FC Zenit St. Petersburg
| Full name | Football Club Zenit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | (Blue-White-Sky Blues)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1925 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg (Capacity: 21,570 [1]) |
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| Owner |  Gazprom |
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| Chairman | Aleksandr Dyukov |
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| Head Coach |  Dick Advocaat |
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| League | Russian Premier League | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | 5th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Current season |
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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.[2] 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.
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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 World War 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[3], as of 2007. Once completed in December 2008,[4] it will host the home matches of FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. The stadium will have a capacity of 62,000 people.[4] 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[2] 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.[5] Zenit's Pavel Pogrebnyak became the top scorer of that years tournment.[6]
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.[7]
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 and Cup history
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Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Domestic Cup Europe 1936(spring) 2nd 3 6 9 9 13 1936(autumn) 2nd 6 7 6 13 12 Round of 16 1937 2nd 4 12 22 18 25 Round of 128 1938 1st 14 25 7 10 8 38 57 24 Round of 16 1939 1st 11 26 7 7 12 30 46 21 Runner-up 1940 1st 10 24 6 6 12 37 42 18 1944 Winner 1945 1st 6 8 7 7 35 31 23 Semi-final 1946 1st 9 22 5 5 12 22 45 15 Round of 16 1947 1st 6 24 10 2 12 35 49 22 Quarter-final 1948 1st 13 26 4 9 13 29 48 17 Round of 16 1949 1st 5 34 17 8 9 48 48 42 Quarter-final 1950 1st 6 36 19 5 12 70 59 43 Quarter-final 1951 1st 7 28 10 8 10 36 40 28 Round of 16 1952 1st 7 13 6 2 5 20 21 14 Quarter-final 1953 1st 5 20 11 1 8 25 21 23 Round of 16 1954 1st 7 24 8 7 9 27 26 23 Semi-final 1955 1st 8 22 5 8 9 23 36 18 Round of 16 1956 1st 9 22 4 11 7 27 43 19 1957 1st 10 22 4 7 11 23 41 15 Round of 16 1958 1st 4 22 9 8 5 41 32 26 Round of 16 1959 1st 8 22 8 4 10 29 38 20 1960 1st 15 30 14 5 11 47 37 33 Round of 32 1961 1st 13 32 12 8 12 50 52 32 Semi-final 1962 1st 11 32 11 7 14 53 42 29 Round of 32 1963 1st 6 38 14 17 7 45 32 45 Round of 32 1964 1st 11 32 9 9 14 30 35 27 Round of 16 1965 1st 9 32 10 12 10 32 32 32 Round of 32 1966 1st 16 36 10 8 18 35 54 28 Round of 16 1967 1st 19 36 6 9 21 28 63 21 Round of 32 1968 1st 11 38 10 14 14 35 49 34 Round of 32 1969 1st 9 26 6 9 11 21 34 21 Round of 16 1970 1st 14 32 10 7 15 30 40 27 Quarter-final 1971 1st 13 30 8 10 12 29 32 26 Quarter-final 1972 1st 7 30 11 11 8 44 30 33 Quarter-final 1973 1st 11 30 9 12 9 33 35 21 Round of 16 1974 1st 7 30 8 15 7 36 41 31 Round of 16 1975 1st 14 30 7 10 13 27 42 24 Round of 16 1976(spring) 1st 13 15 4 5 6 14 15 13 1976(autumn) 1st 5 15 6 4 5 22 16 16 Round of 16 1977 1st 10 30 8 12 10 34 33 28 Semi-final 1978 1st 10 30 9 8 13 31 46 26 Quarter-final 1979 1st 10 34 11 9 14 41 45 30 Group stage 1980 1st 3 34 16 10 8 51 42 42 Group Stage 1981 1st 15 34 9 10 15 33 43 28 Round of 16 1982 1st 7 34 12 9 13 44 41 33 Group stage UC First round 1983 1st 4 34 15 11 8 42 32 40 Semi-final 1984 1st 1 34 19 9 6 60 32 47 Runner-up 1985 1st 6 34 14 7 13 48 38 35 Semi-final 1986 1st 4 30 12 9 9 44 36 33 Semi-final ECC Second round 1987 1st 14 30 7 10 13 25 37 24 Round of 16 1988 1st 6 30 11 9 10 35 34 31 Round of 16 UC First round 1989 1st 16 30 5 9 16 24 48 19 Round of 16 1990 2nd 26 38 8 14 16 35 41 30 Round of 32 UC Second round 1991 2nd 18 42 11 14 17 44 50 36 Round of 32
League results
Current squad
The players in bold have senior international caps.
- As of 28 August 2008.[8]
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Squad number 12 is reserved for Zenit's supporters.
U-21 squad
- As of 28 August 2008.[9]
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Notable players
USSR
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Russia
(Included are players who were capped for Russia and those who were ever in the RFS 33 Best Players of the Season list)
Notable players
Trivia
References
External links
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