CSKA MoscowPFC CSKA Moscow traces its origins to 27 August 1911, when a football section was formed within the Amateur Society of Skiing Sports in the Russian Empire. Over the decades the club evolved through several names linked to the Soviet military, eventually becoming the Central Sports Club of the Army, and is known today as the professional football side of that tradition. Nicknamed the Army Men, the Horses and the Red-Blues, CSKA established itself as one of the leading forces of Soviet and later Russian football.
In the Soviet Top League the club claimed seven championships, with a particularly dominant stretch after the Second World War that brought five titles between 1946 and 1951. It also lifted the Soviet Cup on five occasions, completing a domestic double in the final Soviet season of 1991. Following the dissolution of the USSR, CSKA continued its success in the Russian Premier League with six titles (2003, 2005, 2006, 2012–13, 2013–14 and 2015–16) and has collected multiple Russian Cups, bringing its total of national cup triumphs to fourteen across the Soviet and Russian eras, along with eight Super Cups.
The club’s greatest European achievement came in the 2004–05 season. After dropping into the UEFA Cup from the Champions League group stage, CSKA advanced past Benfica, Partizan, Auxerre and Parma before defeating Sporting CP 3–1 in the final played at the José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon on 18 May 2005. Goals from Aleksei Berezutski, Yuri Zhirkov and Vágner Love secured the victory, making CSKA the first Russian club to win a major European trophy. That same year the side completed a historic treble by also winning the Russian league and cup.
Home matches are played at the VEB Arena in Moscow, a modern stadium opened in 2016 with a capacity of approximately 30 000. The ground incorporates a distinctive tower shaped like the UEFA Cup, commemorating the 2005 triumph. The traditional colours remain red and blue. Through its military roots, post-war dominance, consistent domestic success and pioneering European victory, CSKA Moscow has remained a central pillar of Russian football for more than a century.