Zenit St. Petersburg

Zenit St. Petersburg
	Zenit St. Petersburg
Basic data
Surname	Futbolny club "Senit" Sankt-Peterburg
Seat	Saint Petersburg , Russia
founding	1925
Colours	blue-white-light blue
president	Alexander Medvedev
Website	fc-zenit.ru
First soccer team
Head coach	Sergei Semak
Venue	Gazprom Arena
Places	68.134
league	Premjer League
2019/20	master
home	Away

The Futbolny klub "Senit" Sankt-Peterburg ( Russian ФК «Зенит» Санкт-Петербург ), commonly known in German-speaking countries as Zenit St. Petersburg , is a Russian football club from Saint Petersburg that plays in the Premjer league and in the seasons 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2020 Russian champion. In 2008 the team won the UEFA Cup, the first international title in the club's history. The home stadium is the Gazprom Arena .

The association was founded in 1925 under the name Stalinez (Eng. "Stalin", named after Josef Stalin ). In 1940 the club was renamed Zenit Leningrad , with the renaming of Leningrad to Saint Petersburg, it received its current name. In 1938, Zenit played for the first time in the highest Soviet league.

history

Soviet Union

In May 1925, a football team was founded in the Leningrad Stalin Metal Works (Ленинградский металлический завод имени И. В. Сталина) , from which the history of the club is derived.

In the first years of its existence, the team only took part in the district leagues. After the team of the metalworks had strengthened (after strengthening and stabilizing the team), it took part in the city championship for the first time under the name LMS (Leningrad Metalworks). Shortly before the club championships of the USSR were held in 1936, the sports club was named Stalinez Leningrad (Сталинец Ленинград).

During the first three seasons of the USSR Championship, Stalinez only played in Group B (2nd division). In 1938, however, the team from Leningrad rose to Group A (1st league of Soviet football). The following year, Stalinez played in the USSR Cup final against Spartak Moscow - a team that was then considered invincible in the Soviet Union - and lost 3-1. Another year later the club was renamed Zenit Leningrad .

In 1944, during the Second World War , the Leningraders won the USSR Cup for the first time . This made Zenit the first non-Moscow club to win this trophy (2-1 in the final against ZDKA, now CSKA Moscow ). The victory was of great importance for the whole city, especially since they previously only a few months by the Red Army from the blockade of the Armed Forces had been freed.

The club only achieved greater success from the end of the 1970s. From 1978 Zenit had a coach in Yuri Morozov who built a new style of attack and also integrated young Leningrad players into the team. In 1980, Zenit finished 3rd in the USSR league and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time . In the 1981/82 season Zenit had to play against Dynamo Dresden in the UEFA Cup , lost 2-1 at home, 4-1 in Dresden and retired. In 1983 a new coach came with Pawel Sadyrin , the club took 4th place in the league and reached the cup semi-finals. The following year, Zenit became Soviet champions for the first and only time .

Russia

1992-2000

The team from St. Petersburg was one of the founding members of the newly created Russian Supreme League after the collapse of the Soviet Union . After the disappointing 1992 season, the team finished 16th in the relegation round and had to relegate to the second-class 1st division . It took the club three seasons to re-establish itself in the first class. From 1996 to 2000 places in the middle of the table were occupied.

2001-2010

In the 2001 season , third place could be earned for the first time with Yuri Morozov as head coach. Because of an illness, Yuri Morozov gave up his post in 2002; the young team he built became Russian runner-up for the first time in the 2003 season under his successor Vlastimil Petržela , after a disappointing tenth place in 2002 . In the 2002/03 UEFA Cup , FC Encamp from Andorra was defeated in the qualifying round . In the first round, however, the Grasshopper Club Zurich proved too strong for Zenit. Under Vlastimil Petržela, the team finished fourth in the 2004 season and sixth in 2005 . In 2005 Zenit was eliminated from the UEFA Cup after the group stage. After ASKÖ Pasching and FK Roter Stern Belgrade had been defeated in the qualifying rounds . In 2006 , Zenit reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. In the sixteenth final, the team met Rosenborg Trondheim . The first leg in Trondheim was won 2-0. In the second leg in front of their own audience, Zenit defeated the Norwegians 2-1. In the second round, Zenit met Olympique Marseille . After a 1-0 first leg success in Marseille, there was a 1-1 draw in front of their own audience. In the quarter-finals, Zenit was eliminated from the eventual cup winners FC Sevilla . On May 3, 2006, Vlastimil Petržela was released after falling out with the new owners and some players against him.

In July 2006 the Dutchman Dick Advocaat signed with Zenit St. Petersburg. The team finished in fourth place in the 2006 season . In the 2007 season , Zenit St. Petersburg became Russian champions for the first time. This year, Zenit St. Petersburg has grown enormously through play and consistently built it up with generous monetary donations from the main sponsor of the world's largest natural gas production company, Gazprom , which took over the association in December 2005. When they took part in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup , the club faced 1. FC Nürnberg (2-2) in the group stage and defeated Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 and 0-1 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, the team won against favorites Bayern Munich , where the team scored 1-1 in the first leg and defeated the German record champions 4-0 in the following second leg. They won the final against Glasgow Rangers 2-0.

In August 2008 they won the UEFA Super Cup for the first time in Monaco against Manchester United 2-1. The 2008 season ended the team in fifth place. In the group stage of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League , the team finished third in Group H behind Juventus Turin and Real Madrid and ahead of the Belarusian surprise team BATE Baryssau and continued to play in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup . In the sixteenth finals, VfB Stuttgart were defeated 2-1 and 2-1. The round of 16 was lost after 2-0 and 1-0 against Udinese Calcio .

Zenit took part in qualifying for the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League , but lost to Portuguese representatives Nacional Funchal after 3: 4 and 1: 1 in the play-offs. In August 2009, the club announced that it would part ways with Dutch coach Dick Advocaat with immediate effect . Since his contract expired at the end of the season (December 2009) and he publicly admitted to becoming national coach of Belgium afterwards, the team 's performance deteriorated increasingly. His criticism of sports director Igor Kornejew was also decisive for his dismissal. He was replaced by the previous junior coach Anatoly Dawydow. In the 2009 season, the team took third place. In December 2009, the Italian Luciano Spalletti took over the post of head coach at Zenit. The Italian coach won the national cup with his new team in May 2010 and the championship in November .

Since 2011

In the third qualifying round for the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League , Unirea Urziceni was first defeated, but then lost the play-off round to AJ Auxerre . The team from Saint Petersburg continued to play in Group G of the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League , where all six games were won against RSC Anderlecht , AEK Athens and HNK Hajduk Split . In the sixteenth finals, the BSC Young Boys was overcome. In the second round, Zenit had to admit defeat to FC Twente Enschede .

By winning the 2010 championship, the club qualified for the group stage of the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League . The opponents in Group G were FC Porto , Shakhtar Donetsk and APOEL Nicosia . Second in the group behind the Cypriot surprise team, the team made it into the round of 16 for the first time and met Portuguese club Benfica Lisbon , which Zenit lost 3-2 and 0-2.

In 2012, the third championship win followed, which entitled the team from the metropolis on the Neva to participate in the group stage of the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League . In the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, the team fought third behind FC Málaga , AC Milan and ahead of RSC Anderlecht and thus continued to play in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League , where Zenit defeated Liverpool FC in the round of 32. Then Zenit was eliminated against FC Basel in the round of 16.

For the 2012/13 season , Zenit strengthened itself with the Belgian international Axel Witsel from Benfica Lisbon. This transfer cost the club around 40 million euros. In addition, the Brazilian striker and national player Hulk moved from FC Porto to Saint Petersburg for 50 million euros. Despite such notable commitments, the championship title could not be defended. It was enough behind CSKA Moscow only to the runner-up, which Zenit started in the play-off phase of the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League against FC Paços de Ferreira and defeated them after two wins. In the group stage, the team from St. Petersburg faced Atlético Madrid , FC Porto and FK Austria Wien . After the team survived the group stage as the weakest runner-up with six points, last year's finalist Borussia Dortmund was drawn to them for the round of 16 . There Zenit lost 2: 4 at home, then won 2: 1 away and was eliminated from the rest of the competition. On March 11, 2014, Luciano Spalletti was dismissed for failure and replaced on an interim basis by his previous assistant Sergei Semak . In the same month, the Portuguese André Villas-Boas was signed as his successor.

In the 2014/15 season , Zenit, after defeating AEL Limassol and Standard Liège in the qualifying rounds , made it into the group stage of the Champions League and was eliminated from the competition as third in the table. But qualified for the round of 32 of the UEFA Europa League 2014/15 . There Zenit was eliminated in the quarter-finals against Sevilla FC after PSV Eindhoven and Turin FC had been defeated.

After a 1-1 draw at FK Ufa two game days before the end of the 2014/15 season, the club wrapped up the championship in the Premjer League. It is the fourth overall for the team from northwest Russia after the domestic premier league was dominated by CSKA Moscow for two seasons. Thus, the team was directly qualified for the group stage of the Champions League . With FC Valencia , Olympique Lyon and KAA Gent , Zenit completed Group H of the competition. After the fourth match day, the team made it into the last sixteen of the Champions League for the third time in its history by winning four consecutive games, where both games were lost against Portuguese champions Benfica Lisbon . In the Premjer League 2015/16 , the team finished third in the table, won the Russian Cup and thus took part in the group stage of the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League . In May 2016, the Romanian Mircea Lucescu took over the post of head coach at Zenit. Zenit won Group D with AZ Alkmaar , Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dundalk FC , met RSC Anderlecht in the round of 32 and lost 2-0 away and 3-1 on home soil due to the away goal rule.

In the Premjer-Liga 2016/17 Zenit finished third and missed the qualifying places for the Champions League for the second time in a row. Then Lucescu's contract was terminated. Roberto Mancini was introduced as his successor in June 2017. The team recorded five new Argentine signings ( Emanuel Mammana , Leandro Paredes , Matías Kranevitter , Emiliano Rigoni and Sebastián Driussi ) and started in the third qualifying round for the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League , with Bne Jehuda Tel Aviv first and then in the play-offs of FC Utrecht were beaten. In Group L, Zenit met Real Sociedad San Sebastián , Rosenborg Trondheim and Vardar Skopje and reached the table first in the round of sixteen, where Celtic Glasgow was defeated. In the round of 16, Zenit was eliminated against RB Leipzig .

Stadion

The Petrovsky Stadium

From 1950 to 1992, the now demolished Kirov Stadium , which had a total of 72,000 spectators, served as the home ground for Zenit St. Petersburg. In 1993 the team moved to the Petrovsky Stadium , built in 1925 and seating 21,570 spectators, on the small island of the same name in the Little Neva ( Russian Малая Нева ), which was used by the club for home games until April 2017.

New stadium construction

The hopes for the early implementation of the club's plans for a new stadium suitable for the Champions League on the site of the former Kirov Stadium on Krestowski Island (also known as Kreuzinsel) were primarily based on the prominent supporters and the financial strength of the Sponsors.

At the end of 2004, the City Council of Saint Petersburg approved a new stadium. In August 2006, a jury decided on the design by the Japanese architect Kisho Kirokawa. Kirokawa's design for the Gazprom Arena envisaged a pure football stadium for 62,167 spectators, which will have a lockable roof and an extendable lawn, similar to the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen . Construction started in April 2007, the completion planned for 2010 was postponed several times due to difficulties with the building site and exploding construction costs totaling around 930 million euros. The inauguration should take place in 2017 in time for the football World Cup 2018 . In addition, three preliminary round matches and a quarter-finals of the 2021 European Football Championship will be played in the Gazprom Arena . On the club's homepage, the construction progress could be followed with two webcams.

On April 22, 2017, the new arena was inaugurated with Zenit's opening game against the Urals Sverdlovsk Oblast . The home team won 2-0. The first official goalscorer in the stadium was Serbian defender Branislav Ivanović in the 86th minute.

successes

International titles

Zenit St. Petersburg in the final of the UEFA Cup, May 14, 2008.

UEFA Cup - Winner 2008
UEFA Super Cup - Winner 2008

National titles

During the time of the Soviet Union , the club was able to show double success. On the one hand he won the cup in the war year 1944 and on the other hand "Zenit Leningrad" won the championship in 1984 under Pawel Sadyrin . This was followed by the cup wins in 1999, 2010 and 2016, the league cup in 2003 and the successful championships in 2007 , 2010 , 2012 , 2015 as well as 2019 and 2020 . In 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016 the team won the Russian Supercup . With the 1-0 victory in the final of the Russian Cup 2020 over the second division club FK Chimki , Zenit made the second double in the club's history of championship and cup victory after 2010 perfect. Artyom Dzjuba scored the goal of the day with a penalty kick (84th minute of the game). Curious: at the handover of the trophy and the exuberant cheers, the trophy fell down and damaged the captain Branislav Ivanović . The club later apologized for the mishap on Twitter .

Russian champion (6): 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2020

Soviet champion (1): 1984

Russian Cup Winner (4): 1999, 2010, 2016, 2020

Russian cup finalist (1): 2002

Soviet cup winner (1): 1944

Russian Supercup winner (4): 2008, 2011, 2015, 2016

Russian Super Cup finalist (2): 2012, 2013

VIP fans

While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the former St. Petersburg governor (currently chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council) Valentina Matviyenko are unofficially considered fans of Zenit, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, as the chairman of a Moscow VIP fan club, has openly committed to his home club. The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was a lifelong fan of the club. The members of the “Leningrad” band are also avowed supporters of the football club. Several songs have already been published in homage to Zenit.

Current squad 2019/20

Squad 2019/20

Status: February 17, 2020

No.		position	Surname
3	Brazil	FROM	Douglas Santos
4th	Venezuela	FROM	Yordan Osorio
5	Colombia	MF	Wílmar Barrios
6th	Serbia	FROM	Branislav Ivanović
7th	Iran	ST	Sardar Azmoun
8th	Brazil	ST	Malcom
10	Argentina	MF	Emiliano Rigoni
11	Argentina	ST	Sebastián Driussi
14th	Russia	MF	Daler Kuzyaev
15th	Russia	FROM	Vyacheslav Karavaev
17th	Russia	MF	Oleg Shatov
18th	Russia	MF	Yuri Schirkow

No.		position	Surname
19th	Russia	FROM	Igor Smolnikov
21st	Russia	MF	Alexander Yerochin
22nd	Russia	ST	Artyom Djuba
24	Argentina	FROM	Emanuel Mammana
27	Russia	MF	Magomed Osdoyev
38	Russia	MF	Leon Musayev
41	Russia	TW	Mikhail Kerhakov
44	Ukraine	FROM	Yaroslav Rakyzkyj
78	Russia	TW	Aleksandr Vasyutin
91	Russia	MF	Alexei Sutormin
92	Russia	ST	Daniil Schamkin
99	Russia	TW	Andrei Lunev
-	Croatia	FROM	Dejan Lovren

Second team

Zenit St. Petersburg II is also a professional team and has been playing in the second-class 1st division since 2015 . Until then, the team always played in the third-class 2nd division . In the 2014/15 season Zenit St. Petersburg II took second place in the table in the 2nd division, Season West and was thus included in the 1st division, because Torpedo Moscow, as relegated from the Premjer League, voluntarily withdrew from the 1st division withdrew.