FC Zenit Saint Petersburg

FC Zenit

Full name	Football Club Zenit
Nickname(s)	Sine-Belo-Golubye (Blue-White-Light blue) Meshki (Bags) Zenitchiki (anti-aircraft gunners)
Founded	1925; 86 years ago (1925)
Ground	Petrovsky Stadium, Saint-Petersburg (Capacity: 21,405[1])
Owner	Gazprom
Chairman	Aleksandr Dyukov
Head Coach	Luciano Spalletti
League	Russian Premier League
2010	Russian Premier League, 1st (Champions)
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Football Club Zenit (Russian: Футбольный клуб «Зенит», Zenith)^[2] is a Russian football club from the city of Saint-Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Premier League. Zenit were the 2007 and 2010 champions of the Russian Premier League and the winners of both the 2007–08 UEFA Cup and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Before Zenit 1.2 Formation of Zenit 1.3 Zenit in the Soviet League 1.4 Zenit in the Russian League 1.5 Spalletti Era 2 Honours 2.1 UEFA competitions 2.2 Domestic competitions 3 League and Cup history 3.1 Russia 3.2 League results 4 Players 4.1 Current squad 4.1.1 Players not registered 4.1.2 Players out on loan 4.2 Youth Team squad 4.3 Reserve squad 4.4 Team Captains 4.5 Notable players 5 Notable players 6 Board 7 Coaching staff 8 Home stadium 8.1 Management 9 Kit makers 10 Presidents 11 Head coaches 12 UEFA ranking 13 Partnership 14 References 15 External links

History

Before Zenit

Zenit's history is tightly connected with the turbulent political history of Saint-Petersburg, Russia (also called "Petrograd" and "Leningrad" at times in its history).

In 1897, the first football match in Russia was held in Saint-Petersburg on Vasilievsky Island, 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 date back to the beginning of the 20th century, to several predecessor teams in Saint-Petersburg that were playing locally. The oldest documented predecessor of Zenit was team "Murzinka", founded in 1914, which played in the same Obukhovsky stadium from 1914 until 1924, when the team became to be 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 Leningradsky Metallichesky Zavod (Leningrad Metal Plant); they were called the "Stalinets" in the 1930s. (Stalinets translates literally to English as "Stalinists"; 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. In 1939, during the rule of Joseph Stalin, 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

"FC Zenit"

In final 1944.

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 Soviet leadership 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 and film star Kirill Lavrov were well-known as ardent supporters of Zenit, a passion that is reflected in their attendance of many games.

FC Zenit won the bronze medal in 1980. They reached Soviet Cup Final and won 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, and won the Russian Premier League Cup in 2003.

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 have been under Dick Advocaat^[3] 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 game 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 1–0 home loss to Bayer 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 the club's history, where they met the Scottish team Rangers at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester 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. Andrei Arshavin was named man of the match.^[4] Zenit's Pavel Pogrebnyak became the top scorer of that year's tournament.^[5]

On 29 August 2008, at the Stade Louis II in Monaco, Zenit defeated Manchester United 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. Danny was named for man of the match in his debut for Zenit.

In the UEFA Champions League 2008–09 group stage Zenit was grouped with Real Madrid, Juventus, and BATE in Group H, which by some was marked as the group of death. Unfortunately the team finished in third place in Group H, behind Juventus and Real Madrid and was unable to progress to the knockout phase of the competition. However this position was good enough to earn the club a place in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup last 32 where the team faced Stuttgart of Germany for a place in the last 16 of the competition. This allowed the club a shot to defend the trophy that they won the previous season in Manchester. However after defeating Stuttgart on away goals, they went on to lose 2–1 over two legs against Udinese.

Spalletti Era

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 wanted him to return the Russian Premier League title, win the Russian Cup, and go through the group stage of the Champions League in his first year.

Zenit won the Russian Cup on 16 May 2010, beating FC Sibir Novosibirsk in the final (having beaten Volga Tver in the quarterfinal and Amkar Perm in the semifinal). After 16 games in the 2010 Premier League, with 12 wins and four draws, under Spalletti Zenit have obtained 40 points. This set a new Russian Premier League record for most points won at that stage of the campaign. In the summer transfer window of 2010, Spalletti made his first signings: forward Aleksandr Bukharov and midfielder Sergei Semak came from Rubin Kazan; defenders Aleksandar Lukovic from Udinese and Bruno Alves from FC Porto. On 25 August 2010, Zenit lost its first game under Spalletti to AJ Auxerre and failed to advance to the Champions League group stage, but Zenit moved on to play in UEFA Europa League. On 3 October 2010, 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 2010, Zenit suffered its first defeat of the season at the hands of rival club Spartak Moscow, seven games short of finishing the championship undefeated. On 14 November, Zenit won FC Rostov and 2 games prior to the end of the season won the championship title. This champions title became the first in Spalletti's career. Also Zenit went through to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in first place to the 1/16 stage. In the UEFA Europa League, in the 1/16 stage Zenit beat BSC Young Boys. On 6 March 2011 Zenit won against PFC CSKA Moscow in the Russian Super Cup, it became the third Russian trophy under Spalletti, after that all domestic Russian cups Zenit won under the Italian coach. On 17 March 2011 Zenit lost in UEFA Europa League FC Twente 2–3 aggregate in 1/8 stage.

In 2011–12 UEFA Champions League Zenit started in group stage drawed into group G alongside Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and APOEL. On 6 December 2011 Zenit finished the group stage in second place and for first time in club's history qualified for the spring knockout phase of Champions League.

Honours

UEFA competitions

• UEFA Cup
  • Winners: 2008
• UEFA Super Cup
  • Winners: 2008

Domestic competitions

Russia

• Russian Premier League
  • Winners: 2007, 2010
• Russian Cup
  • Winners: 1999, 2010
• Russian Premier League Cup
  • Winners: 2003
• Russian Super Cup
  • Winners: 2008, 2011

Soviet Union

• Soviet Top League
  • Winners: 1984
• Soviet Cup
  • Winners: 1944
• Soviet Super Cup
  • Winners: 1984

League and Cup history

Soviet Union

Russia

League results

Players

Current squad

As of 31 August 2011. According to RFPL and FC Zenit

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 2 DF Aleksandr Anyukov (captain) 3 DF Bruno Alves 4 DF Domenico Criscito 6 DF Nicolas Lombaerts 8 FW Danko Lazović 9 FW Aleksandr Bukharov 10 MF Danny 11 FW Aleksandr Kerzhakov 14 DF Tomáš Hubočan 15 MF Roman Shirokov 16 GK Vyacheslav Malafeev 17 MF Alessandro Rosina

No. Position Player 18 MF Konstantin Zyryanov (2nd vice-captain) 20 MF Viktor Fayzulin 22 GK Dmitri Borodin 23 MF Szabolcs Huszti 24 DF Aleksandar Luković 25 MF Sergei Semak 27 MF Igor Denisov (1st vice-captain) 28 DF Michael Lumb 30 GK Yuri Zhevnov 34 MF Vladimir Bystrov 50 DF Igor Cheminava 57 MF Aleksei Ionov

Squad number 12 is reserved for Zenit's supporters.

For recent transfers, see List of Russian football transfers summer 2011 and List of Russian football transfers winter 2010–11.

Players not registered

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player - DF Sébastien Puygrenier

Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 99 FW Maksim Kanunnikov (at Tom Tomsk until July 2012) FW Yevgeni Starikov (at Tom Tomsk until July 2012)

Youth Team squad

As of 7 September 2011.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 55 DF Sergei Kostin 63 DF Denis Terentyev 68 MF Vyacheslav Zinkov 69 DF Alexander Manyukov 70 FW Vyacheslav Sushkin 71 GK Yegor Baburin 73 FW Stanislav Murikhin 74 MF Ovidius Verbickas 77 MF Aleksandr Petrov 78 FW Artyom Patrelyak 79 DF Artyom Deyneko 80 MF Maksim Batov 81 GK Pavel Dronov

No. Position Player 83 MF Andrei Vasilyev 84 FW Sergey Tsyganov 85 FW Pavel Mogilevets 87 MF Aleksey Kayukov 88 DF Dmitri Telegin 90 FW Ilya Yeronin 91 GK Andrei Zaytsev 92 MF Nikita Bocharov 93 MF Aleksei Panfilov 95 FW Pavel Shuvalov 96 MF Yevgeni Bashkirov 97 FW Vladislav Sirotov

Reserve squad

Zenit's reserve squad played professionally as Zenit-2 (Russian Second League 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 fulfull Zenit's initial expectations.

Team Captains

Team Captains in Russian championships.

Name	Years
Oleg Dmitriyev	1993–1994
Vladimir Kulik	1995–1996
Yuriy Vernydub	1997–2000
Andrey Kobelev	2000–2001
Aleksei Igonin	2001–2003
Vladislav Radimov	2003–2007
Andrey Arshavin	2007
Erik Hagen	2007
Anatoliy Tymoshchuk	2007–2009
Vyacheslav Malafeev	2009
Aleksandr Anyukov	2009 –

Notable players

• For all FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players with a Wikipedia article see Category: FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players

.

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 Mikhail Biryukov Vasiliy Danilov Sergey Dmitriev Vladimir Golubev Aleksandr Ivanov Leonid Ivanov Anzor Kavazashvili Vladimir Kazachyonok Nikolay Larionov Fridrikh Maryutin Sergei Salnikov Sergei Shvetsov Yuri Voinov Anatoli Zinchenko Vasili Kulkov Dmitri Radchenko Valeri Broshin Aleksandr Anyukov Andrei Arshavin Aleksandr Bukharov Vladimir Bystrov Maksim Demenko Igor Denisov Aleksei Igonin Aleksei Ionov Aleksandr Kerzhakov Andrey Kobelev Sergei Kolotovkin Andrei Kondrashov Vladimir Kulik a Vladimir Lebed Vyacheslav Malafeev Aleksandr Panov Sergei Podpaly Pavel Pogrebnyak Vladislav Radimov

Sergey Semak Igor Semshov Roman Shirokov Denis Zubko Konstantin Zyryanov Alexandr Gorshkov Oleg Salenko Former USSR countries Roman Berezovsky Sargis Hovsepyan Yervand Krbachyan Dzmitry Aharodnik Barys Haravoy Syarhyey Hyerasimets Sergey Kornilenko Yuri Zhevnov Andrei Kurdyumov Peter Neustadter Yevgeni Tarasov Egidijus Majus Darius Miceika Robertas Poskus Irmantas Stumbrys Serghei Clescenco Alexandru Curtianu Andrei Manannikov Vazgen Manasyan Dmitri Khomukha Dmitri Nezhelev Volodymyr Horily Roman Maksymyuk Serhiy Popov Oleksandr Spivak Hennadiy Popovych b Oleksandr Svystunov Anatoliy Tymoschuk Ihor Zhabchenko

Europe Nicolas Lombaerts Darko Maletic Ivica Krizanac Pavel Mares Radek Sirl Michael Lumb Szabolcs Huszti Domenico Criscito Alessandro Rosina Mikhail Zaritskiy Dragan Cadikovski Velice Sumulikoski Fernando Ricksen Erik Hagen Bruno Alves Danny Fernando Meira Mateja Kezman Danko Lazovic Aleksandar Lukovic Kamil Contofalsky Tomas Hubocan Martin Skrtel Fatih Tekke Asia Hyun Young-Min Kim Dong-Jin Lee Ho

• ^a Used to be the team top scorer for 5 years in succession.
• ^b Used to be the team top scorer and died, being the club's academy coach.

Board

• President – Aleksandr Dyukov
• General Director – Maxim Mitrofanov
• Sporting Director – Igor Korneev
• Deputy General Directors – Dmitri Mankin, Ilya Gerkus, Rosteslav Leontyev, Zhanna Dembo, Yury Andreevich

Coaching staff

• Head coach - Luciano Spalletti
• Coaches – Daniele Baldini, Marco Domenichini, Igor Simutenkov, Nikolay Vorobyov
• Goalkeeping Coach – Mikhail Biryukov
• Team Manager – Fyodor Lunnov

Home stadium

Zenit's home ground is now the Petrovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg. Petrovsky Stadium has a capacity of 21,570 people.

In 2007, the club's former home base at the Kirov Stadium was demolished, to be replaced with a new stadium built for Zenit, Gazprom Arena.

The new football stadium in Saint Petersburg is currently under construction; as of 2007, it was expected to be completed before the 2009 season.^[6] Once completed, it will host Zenit's home matches. The stadium will have a capacity of 62,000 people.^[7]

In December 2005, Gazprom 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 and invested over $100 million, buying new players and building the new stadium.

Management

• Henk van Stee – Academy Director
• Evgeny Koshelev – Assistant Academy director
• Vasily Kostrovsky – Director of the “Smena” study-practice complex

Kit makers

• 1997-2000, 2005-2007 - Adidas
• 2001-2002 - Diadora
• 2003-2004 - Umbro
• 2008-2009 - Puma
• 2010-Present - Nike

Presidents

Name	Years
Vladislav Gusev	1990–1992
Leonid Tufrin	1992–1994
Vitaly Mutko	1995–2003
David Traktovenko	2003–2005
Sergey Fursenko	2006–2008
Alexander Dyukov	2008 –

Head coaches

Name	Years
Pyotr Filippov	1936–37, 1940
Mikhail Yudenich	1938–39
Konstantin Egorov	1938–39
Konstantin Lemeshev	1941–45, 1948–50
Mikhail Butusov	1946
Ivan Talanov	1946–48
Georgiy Lasin	1950–51
Vladimir Lemeshev	1952–54
Nikolay Lyukshinov	1954–55
Arkadiy Alov	1956–57, 1967
Georgiy Zharkov	1957–60
Gennadiy Bondarenko	1960
Evgeniy Eliseev	1961–64
Valentin Fedorov	1964–66
Artem Falyan	1968–70
Yevgeniy Goryanskiy	1970–72
German Zonin	1973–77
Yuri Morozov	1977–82, 1991, 2000–02
Pavel Sadyrin	1983–87, 1995–96
Vladimir Golubev	1987, 1989
Stanislav Zavidonov	1988–89
Anatoliy Kon'kov	1990
Vyacheslav Bulavin	1990
Vyacheslav Melnikov	1992–94
Anatoliy Byshovets	1997–98
Anatoli Davydov	1998-00, 2009
Mikhail Biryukov	2002
Boris Rappoport	2002
Vlastimil Petržela	2003–06
Dick Advocaat	2006–09
Luciano Spalletti	2009–

UEFA ranking

Club Ranking for 2010/2011 Euro Season (Previous year rank in italics, UEFA Club Coefficients in parentheses)

• 29 (35) FC Schalke 04 (61.887)
• 30 (44) Dynamo Kyiv (60.776)
• 31 (26) Zenit St. Petersburg (60.441)
• 32 (29) Panathinaikos FC (57.833)
• 33 (31) Rangers F.C. (56.028)
• Full List

Partnership

• FC Schalke 04
• FC Red Star Belgrade
• FC Shakhtar Donetsk

References

External links

Official websites

• en.FC-Zenit.ru English-language version of FC Zenit’s official web-site
• FC-Zenit.ru Official club website
• Zenit at the UEFA official website

Official merchandise

• ZenitShop

General fan sites

• FC Zenit RusFan Club
• Landscrown
• ZenitVideo.ru
• FC-Zenit.com.ru
• FC Zenit Saint Petersburg & Russian Football Fans Forum

Football Club Zenit Saint Petersburg Players · Managers · Seasons · Matches · Results · Honours · Current squad Presidents Mutko · Fursenko · Dyukov Home stadium Kirov Stadium · Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex · Petrovsky Stadium · New Zenit Stadium Season articles 2002 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011–12 Related articles Academy · 2008 UEFA Cup Final riots Other teams Zenit-2 · Smena-Zenit

2011–12 UEFA Champions League Playing in the round of 16 APOEL · Arsenal · Barcelona · Basel · Bayer Leverkusen · Bayern Munich · Benfica · Chelsea · CSKA Moscow · Internazionale · Lyon · Marseille · Milan · Napoli · Real Madrid · Zenit St. Petersburg Eliminated in the group stage Ajax · BATE Borisov · Borussia Dortmund · Dinamo Zagreb · Genk · Lille · Manchester City · Manchester United · Olympiacos · Oțelul Galați · Porto · Shakhtar Donetsk · Trabzonspor · Valencia · Viktoria Plzeň · Villarreal Eliminated in the play-off round Champions: Copenhagen · Maccabi Haifa · Malmö FF · Sturm Graz · Wisła Kraków Non-champions: Odense · Rubin Kazan · Twente · Udinese · Zürich Eliminated in the third qualifying round Champions: Ekranas · HJK Helsinki · Litex Lovech · Maribor · Partizan · Rangers · Rosenborg · Shamrock Rovers · Slovan Bratislava · Zestafoni Non-champions: Dynamo Kyiv · Panathinaikos · Standard Liège · Vaslui Eliminated in the second qualifying round Bangor City · Breiðablik · Borac Banja Luka · Dacia Chişinău · F91 Dudelange · HB Tórshavn · Linfield · Mogren · Neftchi Baku · Pyunik · Skënderbeu Korçë · Škendija · Skonto · Tobol Kostanay · Valletta · Videoton Eliminated in the first qualifying round FC Santa Coloma · Tre Fiori Round and draw dates · Qualifying phase and play-off round · Group stage · Knockout phase · Final

Russian Premier League · 2011–12 teams Amkar Perm · Anzhi Makhachkala · CSKA Moscow · Dynamo Moscow · Krasnodar · Krylia Sovetov Samara · Kuban Krasnodar · Lokomotiv Moscow · Rostov · Rubin Kazan · Spartak Moscow · Spartak Nalchik · Terek Grozny · Tom Tomsk · Volga Nizhny Novgorod · Zenit Saint Petersburg Winter 2010-11 transfers · Summer 2011 transfers · Winter 2011-12 transfers · Summer 2012 transfers · Foreign players