FC Zenit Saint Petersburg
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Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Premier League. Zenit are the reigning champions of the Russian Premier League. Previously they won the
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...
,
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20 and the
2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
seasons of the Russian Premier League, as well as the
2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England on 14 May 2008 between Rangers of Scotland and Zenit Saint ...
and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup. The club is owned and sponsored by the Russian state-owned energy giant
Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the large ...
. The team play its home matches at the Gazprom Arena. In March 2022, the club was expelled from all European and international club competitions by
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
and the
UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...
due to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
. In addition, the European Club Association suspended the team.


History


Before Zenit

Zenit's history is tightly connected with the political history of
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Russia (also called "Petrograd" and "Leningrad" at times in its history). In 1897, the first officially-recorded football match in Russia was held in Saint Petersburg on
Vasilievsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́стров, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south ...
, an unofficial game between the local English team "Ostrov" and the local Russian team "Petrograd," which the English team won, 6–0. The players of those local teams were amateurs and loosely associated with each other.


Formation of Zenit

The original Zenit team stemmed from several football teams, which changed names and owners many times during the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
era after the Revolution of 1917, as powerful political forces manipulated the careers of individual players as well as the fate of the whole team. The club was renamed several times and its owners and leaders were under political pressure for many decades. The origins of Zenit date back to the beginning of the 20th century to several predecessor teams in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
that were playing locally. The oldest documented predecessor of Zenit was the team "Murzinka," founded in 1914, which played in the ''Obukhovsky'' stadium from 1914 until 1924, when the team came to be known as "Bolshevik" (the new name for ''Obukhovsky'' industry and its stadium). The team and stadium survived the drama of World War I, the
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
revolution of 1917, and the
Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...
of 1918 to 1922. In 1925, another predecessor team of Zenit was formed, of workers from the '' Leningradsky Metallichesky Zavod'' (Leningrad Metal Plant); they were called the "Stalinets" in the 1930s. (''Stalinets'' translates literally to English as "Stalinist"; however, in Russian, the name is a play on words as ''stal'' means "steel" in that language.) Historians documented that both predecessor teams of Zenit were playing independently until their official merger at the end of 1939. The Stalinets were not the same team named Zenit that took part in the 1938 USSR championship. The current name of FC Zenit was registered in 1936 (as Bolshevik became part of the Zenit sports society and was renamed), three years before the Stalinets merged with it. The name ''Zenit'' means "
Zenith The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction ( plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location ( nadir). The zenith is the "high ...
". In 1939, during the rule of
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
, Leningradsky Metallichesky Zavod became part of the military industry and its sports teams, players, and managers were transferred to the Zenit sports society. FC Zenit was ordered to take in members of the "Stalinets" metallurgical workers' team after the end of the 1939 season.


Zenit in the Soviet League

Zenit won their first honours in 1944, claiming the war-time USSR Cup after defeating CSKA Moscow in the well-attended final. The club was always adored in Leningrad, but was not able to make much of a significant impact in the Soviet League. In 1967, Zenit finished last but were saved from relegation because the Soviet leadership decided it would not be prudent to relegate a Leningrad team during the 50th anniversary of the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...
, which occurred in the city. Composer Dmitry Shostakovich and film star Kirill Lavrov were well known as ardent supporters of Zenit, a passion that is reflected in their attendance of many games. Zenit won the bronze medal in 1980, also reaching the Soviet Cup Final and winning the Soviet League title in 1984. In 1985, Zenit beat the Soviet Cup holder in the Soviet Super Cup (also called the Season Cup).


Zenit in the Russian League

The LOMO optical plant took up the ownership of the team after the war. In 1990, FC Zenit were re-registered as an independent city-owned professional club. After being relegated in the first year of the Russian League (1992), Zenit returned to the top flight in 1996 and has been decent since. They claimed the 1999 Russian Cup, finished third in the League in 2001, made the Cup final in 2002, became the runners-up in the
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
and won the
Russian Premier League Cup The Russian Premier League Cup was a football competition organized by Russian Premier League. This was a knockout competition for 16 teams of the Premier League. All ties, including the final, were two-legged. The winners of the Cup did not get an ...
in 2003.


Gazprom era

In December 2005,
Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the large ...
took a controlling stake in the club. The deal was announced by Valentina Matviyenko, the Saint Petersburg governor. Gazprom bought the majority of the club.


Under Advocaat

Although Zenit reached the quarter-finals of the
UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
in 2006, a mediocre start to the league season led to the summer replacement of coach
Vlastimil Petržela Vlastimil Petržela (born 20 July 1953 in Prostějov) is a Czech football coach and former player. He worked with Zenit Saint Petersburg from 2003 to 2006, winning the silver medals of Russian Premier League in 2003 and reaching the quarterfin ...
. In July 2006, Dick Advocaat took over as Zenit's manager. Advocaat worked together with his assistant manager, former Netherlands national youth team coach Cor Pot. Zenit won the 2007 Russian Premier League—their best league achievement since winning the USSR Championship in 1984—allowing them to compete in the group stage of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League. In 2008, Zenit won the Russian Super Cup and reached the quarter-final of the
UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
for the second time in their history. In the first leg of the quarter-final away game against German side Bayer Leverkusen, the team achieved a 4–1 victory. They qualified for the semi-finals of the competition for the first time in their history, despite a 1–0 home loss to Leverkusen in the second leg, and were drawn to play further German opposition in the semi-final, Bayern Munich, considered the top team remaining. A battling performance in the first leg of the semi-final earned Zenit a 1–1 draw away against Bayern Munich. In the second leg at home, Zenit won 4–0, defeating Bayern 5–1 on aggregate and going through to the UEFA Cup Final for the first time in club history, where they met Scottish side Rangers at the City of Manchester Stadium in
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
on 14 May. Zenit won 2–0, with goals from Igor Denisov in the 72nd minute and Konstantin Zyryanov in stoppage time, to lift the club's first-ever
UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
.
Andrey Arshavin Andrey Sergeyevich Arshavin (russian: Андрей Сергеевич Аршавин ; born 29 May 1981) is a Russian former professional footballer who played as a winger or midfielder. Arshavin began his career at Zenit Saint Petersburg in ...
was named man of the match. On 29 August 2008, at the Stade Louis II in
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, Zenit then defeated
Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
2–1 in the 2008 UEFA Super Cup, becoming the first Russian side to win the trophy. Pavel Pogrebnyak scored the first goal and Danny scored the second, the latter being named man of the match in his debut for Zenit. In the 2008–09 Champions League group stage, Zenit was grouped with
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
,
Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...
and BATE Borisov in Group H, which by some was marked as the "
group of death A group of death in a multi-stage tournament is a group which is unusually competitive, because the number of strong competitors in the group is greater than the number of qualifying places available for the next phase of the tournament. Thus, ...
." Zenit ultimately finished in third place in the group, behind Juventus and Real Madrid, and was thus unable to progress to the knockout phase of the competition. This position, however, was good enough to earn the club a place in the
2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. This season was the final one to use the UEFA Cup ...
last 32, where the team faced
VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...
for a place in the last 16 of the competition. After defeating Stuttgart on away goals, Zenit went on to lose 2–1 over two legs against Italian club Udinese.


Under Spalletti

Luciano Spalletti signed a contract with Zenit in December 2009, with Italian coaches Daniele Baldini, Marco Domenichini and Alberto Bartali also joining the Russian club. The Board of Zenit mandated him to return the Russian Premier League title to Zenit, win the Russian Cup and progress from the group stage of the Champions League in his first year. Zenit won the Russian Cup on 16 May 2010 after beating Sibir Novosibirsk in the final (previously beating Volga Tver in the quarter-finals and Amkar Perm in the semi-finals). After 16 games in the 2010 Premier League, with 12 wins and four draws, Zenit claimed 40 points, setting a new Russian Premier League record for most points won at that stage of the campaign. On 25 August 2010, Zenit lost its first game under Spalletti to French side Auxerre and failed to advance to the Champions League group stage, instead participating in the Europa League. On 3 October, Zenit beat Spartak Nalchik to set another Russian Premier League record for most consecutive games going undefeated, with 21 games since the start of the league season. On 27 October, however, Zenit suffered its first defeat of the season at the hands of rival club Spartak Moscow, just seven games short of finishing the championship undefeated. On 14 November, Zenit defeated Rostov and two games prior to the end of the season won the championship title, the first in Spalletti's managerial career. Zenit progressed through the knockout stage of the 2010–11 Europa League in first place, then beating Swiss side Young Boys in the Round of 16. On 6 March 2011, Zenit won against CSKA Moscow in the Russian Super Cup, the third Russian trophy won under Spalletti. On 17 March, however, Zenit were knocked out of the Europa League, losing to Dutch team
Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Ge ...
2–3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals. In the 2011–12 Champions League, Zenit began the group stage drawn into Group G alongside Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and
APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...
. On 6 December 2011, the team finished the group stage in second place and for the first time in club's history qualified for the spring knockout phase of Champions League. In the Round of 16, Zenit were drawn with Portuguese side Benfica, winning the first leg 3–2 at home through two goals from
Roman Shirokov Roman Nikolayevich Shirokov (russian: Роман Николаевич Широ́ков ; born 6 July 1981) is a Russian international football official and a former player. As a player, he was described as "a deep-lying midfielder with an aptitu ...
and one from Sergei Semak. In the second leg in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
, however, Zenit lost 2–0 and were thus eliminated from the competition. In April 2012, Zenit won their second-straight Russian Championship after beating Dynamo Moscow.


Under Villas-Boas

After a series of disappointing results in both the Champions League and the Premier League, Spalletti was fired on 11 March 2014. A week later, the club announced they had negotiated a two-year deal with André Villas-Boas, who himself had been released a few months prior after a disappointing stint as manager of English side
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
. In the 2014–15 Europa League, Zenit were eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual champions Sevilla. In May 2015, Zenit won the Russian Championship, the first championship title under Villas-Boas and the team's fifth-ever on the eve of its 90th anniversary celebration. Zenit then defeated Lokomotiv Moscow in the
2015 Russian Super Cup The 2015 Russian Football Super Cup (Russian language, Russian: Суперкубок России по футболу) was the 13th Russian Super Cup match, a Association football, football match which was contested between the 2014–15 Russian Pr ...
1–1 (4–2 on penalties). Later in the 2015 calendar year, Villas-Boas said that he would be leaving the club after the 2015–16 season. In the 2015–16 Champions League, Zenit began the competition in the group stage. They were drawn in Group H alongside
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
,
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
and Gent. They ended the group stage with their best group stage finish ever, winning five out of six matches and emerging as group winners. They were, however, eliminated from the competition in the Round of 16 by Portuguese side Benfica. On 24 May 2016 Villas-Boas left the club at the end of the season, with Mircea Lucescu appointed the new manager of Zenit.


Under Lucescu and Mancini

In July 2016 Zenit won the Russian Super Cup after a 0–1 victory over CSKA Moscow. During the 2016–17 Europa League, Zenit began the group stage drawn into Group D alongside Maccabi Tel Aviv, AZ Alkmaar and
Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
. On 8 December 2016, the team finished the group stage in first place and qualified for the spring knockout phase of Europa League. In the round of 32, Zenit faced
R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...
and was eliminated 3–3 on aggregate due to the away goals rule. In the league, Zenit's performances in the spring were disappointing and as such the club finished third and missed out on the Champions League for the second year in a row. Zenit was also eliminated in the round of 16 by
FC Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Found ...
0–4 on aggregate after an abysmal performance. The first (and last) season of Mircea Lucescu was a complete disappointment despite the expectations. On 1 June 2017 Zenit appointed
Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sam ...
as the new manager of the team. On 13 May 2018, Mancini terminated his contract by mutual consent.


Under Semak

In May 2018, Mancini left to become the head coach of the
Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing b ...
. Sergey Semak became the new manager of Zenit, receiving a two-year contract. In August 2018, during the 1st leg of the 3rd qualification round of the
UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...
, Zenit suffered a 0–4 loss to Dynamo Minsk. During the 2nd leg back on home ground, Zenit made a comeback winning 8–1, scoring 3 goals in the second half and 4 goals in the second half of the extra time, with 2 goals scored in the 120th minute. Zenit went on to beat
Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name to ...
4–3 on aggregate in the next round, entering the group stage of 2018-19 UEFA Europa League. In March 2020, the league was forced to halt due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Russia The COVID-19 pandemic in Russia is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Russia on 31 January 2020, when two Chi ...
. Zenit secured another title on 5 July 2020 after a victory over
FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...
, with 4 games left to play in the tournament. On 2 May 2021, Zenit secured their third title in a row in a 6–1 victory over second-place
FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three ...
. Zenit opened the 2021–22 season with a seventh win in the Russian Super Cup after a 3–0 win over Lokomotiv Moscow, but without major key players who left the club like Yuri Zhirkov, Andrei Lunev, and Sebastián Driussi. After the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
, former Ukrainian international
Yaroslav Rakitskiy Yaroslav Volodymyrovych Rakitskyi ( uk, Ярослав Володимирович Ракіцький, ; born 3 August 1989) is a Ukrainian professional footballer who currently plays as a defender for Ukrainian Premier League club Shakhtar Don ...
made a pro-Ukrainian post on Instagram and severed his contract with the team.
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
and the
UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...
indefinitely suspended the team from their competitions. In addition, the European Club Association suspended the team. On 30 April 2022, Zenit secured their fourth title in a row and eighth overall. Many of Zenit's foreign players have not been able to leave Russia, unable to secure moves away from Russian clubs, due to western sanctions placed upon the country as a result of Russia's war with Ukraine.


Stadiums

Zenit's home ground is now the 67,800-capacity Krestovsky Stadium, known as Gazprom Arena for sponsorship reasons, in Saint Petersburg. Petrovsky Stadium used to be the home ground of the team before the new Krestovsky Stadium was built. Before moving to the Petrovsky Stadium, Zenit's home ground was the Kirov Stadium. It stood on the site where the Krestovsky Stadium was later erected.


Honours


Domestic competitions

Soviet Top League / Russian Premier League *Champions (9): 1984,
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...
,
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20,
2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
, 2021–22
Soviet Cup The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (russian: Кубок СССР),, be, Кубак СССР, uz, СССР Кубоги, kk, КСРО Кубогы, ka, სსრკ თასი, az, ССРИ кубоку, lt, TSRS taurė, ro, Cupa URSS ( Moldov ...
/ Russian Cup *Winners (5):
1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in ...
, 1998–99, 2009–10, 2015–16, 2019–20 *Runners-up:
1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...
, 1984, 2001–02
Soviet Super Cup The USSR Super Cup,, az, Futbol üzrə SSRİ Superkuboku, ka, საბჭოთა კავშირის სუპერთასი, sabch’ota k’avshiris sup’ertasi, lt, TSRS Futbolo Supertaurė, ro, Supercupa URSS, uk, Супер ...
/ Russian Super Cup *Winners (8): 1984,
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
,
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...
,
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2022 *Runners-up: 2012,
2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
, 2019 USSR Federation Cup /
Russian Premier League Cup The Russian Premier League Cup was a football competition organized by Russian Premier League. This was a knockout competition for 16 teams of the Premier League. All ties, including the final, were two-legged. The winners of the Cup did not get an ...
*Winners:
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*Runners-up:
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...
Soviet First League / Russian National Football League *Runners-up: 1993 (Center) The Atlantic Cup *Winners (2): 2016, 2022


International competitions

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
*Winners: 2007–08
UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...
*Winners:
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...


League and cup history


Soviet Union

:


Russia


League positions

ImageSize = width:900 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1991 till:01/07/2021 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1992 Colors = id:bl1 value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5) id:bl2 value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.3) id:rs value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.6) id:rn value:rgb(0.9,0.1,0.1) PlotData= bar:Position width:15 color:white align:center from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:8 from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:8 from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/01/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/01/1991 till:01/07/1992 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "VL" from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1995 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "RFNL" from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1997 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "VL" from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/2001 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "VD" from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2021 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "Russian Premier League"


Players


Current squad


Out on loan


Reserve squad

Zenit's reserve squad played professionally as Zenit-2 (
Russian Second League The Russian Second League (russian: Первенство России II дивизиона ФНЛ), formerly Russian Professional Football League is the third level of Russian professional football. History In 1998–2010, it was run by the Pr ...
in 1993, Russian Second Division from 1998 to 2000) and Zenit-d ( Russian Third League from 1994 to 1997). Another team that was founded as Lokomotiv-Zenit-2 played as Zenit-2 in the Russian Second Division from 2001 to 2008. By 2008, there was no relation between that team and FC Zenit. Another farm club called FC Smena-Zenit debuted in the Russian Second Division in 2009, taking the spot of the former FC Zenit-2. FC Smena-Zenit was dissolved after the 2009 season because it did not fulfill Zenit's initial expectations. Zenit-2 reentered professional football in the 2013–14 season in the Russian Professional Football League.


Team captains


Club officials


Board of directors

{, class="wikitable" , - ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Position ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Name , - , General Director , Alexander Medvedev , - , Sporting Director , Javier Ribalta , - , Deputy General Directors , Dmitri Mankin , - , Deputy General Directors ,
Vyacheslav Malafeev Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Malafeev ( rus, Вячесла́в Алекса́ндрович Малафе́ев, p=vʲɪtɕɪˈslaf ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ məlɐˈfʲe(j)ɪf; born 4 March 1979) is a Russian football official and a former player ...
, - , Deputy General Directors , Rosteslav Leontyev , - , Deputy General Directors , Zhanna Dembo , - , Deputy General Directors , Yury Andreyevich , - , Director of the "Smena" study-practice complex , Vasily Kostrovsky , -


Management

{, class="wikitable" , - ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Position ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Name , - , Manager , Sergey Semak , - , Assistant managers , Aleksandr Nizelik
William Artur de Oliveira
Igor Simutenkov
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk Anatoliy Oleksandrovych Tymoshchuk ( uk, Анатолій Олександрович Тимощук ; born 30 March 1979) is a Ukrainian football coach and a former midfielder, currently an assistant coach of the Russian Premier League club Ze ...

Aleksandr Anyukov , - , Goalkeeping coach , Mikhail Biryukov
Yuri Zhevnov Yuri Zhevnov ( be, Юры Жаўноў; born 17 April 1981) is a professional football coach and a former player from Belarus. He is the goalkeepers' coach with Zenit St. Petersburg. Career Zhevnov started his career at third division. In 20 ...
, - , Fitness coach , Ivan Carminati
Andrea Scanavino
Mariya Burova , - , Doctor , Mikhail Grishin


Ownerships, sponsors, kit suppliers

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" , - ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Period ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Kit manufacturers ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Owner , - , 1977–2000 , ,
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacture ...
, , LOMO, XX Trest and
Saint Petersburg City Administration , - , 2001–2002 , ,
Diadora Diadora is an Italian sportswear and footwear manufacturing company based in Caerano di San Marco ( Veneto), subsidiary of Geox, founded in 1948. Diadora produces football boots and athletic shoes, as well as a range of apparel that includes ...
, , rowspan="2", David Traktovenko , - , 2003–2004 , ,
Umbro Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are marketed in over 1 ...
, - , 2005–2007 , ,
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacture ...
, , rowspan="3",
Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the large ...
, - , 2008–2009 , , Puma , - , 2010–2022 , , Nike


Partnership


Other football clubs

* Schalke 04 * Shakhtar Donetsk *
Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Be ...
* Sepahan


Corporations

* MegaFon * Rossiya Airlines *
Nissan , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun bra ...
*
Obi (store) OBI GmbH & Co. Deutschland KG is a German multinational home improvement supplies retailing company. It is headquartered in Wermelskirchen and operates 668 stores in Europe, of which 351 are in Germany. History Obi was founded in 1970 ...
* Rostelecom * Corinthia Saint Petersburg *
St. Peter Line St. Peter Line is water transport company owned by Moby SPL Limited, a Maltese-registered shipping company, which operated services from Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Tallinn. The company was founded in 2010 with it starting operations ...
*
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...


Presidents

{, class="wikitable" , - ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Name ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Period , - , Vladislav Gusev , 1990–1992 , - , Leonid Tufrin , 1992–1994 , - , Vitaly Mutko , 1995–2003 , - , David Traktovenko , 2003–2005 , - , Sergey Fursenko , 2006–2008 , - , Alexander Dyukov , 2008–2017 , - , Sergey Fursenko , 2017–2019 , - , Alexander Medvedev , 2019–


Head coaches

{, class="wikitable" , - ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Name ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Period , - ,
Pyotr Filippov Pyotr Pavlovich Filippov (russian: Пётр Павлович Филиппов; September 21, 1893 in Saint Petersburg – 9 October 1965 in Leningrad) was a Russian Soviet Union, Soviet football player and coach. Honours * RSFSR Champion: 1924. ...
, 1936–37 , - , Mikhail Yudenich , 1938–39 , - , Konstantin Egorov , 1938–39 , - ,
Pyotr Filippov Pyotr Pavlovich Filippov (russian: Пётр Павлович Филиппов; September 21, 1893 in Saint Petersburg – 9 October 1965 in Leningrad) was a Russian Soviet Union, Soviet football player and coach. Honours * RSFSR Champion: 1924. ...
, 1940 , - , Konstantin Lemeshev , 1941–45 , - , Mikhail Butusov , 1946 , - , Ivan Talanov , 1946–48 , - , Konstantin Lemeshev , 1948–50 , - ,
Georgiy Lasin Georgi Semyonovich Lasin (russian: Георгий Семёнович Ласин; 5 February 1914 in St. Petersburg – 21 October 2004 in St. Petersburg) was a Soviet Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental ...
, 1950–51 , - , Vladimir Lemeshev , 1952–54 , - , Nikolay Lyukshinov , 1954–55 , - ,
Arkadiy Alov Arkadi Ivanovich Alov (russian: Аркадий Иванович Алов; 4 December 1914 – 24 May 1982) was a Soviet Association football, football player, coach, and referee. External links

* 1914 births 1982 deaths Soviet footballe ...
, 1956–57 , - , Georgiy Zharkov , 1957–60 , - , Gennadiy Bondarenko , 1960 , - , Evgeniy Eliseev , 1961–64 , - , Valentin Fyodorov , 1964–66 , - ,
Arkadiy Alov Arkadi Ivanovich Alov (russian: Аркадий Иванович Алов; 4 December 1914 – 24 May 1982) was a Soviet Association football, football player, coach, and referee. External links

* 1914 births 1982 deaths Soviet footballe ...
, 1967 , - , Artem Falyan , 1968–70 , - ,
Yevgeniy Goryanskiy Yevgeny Ivanovich Goryansky (russian: Евгений Иванович Горянский; 28 February 1929 – 13 July 1999) was a Russian football striker and football coach. Career In 1945, he began his career in junior football for FC Dynamo ...
, 1970–72 , - , German Zonin , 1973–77 , - , Yuri Morozov , 1977–82 , - ,
Pavel Sadyrin Pavel Fyodorovich Sadyrin (russian: Павел Фёдорович Садырин; 18 September 1942 – 1 December 2001) was a Soviet and Russian footballer and manager. Career Sadyrin played as a midfielder for Zvezda Perm and Zenit Leningra ...
, 1983-87 {, class="wikitable" , - ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Name ! style="color:#fff; background:#348eb9;", Period , - , Vladimir Golubev , 1987 , - , Stanislav Zavidonov , 1988–89 , - , Vladimir Golubev , 1989 , - , Anatoliy Konkov , 1990 , - , Vyacheslav Bulavin , 1990 , - , Yuri Morozov , 1991 , - , Vyacheslav Melnikov , 1992–94 , - ,
Pavel Sadyrin Pavel Fyodorovich Sadyrin (russian: Павел Фёдорович Садырин; 18 September 1942 – 1 December 2001) was a Soviet and Russian footballer and manager. Career Sadyrin played as a midfielder for Zvezda Perm and Zenit Leningra ...
, Jan 1, 1995 – Dec 31, 1996 , - , Anatoliy Byshovets , Jan 1, 1997 – Sep 25, 1998 , - , Anatoli Davydov , 1998–00 , - , Yuri Morozov , 2000–02 , - , Mikhail Biryukov , 2002 , - ,
Boris Rappoport Boris Savelyevich Rappoport (russian: Борис Савельевич Раппопорт; born 1 May 1946) is a Russian professional football coach and a former player. He is the assistant coach with FC Leningradets Leningrad Oblast. External ...
, 2002 , - ,
Vlastimil Petržela Vlastimil Petržela (born 20 July 1953 in Prostějov) is a Czech football coach and former player. He worked with Zenit Saint Petersburg from 2003 to 2006, winning the silver medals of Russian Premier League in 2003 and reaching the quarterfin ...
, Nov 19, 2002 – May 3, 2006 , - , Vladimír Borovička (caretaker) , 2006 , - , Dick Advocaat , July 13, 2006 – Aug 10, 2009 , - , Anatoli Davydov , Aug 10, 2009 – Dec 9, 2009 , - , Luciano Spalletti , Dec 10, 2009 – March 11, 2014 , - , Sergei Semak (caretaker) , March 11, 2014 – March 20, 2014 , - , André Villas-Boas , March 20, 2014 – May 24, 2016 , - , Mircea Lucescu , May 24, 2016 – May 28, 2017 , - ,
Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sam ...
, June 1, 2017 – May 13, 2018 , - , Sergei Semak , May 29, 2018 – present


Zenit in European football

''As of 8 December 2021''


By competition

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" , - !scope="col", Competition !scope="col", Pld !scope="col", W !scope="col", D !scope="col", L !scope="col", GF !scope="col", GA !scope="col", GD !scope="col", Win%Win% is rounded to two decimal places !scope="col", Ref , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;", Champions League / European Cup , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;", Europa League / UEFA Cup /
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup ( ...
, , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;", Super Cup , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;", Intertoto Cup , , - !Total ,


Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Zenit. ;USSR/Russia ;Other former USSR countries ;Europe ;South and Central America ;Asia


Rivalries

Zenit's traditional rivals are the big Moscow clubs, most notably FC Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow,
FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', russian: Дина́мо Москва́ ) is a Russian football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Fo ...
and
FC Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (russian: link=no, ФК "Торпедо" Москва, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow that was founded in 1924 and retur ...
. They also shared rivalries with the big Ukrainian clubs FC Dynamo Kyiv and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the Soviet era.


See also

*
ZFK Zenit Saint Petersburg ZFK Zenit Saint Petersburg (russian: ЖФК Зенит СПб) is the women's team of Russian football club FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. The club participates in the Russian Women's Football Championship, the top division of Russian women footba ...


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zenit Saint Petersburg Association football clubs established in 1925 Football clubs in Saint Petersburg 1925 establishments in Russia FC Soviet Top League clubs Works association football clubs in Russia UEFA Cup winning clubs UEFA Super Cup winning clubs