Football Club Torpedo Moscow (Russian: ФК "Торпедо" Москва, FK Torpedo Moskva), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. The club was expected to return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season.[1] However, the club was excluded from the league for attempted match fixing in the 2024–25 season and returned to the Russian First League.[2][3] Their colours are white and black, with green also commonly being associated with the club. They play their home games at Eduard Streltsov Stadium, but have been playing at Luzhniki Stadium since their home stadium began a reconstruction project in 2021.
The new stadium is designed by the architects Michel Remon and Alexis Peyer from the French office MR&A.[4]
Torpedo are historically one of the big Moscow clubs who enjoyed great domestic success during the Soviet era. In recent history, however, the club has suffered from financial troubles and poor management which has seen them drop down the divisions. A top flight club since promotion in 1938, Torpedo were relegated for the first time in their history following the 2006 Russian Premier League season and have only played two campaigns in the top division since, in 2014–15 and 2022-23, being relegated in both top-flight seasons after finishing in relegation spots, while spending the other seasons bouncing around between the second and third tiers.
History
Name history
AMO (1930–1932) – owned by Avtomobilnoe Moskovskoe Obshchestvo (AMO).
ZIS (1933–1936) – after owner's name AMO was changed to Zavod Imeni Stalina (ZIS).
Torpedo Moscow (1936–July 1996) – when they became one of the founding members of the Soviet 'B' League.
Torpedo-Luzhniki (August 1996 – 1998) – as they became property of the Luzhniki corporation.
Torpedo Moscow (1998–present)
Club history
Torpedo Moscow Football Club (based on Proletarskaya Kuznitsa teams) was formed in 1924 by the AMO automotive plant (later known as "Stalin Automotive Plant – ZIS" and later "Likhachev Automotive Plant – ZIL").[citation needed]
They played in the Moscow League until 1936 when they became one of the founder members of the Soviet 'B' League and changed their name to Torpedo Moscow. In 1938, they were promoted to the 'A' League.[citation needed] In 1949, Torpedo won their first professional title, the USSR Cup. In 1957 Torpedo Moscow, as well as other Soviet sport clubs named "Torpedo", became a part of the republican VSSTrud of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.[citation needed]
Nicknamed "the Black-Whites," Torpedo has not been a major force in Russian football since the days of Eduard Streltsov, the brilliant striker of the 1950s and 1960s, known as "the Russian Pelé." In 1960, Torpedo won the double; the Top League and the USSR Cup.
Torpedo had its glory period in the 1980s and early 90s, when they made six Soviet/Russian Cup finals, winning the 1985–86 Soviet Cup and the 1992–93 Russian Cup, and finished in the top 6 7/8 times from 1983 to 1991.
The club used to belong to the ZIL automobile plant until a fallout in the mid-1990s that resulted in Torpedo leaving their historic ground and moving across town to Luzhniki, as they became property of the Luzhniki corporation and its name was changed to Torpedo-Luzhniki between (1996–1997) before it was renamed Torpedo Moscow. [citation needed]
Torpedo-Luzhniki logo (1996–1997).
After selling Torpedo Moscow in 1996, ZIL created a new team, Torpedo-ZIL (1997), which debuted in the Third Division and reached the Russian Premier League in 2000. However, ZIL sold the team to MMC Norilsk Nickel in 2003, where it was relaunched as FC Moscow. This new team, however, was eventually dissolved after spending the 2010 season in Amateur Football League when its owner and main sponsor, MMC Norilsk Nickel, withdrew funding.[citation needed]
After selling Torpedo-ZIL in 2003, ZIL created another team, Torpedo-ZIL (2003), which began play in the Third Division. This team, however, was also eventually disbanded in 2011 after its efforts to seek promotion to the First Division failed.[citation needed]
Under SC Luzhniki ownership (1996–2009), the team had some high points that had not been reached since the Soviet era, such as finishing in the top four of the Russian Premier League from 1999 to 2002 – including a third-placed finish in 2000 – but were relegated to the First Division in 2006 and after two seasons it fell further to the Second Division. In early 2009, Luzhniki sold the team back to ZiL.[5] For most of this era, the team played at Luzhniki Stadium. It was speculated that ZIL would merge Torpedo Moscow and Torpedo-ZIL (2003), but instead an independent Torpedo Moscow spent 2009 in the Amateur Football League, later earning two consecutive promotions to gain a spot in the First Division in 2011. In their first season back in the First Division, the team finished eighth during the first half of the tournament at the end of 2011, taking them through to a Top 8 Promotion playoff during the season's second half.
In the 2012–13 season, Torpedo barely avoided relegation to the second division. At the end of the championship the head coach was replaced once again when 42-year-old Vladimir Kazakov was hired, who played for Torpedo in the past. Several players with experience of playing at the highest level were acquired. However, in the first 6 matches, Torpedo were able to earn only two points; manager Kazakov took the blame and resigned. In 2013, a team led by Aleksandr Borodyuk began to become more competitive, ultimately placing third in the 2013–14 season and securing a playoff spot for promotion to the Premier League. The team drew the previous year's 14th-placed Premier League team, Krylia Sovetov Samara, in a game held on 18 May 2014 at the stadium in suburban Ramenskoye, which ended 2–0 for Torpedo. On 22 May, in the tie's second leg at Metallurg Stadium in Samara, Torpedo played to a draw, thus prevailing on aggregate and returning to the Premier League after an eight-year absence.
The 2014–15 season began poorly for Torpedo in the top division; in the first matchday, the club was defeated 1–4 by CSKA Moscow. At the end of the season, the team was relegated back to the Russian Football National League after finishing second-last, in 15th. Due to a lack of financing, however, Torpedo could only receive licensing for play in the third-tier Russian Professional Football League for 2015–16 season, thus sealing a two-level relegation.
In 2017 Torpedo got a new owner – Roman Avdeev, who is a Russian billionaire and the head of Ingrad real estate development company and Rossium concern.
The Eduard Streltsov Stadium, Torpedo's home stadium, is also owned by Rossium. In 2017 Roman Avdeev announced the reconstruction of the stadium. Work began in 2021, once completed, the capacity will be 15,000 (all-seated).
In July 2018 Erving Botaka's failed transfer back to Torpedo Moscow made headlines across Europe when it was reported the club canceled his contract because the ultras refused to allow a black footballer to play for the club. Torpedo later denied this via an official statement but the Torpedo ultras were adamant with their own statement.[6] At the end of the 2018–19 season, they were promoted back to the second-tier FNL. Torpedo won the 2021–22 Russian Football National League to secure the return to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years on 21 May 2022.[7] They were relegated after one season at the top level.[8]
On 24 May 2025, Torpedo secured the second place in the First League and promotion back to the Russian Premier League for the 2025–26 season.[1]
On 19 June 2025, club co-owner Leonid Sobolev and general director Valeri Skorodumov were arrested on suspicion of attempting to bribe referee Maksim Perezva. They are suspected of offering Perezva 6,000,000 rubles (approximately 66,000 euros) for giving Torpedo advantage in three games from March 2025 to May 2025 in which he was expected to be the referee, Perezva reported their offer to the police. The investigators searched their offices and homes, confiscating communication devices and documents. Russian Football Union opened their own investigation, with Russian Premier League commenting that Torpedo could hypothetically be replaced in the 2025–26 Russian Premier League, but only before the league competition starts.[9] On 8 July 2025, referee Bogdan Golovko, who did not award a penalty kick against Torpedo on the last day of the 2024–25 season (a decision later deemed incorrect by the official RFU refereeing review commission) was also arrested on the charge of "illegally influencing an official sporting event".[10] Torpedo's game ended in a draw and they finished the First League season in 2nd place, a promotion spot, one point ahead of FC Chernomorets Novorossiysk. If Torpedo lost the game, Chernomorets would finish ahead of Torpedo as they would be tied on points, and Chernomorets held the head-to-head tiebreaker against Torpedo. The placement question became moot shortly as Chernomorets was not able to acquire the Premier League license for the season, and Torpedo would have been promoted even if they finished behind Chernomorets, but that was not a certainty at the time of the game. On the same day, Russian Football Union announced that the decision about Torpedo's punishment, if any, would be made on 10 July 2025.[11] On 10 July 2025, RFU excluded Torpedo from the Premier League, banned Skorodumov and Sobolev from football activity (for 10 and 5 years respectively) and fined Torpedo 5 million rubles (approximately 55,000 euros).[2]
It has been reported that some fans have displayed far-right symbols and banners both during and outside of matches, such as the Celtic Cross and the Swastika, which has been reported negatively by media on several occasions.[12][13]
Torpedo have one of Russia's best and largest football education structures, ranging from the club's academy to several football schools around the city associated with the club, who provide financial and technical support to them.[16] Torpedo's football school, which would later become the club's academy, was founded in 1957 and has traditionally been one of the strongest producers of players in Russia with many players making the step-up to the first team and others being moved onto other clubs after graduating from the academy. Torpedo's school has also been under the jurisdiction of Torpedo-ZIL and FC Moscow at various points in history amid changes in the club's ownership.[17]
Torpedo's reserve squad, the highest level of their academy, has played professionally in the Russian football pyramid as FC Torpedo-d Moscow (Russian Second League in 1992–93, Russian Third League in 1994–95), FC Torpedo-Luzhniki-d Moscow (Russian Third League in 1996–97) and FC Torpedo-2 Moscow (Russian Second Division in 1998–2000). They have since returned to youth football with FC Torpedo-M currently the final stage of Torpedo's academy, competing in the youth competitions in Russia.[18]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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