FC Zenit St. Petersburg

Football club infobox
clubname = FC Zenit Saint Petersburg


fullname = Football Club Zenit
nickname = "Sine-belo-golubye"
(Blue-White-Sky Blues) [cite news |url=http://www.fc-zenit.ru/eng/page.phtml?id=160 |title=The Official Zenit FC Website - Club - General information |publisher=fc-zenit.ru |accessdate=2008-03-27]
founded = 1925
ground = Petrovsky Stadium,
Saint Petersburg
capacity = 21,570 [http://www.petrovsky.spb.ru/stadium/id/15]
owner = flagicon|RUS Gazprom
chairman = flagicon|RUS Aleksandr Dyukov
mgrtitle = Head Coach
manager = flagicon|Netherlands Dick Advocaat
league = Russian Premier League
season = 2007
position = Russian Premier League, 1st
position = 1st
pattern_la1=_shouldersonwhite |pattern_b1=_cuciturerev |pattern_ra1=_shouldersonwhite
leftarm1=000080 |body1=000080 |rightarm1=000080 |shorts1=FFFFFF |socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=_whiteshoulders |pattern_b2=_cucitureb |pattern_ra2=_whiteshoulders
leftarm2=000080 |body2=000080 |rightarm2=000080 |shorts2=000080 |socks2=000080
pattern_la3=_shoulder_stripes_white_stripes_half
pattern_b3=_thinwhitesides|pattern_ra3=
leftarm3=00CCFF|body3=00CCFF|rightarm3=00CCFF|shorts3=00CCFF |socks3=00CCFF

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russian: ФК "Зенит" Санкт-Петербург) is a Russian football club from Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914 according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Premier League and currently is the richest in the country, due to the sponsorship of Gazprom.cite news |date=2007-01-19 |url=http://www.uefa.com/magazine/news/kind=134217728/newsid=497842.html |title=Gazprom fuels Zenit dream |publisher=uefa.com |accessdate=2007-08-08] Zenit are the 2007 champions of the Russian Premier League, the holders of the 2008 UEFA Cup and of the 2008 UEFA Super Cup after beating Manchester United 2-1 in Monaco.

History

Before Zenit

The story of FC Zenit is tightly connected with the turbulent political history of Saint Petersburg - Petrograd - Leningrad, Russia.

In 1897 the first football match in Russia was held in Saint Petersburg on Vasilyevsky Ostrov, 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. At the same time several formal football clubs were founded in Saint Petersburg, mainly around large industrial companies. However, players' membership was unofficial and very loose, sometimes allowing the same players to play for several different teams during the same season.

Formation of Zenit

The original team Zenit stemmed from several football teams, which changed names and owners many times during the Soviet era after the Revolution of 1917. 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 Saint Petersburg date back to the beginning of the 20th century, to several predecessor teams in Saint Petersburg, which were playing locally. The oldest documented predecessor of "Zenit" was team "Murzinka" founded in 1914, which played exactly on the same "Obukhovsky" stadium from 1914 until 1924, when the team became called "Bolshevik" (the new name for "Obukhovsky" industry and its stadium). The team and stadium survived the drama of WW I, the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, and the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922.

In 1925, another predecessor team of Zenit was formed of workers from the Leningrad Metal Plant LMZ, it was called "Stalinets" in the 1930s. Historians had documented that both teams predecessors of "Zenit" were playing independently until their official merger in the end of 1939. "Stalinets" was 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 to FC Zenit, three years before "Stalinets" was merged with it. In 1939, during the rule of Joseph Stalin, FC Zenit was ordered to take in members of the metallurgical workers' team, called "Stalinets" Leningrad (translated as "Stalinist"). At that time the Leningrad Metal Plant (LMZ) became part of the military industry and its sports teams, players and managers were transferred to the Zenit sports society. After the end of the 1939 season, Stalinets was merged with Zenit which played in the second division.

Zenit in the Soviet League

FC Zenit won their first honours in 1944, claiming the war-time USSR Cup after defeating CSKA in the well-attended final. The club was always adored in Leningrad but wasn't able to make much of an impact in the Soviet League. In 1967, Zenit finished last but were saved from relegation because the powers that were decided it wouldn't be prudent to relegate a Leningrad team during the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, which occurred in the city.

Composer Dmitry Shostakovich, Russian future President Dmitry Medvedev and film star Kirill Lavrov were well-known as ardent supporters of Zenit, a passion that is reflected in their attendance of many games, personal correspondence as well as official reports.

FC Zenit won the bronze medal in 1980, achieved Soviet Cup Final 1984 and, finally, won the Soviet League title in 1984. Next year, Zenit beat Soviet Cup holder in Soviet Super Cup (also named as 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 was re-registered as the 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 and won the Russian Premier League Cup in 2003.

In December 2005 Gazprom took a controlling stake in the club. The deal was announced by Valentina Matviyenko, the Saint Petersburg governor. Gazprom, who bought the majority of the club and invested over a hundred million dollars into buying new players and building a new stadium, the Zenit Stadium, with a capacity of over 60,000 people.

The home ground of FC Zenit is now at Petrovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg. In 2007, the club's former home base at the Kirov Stadium was demolished, to be replaced with a new stadium for FC Zenit.

The new football stadium in St. Petersburg, Russia is currently under construction [ru icon [http://www.gorzakaz.org/news.php?id=3848 St. Petersburg Gorzakaz construction tender announcement] ] , as of 2007. Once completed in December 2008, [http://www.fc-zenit.ru/info/page.phtml?id=340 New stadium] at Zenit's website ru icon] it will host the home matches of FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. The stadium will have a capacity of 62,000 people. The name of the future stadium would be Gazprom Arena.

Although Zenit reached the quarterfinal of the UEFA Cup in 2006, a mediocre start to the league season led to the summer replacement of coach Vlastimil Petržela. Since July 2006, Zenit has been under the experienced and respected Dick Advocaat Advocaat works together with his Assistant Manager, former Netherlands National Youth Team coach, Cornelius Pot.

Zenit won the 2007 Russian Premier League, their best league achievement since winning the USSR Championship in 1984. That allowed them to compete in the group stage of the Champions League 2008-09. In 2008 Zenit won the Russian Super Cup and reached the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup for the second time in their history. In the first leg of the quarter final away against Bayer Leverkusen from Germany, 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 0-1 home loss to Bayer 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 Munich 5-1 on aggregate and going through to the UEFA Cup final for the first time in the club's history, where they met the Scottish team Rangers at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester on 14 May. Zenit won Glasgow Rangers F.C. 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. Andrei Arshavin was named man of the match. [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/news/kind=1/newsid=696278.html] Zenit's Pavel Pogrebnyak became the top scorer of that years tournment. [http://www.soccerassociation.com/UEFA/0708/index.htm.]

29 August 2008,at Stade Louis II,Monaco, Zenit defeated Manchester United F.C. in the 2008 UEFA Super Cup with a result of 2-1. Pavel Pogrebnyak scored the first goal and Danny Alves scored the second. Danny was named for man of the match in his debut for Zenit. For the first time in history a Russian club won this European competition.

In the UEFA Champions League 2008–09 group stage Zenit was grouped with Real Madrid C.F., Juventus F.C., and FC BATE in group H, which by some was marked as the group of death. [http://www.zimbio.com/Spain+Soccer/articles/1822/CHAMPIONS+LEAGUE+2008+09+DRAW+REAL+MADRID]

Achievements

* UEFA Super Cup:1
** 2008

* UEFA Cup:1
** 2007-08

* Russian Premier League:1
** 2007

* Russian Cup:1
** 1999

* Russian Premier League Cup:1
** 2003

* Russian Super Cup:1
** 2008

* Soviet Top League:1
** 1984

* Soviet Cup:1
** 1944

* Soviet Super Cup:1
** 1985

League results

ImageSize = width:600 height:60PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyyDateFormat = dd/mm/yyyyPeriod = from:01/01/1991 till:01/07/2008ScaleMajor = 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: 13 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:01/01/1991 till:01/07/1992 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "RPL" from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1995 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "1D" from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/2008 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "Russian Premier League"

Current squad

The players in bold have senior international caps.

: "As of 28 August 2008." [According to [http://fc-zenit.ru/eng/squad.phtml?id=1 Zenit official site] ]

Squad number 12 is reserved for Zenit's supporters ("The twelfth man").

U-21 squad

: "As of 28 August 2008." [According to [http://rfpl.org/clubs.shtml?team=3&act=players Russian Premier League official site] ]

Notable players

USSR

Russia

"(Included are players who were capped for Russia and those who were ever in the RFS 33 Best Players of the Season list)"

Trivia

* After Zenit won the championship title in 2007, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko known as a fan of the team, waved a Zenit shirt with Anatoliy Tymoschuk's name on it while in space. Zenit became the first team to have its uniform shown in space. [ [http://www.sports.ru/football/5284002.html Будущему музею «Зенита» передадут подарок из космоса - Футбол - Sports.ru ] ]

References

External links

; Official websites
* [http://www.fc-zenit.ru/ FC-Zenit.ru] Official club website
* [http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/club=52826/domestic.html Zenit] at the UEFA official website

; General fan sites
* [http://www.landscrona.ru/ Landscrown]
* [http://zenitvideo.ru/ ZenitVideo.ru]