One of the oldest clubs in the history of Russian football, the club hailing from the capital has always been labelled the bridesmaid in comparison to the bride, when spoken of alongside its nearest city rivals, including CSKA Moscow who are currently the league champions.
Founded in 1930 during the Stalin era, the club played in the Moscow league until getting the opportunity to become one of the founding members of the Soviet ‘B’ league. The club’s first promotion occurred only two years later when they managed to secure promotion to the top flight of Soviet football. The nation at that time believed solely in domination and becoming supreme in every area it competed in, including football.
The club’s major success occurred during the 1960’s when the team won the Premier League twice in 1960 and 1965, while being narrowly beaten on two different occasions in 1961 and 1964. Cup success also came twice during the 1960’s, which helped cement the era as the golden period in the history of Torpedo Moscow. With every great squad and title winning team, there is a striker who proves to be the catalyst for the team’s success. During Torpedo’s golden era this proved to be no different as goal-machine Eduard Streltsov (nicknamed the “Russian Pele”) was the man who spearheaded Torpedo’s rise to the Premier League summit.
After the 1970’s brought similar success to the club, the 1980’s saw a barren spell once again, with mid-table security the status quo the majority of the decade. Valentin Ivanov, who remains the longest serving manager in the club’s history, was in charge for the entire period, with the team’s highest finish being a third place finish in 1988. Regardless of the club’s size and stature in comparison to other Russian giants, the club continued to try to return to the glory of the 1960’s.
Ivanov parted company with Torpedo after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end to communism in 1991. The side began to plummet without the guidance of its long-term boss and struggled for the remainder of the decade to achieve any great success domestically. The club used to belong to 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 the property of the Luzhniki corporation and its name was changed to Torpedo-Luzhniki.
Under the Luzhniki ownership, the club was relegated from the top tier of Russian football in 2006 to the first division. After more failures due to on-going battles both on and off the field, the three time Russian champions were relegated to the fourth tier of Russian football and were forced to play at an amateur level. It was a stark contrast to the beginning of the decade when the club’s fortunes seemed to have turned when they finished a respectable third place in the Premier League in 2000.
After back to back promotions, the club found itself back in the first division and only one division away from the league which the Moscow club dominated in the early 1960’s. Torpedo were forced to spend three years in the second tier (one of which nearly saw them relegated again) before claiming a spot back at the summit. In May, A.G. Borodyuk led the team to a third place finish which gave the club the chance to return to the top division in a playoff against Krylia. The club won the first match 2-0 at its temporary home ground of Saturn Stadium, before holding the Premier League side to a 0-0 draw away from home to pull off its greatest achievement in nearly 15 years. It was a testament, too, to the club’s ability to survive and not go bust like FC Moscow, Torpedo’s sister club.
The summer brought a lot of hope to Torpedo fans who remained optimistic about survival and re-capturing the glory years of the club once again. The club signed Diniyar Bilyaletdinov on loan from city rivals Spartak during the summer. There is no denying the club is lacking a goal-scorer to survive another season in the top division, and with the winter transfer window coming up, who knows what the club can achieve. One thing is for sure, the club is back where it belongs.
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