Petrovsky Stadium

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Petrovsky Stadium

Petrovsky Stadium (Стадион «Петровский») is home arena of FC Zenit of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is located on the Petrograd side in central St. Petersburg on an island in the Malaya Neva River connected to the mainland by a bridge.

1 Capacity
2 History
3 Today
4 External links

[edit] Capacity

Capacity 21.570

[edit] History

The first stadium at this location was designed by architects N.V. Baranov, O.I. Guryev and V.M. Fromzel, and was built in 1924 - 1925. Initially there was much consternation, as building the stadium on an island technically meant it was in international waters^{[citation needed]}, and did not fall under the jurisdiction of the football authorities. In 1957 - 1961 it went through major reconstruction, the largest one before the 1980 Summer Olympics. At that time the capacity was 33,000 seats. On the 14th of May 2008, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg defeated Rangers FC 2-0 to lift their first ever UEFA Cup. It is a turning point in FC Zenit's history because of being the wealthiest club in Eastern Europe they are now a force to be reckoned with in European football by other clubs around the world.

The stadium has received world recognition since hosting the Goodwill Games in 1994. At that time, after a major reconstruction the seating capacity was changed to a more comfortable design with 21,500 seats. All seats are made of weather-proof durable plastic. Seats have different colour, depending on the seating section and proximity to the pit.