpt from his work, published last year by the Pulp Fiction publishing house.

“Kashnin showed football. Playing ball with your feet. We split into two camps. Each camp had a gate. There is a guard at the gate. The essence of the game is to get the ball into the opponent's goal. And do not touch the ball with your hands. But there is a great temptation to grab the ball, throw it and win! But this is impossible!”
(Newspaper “Responses of the Caucasus”, Armavir, No. 5, October 3, 1909)

Today we can only guess about when football was first played on the territory of modern Russia. The Russian Football Union uses October 24, 1897 as a starting point - the day when a match took place in St. Petersburg between the teams of the Vasileostrovsky Society of Football Players and the Circle of Sports Amateurs. The meeting came to the attention of the then press. What gave it a special twist was that the Vasileostrovsk team, which won with a score of 6–0, consisted entirely of British players, while the KLS (or simply “Sport”) also included Russians.

Overseas fun

Europeans, especially the British, played leading roles in Russian football in the next decade. In the first unofficial cup tournament in St. Petersburg, held in 1901, the English and Scottish teams fought in the final. In Moscow, the undefeated British Sports Club dominated. Its chairman was the director of the stearin plant in Lefortovo, Godfray, and only British subjects were accepted as participants, and there was no end to them. By 1910, the number of club members numbered as many as 180 people.

Young Russian capitalism needed energetic foreign managers. The posts of directors of newly opened enterprises were occupied by guests from Western Europe. Along with them came specialists, engineers, accountants, and office workers who served in the same enterprises and, after work, played the popular game of football in their homeland.

Match between the national teams of St. Petersburg and Stockholm. St. Petersburg, April-May 1913

They say that a certain magazine “Samokat” wrote about such games of colonists back in 1868. Nikolai Travkin in his “Anthology of Football of the Russian Empire” refers to the “Yearbook of the All-Russian Football Union for 1912,” which states that in 1878, matches were held in Odessa between the team of the Odessa British Athletic Club with teams of British ships, port employees and Romanian club Galati. In 1879, the “Charter and Rules of the English St. Petersburg Football Club” were published. Mentions of “respectable-looking” Englishmen playing football on the field near the V.Ya. machine-building plant. Gopper and Co,” found in the Moscow press for 1895. But all these were publications from the “their morals” series. English and German colonists lived separately in Russia, and therefore the game remained popular only in their circles.

The fourth, after Moscow, St. Petersburg and Odessa, the center of the origin of football in Russia was the village of Orekhovo and its surroundings (the territory of the modern city of Orekhovo-Zuevo), which at the end of the 19th century belonged to the Vladimir province. In a village with strong Old Believer traditions, manufactories of the Morozov family opened. The manager of the enterprises, the Englishman James Charnock, a former member of FC Blackburn Rovers, and his brother Harry tried to organize a football club in Orekhovo back in 1887. However, the Orekhovo sports club was officially formed much later - in 1908. By that time, there were already several dozen registered teams in Russia. Football was played in Kherson, Nikolaev, Kharkov, Riga, Tver, Saratov, Astrakhan, Blagoveshchensk and Port Arthur.

First steps

The first journalistic review of a football match, as mentioned above, was published in the capital's press in 1897. The author of the Petersburg newspaper, justifying the Russian players, wrote that their rivals - the English team "Vasileostrovtsy" - have been playing together for 6 years. At the turn of the century, football in the city on the Neva received strong development. Since 1901, a league founded by the Englishman Ivan Richardson began operating in St. Petersburg.

The first official Moscow club was the Sokolniki Sports Club, organized in 1905. A few years earlier, an international group of enthusiasts led by Roman Fulda began to gather at Thornton’s dacha in Sokolniki to hone their skills in playing ball. Until his emigration to Germany in 1922, Fulda played a colossal role in the history of the development of football in Russia, was the first to translate the rules of the game into Russian, donated his money for the cup for the Moscow championship, and even served as the second coach of the team at the Olympic Games in 1912. Fulda, together with his associates, became a member of the commission for organizing outdoor games at the Moscow Hygienic Society and asked for the opportunity to hold matches in Sokolniki.

Soon the games moved to the neighboring Shiryaevo Field, which gave the team a second unofficial name. No one had any equipment. The soccer balls were ordered from the UK. Andrey Savin in his book “Football Moscow: People. Events. Facts” gives the memoirs of one of the pioneers of Russian football, Leonid Smirnov, about how it all began: “We, the first football players, had no idea about sports shorts, T-shirts and boots. We played in our usual costume: long trousers, simple shoes, and some even boots... Many years passed before we got to panties, boots and T-shirts. None of us dared to bare our knees for a long time. Such was the time then, morals were completely different!”

It is curious that the first team to dress in a football uniform was the Bykovo children's club, which over time became, in modern terms, a farm club for Sokolniki. The Bykovo team got its name due to the dacha area in which it was located. Shiryaev Pole players came here to relax for the summer, continuing their training. In order to have someone to practice with, the Shiryaevites taught local youth the game. Parents of young football players, who considered that it was too expensive to buy another set of trousers for their children to play football, decided to sew them a short uniform (so as not to tear) themselves.

But it was not the uniform or equipment that was the most expensive. A football club membership card cost a lot of money. For example, in SKS the one-time entrance fee was 20 rubles, and the annual membership fee was 30 rubles. For comparison, 20 rubles at that time was the average salary of a factory worker or a low-ranking employee. Football clubs united the elite of society, children of wealthy families. Many teams refused on principle to recruit commoners to their ranks. The Orekhovo club was actually the first team to play for the workers: the grimy Orekhovo men who occupied seats at the team’s home stadium were very different from the handsome gentlemen who attended football “parties” in the capitals. But the liberal owners of the Nikolskaya Manufactory preferred to look for players on the side, even placing an advertisement in the English newspaper The Times that the company needed workers who could play football well. By the way, the foreigners who arrived were enough for two teams. But Russian workers began to “get infected” with football quite quickly and over time began to make their way into teams.

In the summer, many players went to their dachas, where they continued playing football, from time to time making trips to other summer cottages: Bykovo - to Tarasovka, or Losiny Island - to Mamontovka. There were often not enough players, and the football players looked for strong guys from local villagers, artisans and workers. The summer was ending, the summer residents were leaving, and the locals, who had gained experience, were accustomed to new game their other fellow countrymen, many of whom then went to work in the cities.

Call of the People

Over the years, football has become more and more widespread and popular. Intercity and international friendly matches took place in Russia. They played not only on large football fields, of which more and more were opening in the two capitals, but also in the courtyards of educational institutions and near factory walls.

“Young” football was a tough sport. “The game went off without any misunderstandings, which happens extremely rarely at football matches,”- wrote one of the reporters of that time. There were fights between rivals, between spectators and players, beatings of referees, attacks on football players outside the football fields. The relationship between the representatives of the working class who were included in the official teams and the nobles who formed the basis of the clubs can be judged by the fact that on the agenda of the founding meeting of the Moscow Football League, held on June 12, 1910 in the Hermitage restaurant, one of the items touched upon moral issues in football. “Teams can bring together people from different classes - rich and poor, nobles and burghers, business owners and workers, intellectuals and commoners. But when coming to training or a game, everyone should forget about their origins. Forget sincerely, with all your soul, so that it does not manifest itself in small things, in tone, in the manner of speaking,”- Mikhail Sushkov, a famous Moscow football player who was present at that evening, recalls the decision of IFL functionaries.

Nevertheless, the bourgeoisie and the nobility continued to jealously guard football as “their” game. It was even proposed to consider the few working-class football players, as more physically developed, as professionals and on this basis to prohibit them from playing in the formally amateur Moscow and St. Petersburg leagues. Meanwhile, an alternative movement of “wild” teams blossomed in the cities.

“In the working-class neighborhoods of the city outskirts, there have long been many football clubs, which included workers, employees, students, who were unable to pay the rather high membership and entry fees provided for by the charters of registered clubs, to purchase expensive sports uniforms and equipment, and who did not have influential acquaintances who could give recommendations necessary for entry,”- Andrey Savin writes in the book “Football Moscow: People. Events. Data".

The “wild” occupied vacant lots, constructing barbells from sticks or crumpled caps. Instead of soccer balls ordered from Europe, rags stuffed with paper were used; sometimes the balls were made of leather; in this case, the role of the camera was played by bull bubble. The legendary Soviet football player and coach Andrei Starostin recalled that he himself began to play on the Khodynskoe field, which was one of the centers of Moscow “informal” football. “All the “stars” of the early generations of our football went through the school of education in “wild” football,”- the player wrote in his book “Flagman of Football”.

Gradually, permanent “wild” teams were formed, with their own form, their own history, their own “stars”. Teams were formed mainly on territorial and professional grounds. Just look at the name of the strongest Moscow team in 1912 - “House No. 44”! The names were invented without the pathos and officialdom of the “big” colleagues. For example, in Kharkov there was a football team “Tsap-Tsarap”.

The politicization of these amateur associations is an unexplored issue. Researchers usually emphasize the apoliticality and heterogeneity of “wild” teams. But how apolitical could their participants have been in the period between the revolution of 1905 and the strikes of 1910–1912? Class antagonism was felt even in the context of street play. Anyone who claims that football was specifically instilled in the proletariat in order to distract them from politics and the fight for their rights should keep a couple of points in mind. Illegal games on makeshift fields were more than once dispersed by the police, who were wary of any meetings of proletarians outside working hours, and representatives of official clubs from the upper strata of society tried to put a spoke in the wheels of the “savages”, in every possible way hindering their development. Referees were prohibited from refereeing plebeian games, and league membership and entry fees were constantly inflated in order to prevent representatives of the new wave from entering their society.

"Chesnokovites"

But there were enthusiasts who were ready to invest their energy in the development of workers’ football. In 1912, the Zamoskvoretsk League of “wild” teams appeared in Moscow. It was organized by Judge Allenov, and the events of the championship were regularly covered by the printed publication “K Sportu”, thanks to the player and chronicler Boris Chesnokov who worked there. His brief biography is presented in the excellent book by American sports historian Robert Edelman, “Moscow Spartak. The story of a people's team in a country of workers."

Chesnokov was born into the family of a railway employee. As a child, he and his family often moved from city to city because of his father’s work. Boris was keen different types sports and at a very young age, as a student at the Moscow 4th gymnasium, he first tried himself on the football field. Having fallen in love with the game with all his heart, he continued to play with friends in the yard, and later on fields cleared and equipped on his own. Boris and his two brothers - Ivan and Sergei - organized meetings of amateur work teams, subsequently formalizing the emerging society into the Rogozhsky Sports Circle (RSC). This is how the first workers' sports club in Russia appeared.

It existed until 1915 and was dispersed by the police. Having destroyed the community, the repressive authorities were unable to destroy the passion for the game, which embraced ever larger circles of workers. And Chesnokov did not give up, continuing to support workers’ football. In 1916, he became chairman of the citywide Moscow Football League of “wild” teams. Working in the editorial office of the K Sportu magazine, he not only covered news from the fields of unrecognized championships, but also addressed the official football structures of Moscow, urging them to take a step towards the “wild ones”. Thanks to his contacts, Chesnokov brought the main RKS players into the Novogireevo football club, including himself. After that, the club became the city champion twice, moreover, the first champion to play without foreign players. Even the formidable Morozovites remained behind them. In 1917, Boris Chesnokov suffered a leg injury and was forced to end his football career. He continued to write his sports notes and eventually became the first sports columnist for the Pravda newspaper.

As can be seen from the chronology, neither during the First World War, nor during the days of the revolution and the Civil War in Russia did they stop playing football. But time has left its mark. In 1914, all German players of Russian teams (at that time the Russian championship was already being held) were exiled to the Vyatka province under martial law. The English masters soon also chose to return to their homeland, but this could not in any way affect the popularity of the game. The matches of the national team stopped and were replaced by games between soldiers and prisoners of war.

In the first post-revolutionary months, there was a real “boom” of “wild” football. Unprecedented opportunities opened up for the players who once kicked homemade rag balls, and many of them became famous football players in the future. Since 1918, teams began to appear in the Moscow Football League whose participation in the championship during the Tsarist years was simply impossible, for example, the Jewish sports club Maccabi. Football survived the ruins of the empire, still standing on the shoulders of enthusiasts. But there were still about 10 years left before it was fully accepted by the new Soviet government.

The history of Russian club football is diverse. Many of today's fans probably think that football in our country began with Spartak, Dynamo, or, in extreme cases, Lokomotiv. In fact, of the famous current clubs, only CSKA has the right to be considered a team that can truly be called the oldest. And the patriarchs of Russian football were completely different glorious clubs, which many have not even heard of now.

5 FC Znamya (Noginsk) – founded in 1911

In 1911, the city of Noginsk was called Bogorodsk. It was here that one of the first real football fields in the country was built. The first district football team of the Glukhov manufactory was also created here. The sports team represented the small village of Glukhovo, which later became one of the microdistricts of the city of Noginsk near Moscow.

The club reached relatively high achievements only in 1936. Already under the proud name “Red Banner”, the team took part in the historic first USSR Cup and even reached the semi-finals, but at this stage they lost heavily to Dynamo Tbilisi with a score of 1:5. Subsequently, the club played in the lower divisions.

The best achievement of those years was second place in the second zone of class “B”, which was taken in 1959.

In the early nineties of the last century, Viktor Laptev, a man who really loved football, became the mayor of Noginsk. On his initiative, the club was recreated under the name “Avtomobilist”, since the team was financially supported by the Moscow region enterprise Mostransavto. At first the club participated in the KFC competitions, but already in 1993 it won the national championship among amateur clubs and, having received professional status, began to participate in the championship of the third league of Russian football.

Avtomobilist’s highest achievement, like its predecessors, also came in the Cup, now in Russia. In 1997, the team reached the 1/16 finals, where Oleg Romantsev’s Moscow Spartak was waiting for them. It was no longer possible to win here, but the cup match in Noginsk remained in history not by the score, but by the massacre at the stadium between the local riot police and Spartak fans because of an explosive package thrown onto the field. The law enforcement officers won, completely (!) clearing the guest stand in a few minutes.

In 1998, the club from Noginsk already won the second division championship and even played in the play-offs for promotion to the first league, but lost to Spartak-Chukotka on aggregate in two meetings.

After some time, due to financial problems, the club was deprived of its professional status and played at the regional level. In 2010, it was given the final historical name “Znamya”, and in 2011, in the year of the centenary of its formation, it was entered into the Russian Championship in the 3rd Amateur League, where “Znamya” still plays. By the way, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Alexander Samedov play for the club at the amateur level.

4 PFC CSKA – founded in 1911

The history of this club also began in 1911. A football section was organized in the society of ski (!) sports lovers. And in the very first match, the “OLLS” team defeated their opponents with a score of 6:2 in the Moscow championship. In 1923, specialized teams from various departments began to be created in a socialist country. The team was named “OPPV” - Experimental Demonstration Site of Vsevobuch, which was supervised by the Red Army.

In 1928, the Central House of the Red Army was opened in the capital, where the command was transferred, renamed CDKA. Back then we played mainly for the Moscow championship.

In 1936, the team took part in the first Russian championship, but did not lose their laurels. But in the post-war years, the club became one of the leaders of the championships, competing with Dynamo. The “Team of Lieutenants” began to be called CDSA, since the Red Army was renamed the Soviet Army.

There was also a completely black page in the team’s history. In 1952, on the basis of the team, it was decided to create the country's Olympic team. At the Olympic tournament, the army team lost to the Yugoslav team in the 1/8 finals. Since the USSR had almost hostile relations with Yugoslavia at that time, the defeat was considered political and the team was disbanded. Parting with football lasted 2 years.

Later, in the Union and Russian championships, the club, under its current name, performed differently. There were periods of championship, and three times the team had to drop down to the first league.

The fans especially remembered the 1998 season. The army team started the tournament extremely poorly, suffering several defeats in a row. At least they appointed a young coach, Oleg Dolmatov, to save the team from another relegation. Under his leadership, the football team put together an impressive unbeaten streak and finished the season in 2nd place.

Since then, the team has been led by many talented mentors. Under the leadership of Valery Gazzaev, the army team even won the UEFA Cup. In total, this legendary football club has won 13 championships and 12 in the Cup.

3 FC "Znamya Truda" (Orekhovo-Zuevo) - founded in 1909

One of the oldest clubs in the country. It was founded in 1909 under the name Orekhovo Sports Club by English factory workers. He was a repeated champion of pre-revolutionary Moscow.

The team’s highest achievement already in Soviet times was reaching the Cup final, where the Orekhov team lost to Shakhtar Donetsk in 1962. Since then, Znamya Truda has remained the only finalist of the National Cup that has never played in the major league.

For some time the team played at the amateur level, periodically moving to the PFL level. However, the club has not yet achieved high achievements even at this level.

2 FC Chernomorets (Novorossiysk) – founded in 1907

The club was founded in 1907. Now he plays in the second division in the “South” zone with varying success, but there were times in the history of the team that were much more successful. Playing in the major league in 2000, the club took 6th place in the championship and received the right to play in the UEFA Cup.

There was no luck with the draw - the Novorossiysk team got the Spanish "Valencia" as their opponents. The result was predictable - 0:1 in the home match and 0:5 away.

Before the collapse of the USSR, the team played in the second league, but in the Russian championship it moved to the first.

From here, Chernomorets twice reached the top division, but could not stay there, eventually dropping even to the second league.

1 FC Kolomna – founded in 1906

The oldest existing Russian club. It was founded in 1906 at a local machine-building plant called “KGO”, which meant: Kolomna Gymnastics Society. A year later, the team held its first international match with football players from the British Sports Union and, by the way, won with a score of 3:1. In 1923, the club participated in the symbolic USSR Championship at the All-Union Physical Culture Festival in Moscow and won honorary bronze medals there.

FC Kolomna is recognized as the very first football team in Russia.

In the Russian and Union football championships, the club did not rise above the second league.

Table of RPL clubs by seniority - from oldest to newest

Alexander LOMONOSOV,
Anatoly BELOV

During the Soviet era, it was believed that the founding date of FC CSKA was April 29, 1923. And it would be strange if the club representing the Red and later the Soviet Army had a pre-revolutionary history. But...

FIRST FOOTBALL SECTION - IN 1911

On June 1 (14), 1901, at the general meeting, the charter of the Society of Ski Amateurs (OLLS) was approved. The first chairman was F.V. Gennig. The OLLS board was located at: Mashkov lane, 8, apt. 6., Sports Station Sokolnicheskaya Zastava, corner of Kamer-Kollezhsky Val and 2nd Polevoy Lane, Savvina village.

Only in 1911 (according to other sources in 1910) a football section was organized at the club. The OLLS football team played its first official match in the Moscow championship in 1911. The OLLS team played in the Moscow Championship in class “B” from 1911 to 1917, in the major league from 1918 to 1922. Achievements: champion of Moscow 1922 (spring). OLLS scored 9 points (4 wins and 1 draw, 15 goals scored and 3 missed). The champion team of OLLS included: F. Shimkunas, K. Schmidt, M. Isaev, P. Lebedev, V. Ratov, S. Dmitriev-Moro, S. Chesnokov, P. Savostyanov, M. Ratov, K. Tyulpanov, K. Zhiboyedov, B. Dubinin, N. Ivanov, S. Nazaretov, S. Bagrov, N. Maitov, Smirnov, Martynov; 2nd prize-winner - 1921 (autumn), 1922 (autumn); 3rd prize-winner 1918 (autumn), 1920 (autumn).

On June 11, 1922, in the final of the absolute Moscow championship (KFS-Kolomyagi Cup), played between the winners of the major and minor leagues, OLLS football players met with the MKS team, which some consider the ancestor of Spartak, because N. Starostin was one of its members (we will not comment on the legitimacy of such a statement; it deserves a separate discussion). The OLLS football players won with a score of 4:2.

On June 25, 1922, the spring champion of Moscow (OLLS) met for the first time with the champion of Petrograd (Sport) in the fight for the Tosman Cup. With a score of 1:0, the Moscow football players won in a bitter struggle and actually became the country's club champions.

In 1918, almost all OLLS players became soldiers of the Red Army. From the very first days of the organization of Vsevobuch, most of the club members took short-term courses and received the title of instructors in pre-conscription training for youth. The head of this regional Vsevobuch center was the chairman of OLLS, Dmitry Markovich Rebrik. Thus, already from 1918, OLLS was actually part of the Vsevobuch department and defended its colors, having close ties with the Red Army.

OFFICIAL BIRTHDAY

On April 14, 1923, order No. 160/R was issued by the chief commander of General Military Training Mekhonoshin on the establishment of an “Experimental and demonstration military sports ground.” This order ordered that the site and ski station (Society of Ski Lovers - “OLLS”) in Sokolniki be transferred to the direct jurisdiction of the Main Directorate.

On April 27, 1923, an order was issued by the Revolutionary Military Council, which stated the following: “In Moscow, under the Central Directorate of Military Training of Workers, the Central Sports Organization of the Red Army was created - “Experimental and demonstrative military sports ground of Vsevobuch (OPPV).”

On April 29, 1923, in Sokolniki, two teams from the Vsevobuch Experimental Demonstration Site took to the football field. The match ended with a score of 3:2 in favor of the first team. This day, as approved by the order of the USSR Minister of Defense dated June 23, 1963, is the official founding date of CSKA. Therefore, the order did not make serious changes to the well-functioning structure of the club, essentially changing only its name OPPV instead of OLLS, in accordance with the actual affiliation of the team. The former head of OLLS D.M. Rebrik became the head of OPPV. The OPPV football team also retained its traditional colors (dark blue T-shirts and white shorts). The team wore the same uniform after 1928, when it was renamed CDKA. And only in 1939 she first appeared on the field in red T-shirts and blue shorts.

OPPV football players played their first official match in the Moscow championship on June 17, 1923 against Russkabel. The result of this match was not a festive one for the debut - a defeat with a score of 1:3. The prestige goal, which became the army team's first goal in the official championships, was scored by the leader of the OPPV team's attacks, Konstantin Zhiboedov. The OPPV team performed in the following composition: F. Shimkunas, M. Isaev, V. Grigoriev, I. Smirnov, V. Ratov, B. Barlyaev, B. Dubinin, P. Savostyanov, M. Ratov, K. Tyulpanov, K. Zhiboedov . The composition of the OPPV team in 1923 is virtually no different from the composition of the OLLS in 1922.

Since 1924, in connection with the liquidation of the Main Directorate of Vsevobuch, the army sports center began to be called the Experimental and Demonstration Sports Ground of the Voenved with the former abbreviated name OPPV. The name of the football team changed accordingly.

In February 1928, when the country celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Red Army, the executive committee of the Moscow Soviet transferred to the military department a complex of buildings and a park on Commune Square, where it was located Central House Red Army. OPPV became part of it. The football team became known as CDKA (Central House of the Red Army).

THE SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY COULD BE A STADIUM

On December 8, 1931, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR decided to create an All-Army Voluntary Physical Culture Society, develop its charter and name. A commission was created under the leadership of the Deputy People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR S.S. Kamenev, on whose initiative it was decided to name the All-Army Physical Culture Society “Spartak”. “In honor of the leader of the Roman gladiators, as a symbol of courage, perseverance, courage and victory,” the commission’s decision emphasized.

For the new army stadium "Spartak" there were two places to choose from in Moscow. The first option CDKA park named after Frunze (on Commune Square), the second Lenin (Sparrow) Mountains, near the CDKA holiday house and the ski and sled base of the park of culture and recreation, which was located opposite the Novodevichy Convent (exactly here, at the foot of the springboard, for For many years, army football players held training camps before competitions). It was planned to have 25 30 thousand, as they said then, numbered seats in the stadium.

Now it is difficult to imagine what would have happened if these decisions had been implemented and the Spartak army stadium had stood on the site of the new building of Moscow University. However, the decision to create the All-Army Society “Spartak” remained on paper.

At the beginning of April 1941, a new renaming of the Red Army team took place. The Red Army team performed under this name until June 1941. On June 22, she was supposed to play in Kyiv with the local Dynamo, but the game did not take place, since the war began that day.

In February 1951, the Central House of the Red Army was renamed the Central House of the Soviet Army. The football team became known as CDSA.

On August 18, 1952, on the day of the scheduled meeting with Dynamo Kyiv, the CDSA team was withdrawn from the competition and disbanded. The formal basis for this was the unsuccessful performance of the USSR national team at the Olympic Games.

In 1953, the army teams of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District and the CDSA, which performed in the all-Union sports arena as separate teams, merged. On September 30, 1953, an order was issued by the USSR Minister of Defense, which ordered the creation of the Central Sports Club of the Ministry of Defense - CSK MO - in Moscow. He was given the sports facilities and staff of the physical culture and sports department of the CDSA, the stadium and ski station in Sokolniki, the stables and equestrian arena in Khamovniki, as well as the sports base of the Moscow Military District Air Force on Leningradsky Prospekt. There was no football team at that time.

THE ARMY TEAM WAS NAMED CSKA

In January 1954, the football team was reinstated and was still called CDSA. On January 15, she held her first training session.

Since February 1957, the football team became known as CSK MO (Central Sports Club of the Ministry of Defense).

On April 9, 1960, the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper published an article entitled “New names of army teams.” Here is the part regarding CSKA:

“The editors of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper received numerous letters from readers in which proposals were made to change the names of the sports teams of the Central Sports Club of the Ministry of Defense - CSK MO, competing in competitions for the championship of the Soviet Union and in international meetings.

Taking into account the proposals of the soldiers and the established reference in the press to the commands of the Soviet Army - “army men”, the command considered it appropriate to henceforth call:

The teams of the Central Sports Club of the Ministry of Defense are the teams of CSKA, which means the Central Sports Club of the Army...”

The CSKA football team played its first match under the new name on April 10, 1960 in Tbilisi with Spartak (Vilnius) and won with a score of 2:0.

BY THE WAY

In fact, FC CSKA, formed in 1911, is the oldest existing football club in Russia. This is exactly what the official encyclopedic reference book of the Russian Football Union states (“RUSSIAN FOOTBALL for 100 years.” Encyclopedic reference book. Generally edited by RFU President V.I. Koloskov. Consulting editor general secretary RFU V.V. Rodionov. Moscow, Russian Football Union. 1997), and the authoritative encyclopedia of European football, published in Germany (Hardy Grune. “Enzyklopadie der europaischen Fussballvereine. Die Erstliga-Mannschaften Europas seit 1985”, Germany, Kassel: AGON Sportverlag. 2000).

THE CSKA FOOTBALL TEAM WAS NAMED AT DIFFERENT TIMES

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Football Russia

October 24, 1897 - the first football match in Russia took place in St. Petersburg. At first, this game, which was called "English air game" or "foot ball", was perceived as fun for the public.

At the end of the 1890s, there were three teams in St. Petersburg - Nevsky Club, Nevka and Victoria. And they were composed mainly of the English, who “brought” football to Russia at the end of the 19th century. But gradually the “football virus” infected Russians as well. The first teams were created, championships in St. Petersburg and Moscow were held, and even the first international matches were held.

The first football team, which consisted only of Russian players, was created in 1897 in St. Petersburg at the “Circle of Sports Lovers” (later it became known as “Sport”). And the first real football match took place on October 24 (12 old style) 1897.

That day, on the parade ground of the First Cadet Corps, the teams of the Vasileostrovsky Society of Football Players (VOF) and the “Circle of Sports Lovers” met. The latter lost with a large score of 0:6. The Vasileostrovsky football players' society had already existed for 6 years by that time. Therefore, this team consisted mainly of Englishmen, who played much better than the Russians at that time.

By the way, football was not yet attractive enough to the public. This is probably why history has not preserved for us either the authors of the goals scored or the number of spectators present at this first match. But the press did not ignore this game. St. Petersburg journalists wrote about the last match: “The British were distinguished by their teamwork and technique, and the Russians by their dedication.” According to the conditions, the competition was to last an hour and a half with one break.

This is how the Petersburg Leaf newspaper described the meeting: "Vasileostrovtsy, dressed in blue colors, placed five “skirmishers” on the “fore-worth line”. They had three on the second line. These were guard posts. In front of the city, or rather its gates, stood two “beks”. Finally, in the city itself stood its defender.”

If we talk about the rules, the matches of that time were characterized by extraordinary cruelty. The players fought knee-deep in mud and played with virtually no rules. Therefore, football players often left the field without teeth, with broken arms and legs. And the game was unlike modern football. For example, the ball rarely stayed on the ground, flying through the air from player to player and from goal to goal. And the defenders tried to hit the ball as high as possible. And the highest “candle” even caused approving applause from the public.

Goalkeepers rarely caught balls, trying to simply hit them with their hands, and goalkeepers with their feet, without trying to fall to the ground correctly. At the same time, it was considered especially chic to hit a flying ball with your fist somewhere in the center of the field or to hit the ball from above with your fist and ricochet off the ground “to light a candle.” This is what aroused the wild delight of the stands.

As for forwards, for a striker it was considered the highest valor to push the ball into the goal together with the goalkeeper. Football referees turned a blind eye to pushing, poking, kicking, tripping and even tackling from the rugby arsenal, as this was considered a manifestation of true sportsmanship, courage and athleticism.

The international debut of football players from the Russian Empire took place in October 1910, when the Czech team Corinthians (Prague) visited the country. In 1911, the first attempt was made in Russia to create a football team from representatives of several cities. The reason for this was the arrival of the Olympic champions of that time - the British team (in Russia they competed under the name “English Wanderers”). Until this day, the teams of Moscow and St. Petersburg had experience of international meetings, but it was extremely insignificant, and the team of another country had never played against us.

And suddenly, at the invitation of the British living in St. Petersburg, the founders of football themselves come. Newspapers wrote about the first of these matches: “Long before the start of the game, the public began to gather, and by five o’clock in the afternoon all the stands were overcrowded. There is a lively conversation in the audience about the upcoming game. Nobody talks about the possibility of the Russians winning the match, but only about the results under which Russia will be beaten.”

It is now difficult to say definitively how many games were played. There are two opinions on this matter. First, the matches that took place on August 20, 21 and 22, 1911 in St. Petersburg ended in crushing defeats for the Russians - 0:14, 0:7 and 0:11, respectively. Secondly, on August 22, 1911, the Russian team played its first international match, which was a friendly match with the England team. This meeting was not included in the registers of the Russian Football Union and the International Football Federation - the list of official matches of the Russian national team. And its result is unknown.

First football championship country took place only in 1912. At the same time, the All-Russian Football Union was formed, which was admitted to FIFA in the same year. In 1913, the All-Russian Football Union united football leagues of 33 cities and 155 clubs with a total number of football players of about 8 thousand.

And then the first one began World War, and somehow they forgot about football in our country. But they remembered him after the Revolution and Civil War. In 1923, the RSFSR national team made a victorious tour of Scandinavia, beating the best football players from Sweden and Norway. Then our teams met many times with the strongest athletes in Turkey. And they always won.

1930-40s - the time of the first fights with some of the best teams in Czechoslovakia, France, Spain and Bulgaria. And here our masters showed that Soviet football is not inferior to advanced European football. Goalkeeper Anatoly Akimov, defender Alexander Starostin, midfielders Fedor Selin and Andrey Starostin, forwards Vasily Pavlov, Mikhail Butusov, Mikhail Yakushin, Sergei Ilyin, Grigory Fedotov, Pyotr Dementyev, were generally considered to be among the strongest in Europe.

And in 1956, the USSR national team won Olympic gold. But that, as they say, is a completely different story ...