Torpedo Moscow, relegated last season from the top-flight for the first time in their history, are likely to be
taken over by FC Moscow - the club it split from ten years ago. “Recently I spoke to Torpedo Moscow owner
Vladimir Alyoshin and he said that if there is a serious buyer, he’d be ready to sell not only 30 or 50 per cent,
but all the shares,” said Executive Director of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Alexander Tukmanov. The
likely buyer is FC Moscow owner Mikhail Prokhorov, whose wealth is valued by Forbes magazine at 15
billion dollars. Alyoshin bought Torpedo Moscow from car making plant ZIL in June 1996 and moved it to Luzhniki
stadium. Torpedo-ZIL were then purchased by Prohorov in 2002 and renamed FC Moscow. Billionaire
Alexander Mamut has previously offered 30 million dollars for Torpedo and the 84,000-capacity strong Luzhniki
but the offer was rejected. In 2002 Mamut, with the backing of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, made
another attempt and proposed to merge Torpedo-ZIL and Torpedo Moscow but the deal fell through again.
