Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow was founded on 23 July 1922 as a team of workers from Moscow's Kazan Railway hub, initially under the name Kazanka. After several name changes linked to the reorganisation of the Soviet railway administration, the club adopted its current name in January 1936, referencing the locomotive and the club's long-standing sponsor, the Soviet Ministry of Transport, whose role is now filled by Russian Railways.
During the Soviet era, Lokomotiv remained in the shadow of powerhouses such as Dynamo Kyiv and Moscow Spartak, winning only two Soviet Cups — in 1936 and 1957 — and finishing runners-up in the national championship just once, in 1959. The club's real breakthrough came only after the collapse of the Soviet Union, closely tied to the figure of coach Yuri Semin, under whose long tenure the club became one of the leading forces in Russian football, winning the national championship three times — in 2002, 2004 and 2017-18 — and lifting a record nine Russian Cups.
On the European stage, Lokomotiv twice reached the semi-final of the Cup Winners' Cup. In the 1997-98 season, the side was eliminated over two legs by Germany's VfB Stuttgart (0-1 and 0-2), and the following year, in 1998-99, it lost to Italy's SS Lazio, the eventual winners of the competition, despite leading at half-time in the away leg thanks to a goal from Georgian forward Zaza Janashia.
Since July 2002, the club has played its home matches at the ground now known as the RZD Arena, built in Moscow's Cherkizovo district on the site of the former Lokomotiv Stadium from 1935. The team, nicknamed Krasno-Zelenye (The Red-Greens) and Zheleznodorozhniki (Railwaymen), remains one of the most recognisable clubs in the Russian capital, with a locomotive whistle sounding after every goal scored at its home ground.