The Communist Pasts of Russian Soccer Teams

Russian football has seen a renaissance in the past few years. Fueled in no small part by the booming Russian economy and a few wealthy oligarchs, the Russian league has gone from a minor league in a freezing cold country to a somewhat less minor league in a freezing cold country with some half decent players. Just take a look at some of the players who have made their rubles in the Russian Premier League in the past few years:

• Fernando Cavenaghi, Clemente Rodriguez (Argentina)
• Daniel Carvalho, Wagner Love, Jo, Dudu Cearense, Derlei, Francisco Lima
• Maniche, Costinha (Portugal)
• Garry O’Connor (Scotland)
• Asamoah Gyan (Ghana)

Ok, maybe not world-beaters but decent nonetheless. Clearly, these players are not attracted to Russia for the climate or the food; money is the real draw to the former Soviet country. How quickly Russia has transitioned from its days of communism. Long before its clubs were buying players from around the world, they were the pride and joy of local workgroups. Whereas most clubs are owned now by wealthy individuals or companies, most were founded as the club of the police, army, etc. and their players came from these ranks.

Take a look at the history of several of the most well-known clubs:

CSKA Moscow was founded by the Russian Army. Their nickname, “The Horses,” comes from the fact that their players were assigned to calvary units.

Dynamo Moscow was originally founded by Englishman Clement Charnock, but soon after became the team of the Russian police. It later became affiliated with the Interior Ministry and the Cheka (the secret police organization which proceded the KGB).

Lokomotiv Moscow was founded and supported by the national railroad company. Unlike most teams, which have been sold to newly rich oligarchs and corporations that have risen since the fall of communism, Lokomotiv has remained a part of its communist-era patron, the Russian Railway Compnay. When the team opened a new stadium in 2002, the company showed largesse reminiscent of command economy times as it paid for thousands of railroad workers to attend the opening match.

Quoting from Wikipedia: “The origins of Zenit Saint Petersburg date back to 1925, when a team was formed consisting of workers from a Leningrad metallurgical factory.”

FC Moscow (formerly Torpedo Moscow) was founded as the club of the ZIL automobile manufacturer. This car company, which made limos in Russia, sold the rights to a metallgurgical company in 2003. The club was sold again to the Moscow city government, to whom it currently belongs.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 12:36 am and is filed under Economics, Europe, History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.