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"). 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. 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
VSS Trud of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. They were relegated after one season at the top level. 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. 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". 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. 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). ==Supporters and rivalries==