Zenit St. Petersburg

Club Overview

FC Zenit St. Petersburg, previously known as LMW and the Stalinets, was formed in 1925. During the Soviet Era, the club had legendary players such as Oleg Salenko and Yuri Vionov, who took the team to many USSR championships. Currently the club is sponsured by the oil company Gazprom, which invested a lot of money into highly talented players such as Andrei Arshavin and Alejandro Dominguez.

Club History

The history of Zenit St. Petersburg FC traces back all the way to the 1925 when a football team was formed by the workers of the Leningrad Metal Works factory, calling themselves LMW. They played mostly in local tournaments. In 1930 the club played in the Leningrad City Championships for the first time.

In 1936 the club renamed itself the "Stalinets". During the USSR Championships, they played in the First Division, and did not make it into the Premier League until 1938. The club reached the National Cup finals in 1939 but lost to Spartak Moscow FC.

The Stalinist changed their name to Zenit in 1940. The team won its first national title, the USSR Cup, under their new name in 1944 defeating CSKA Moscow. Unfortunately, this was the only success that they achieved for a long time.

During the next three decades the team experienced a streak of failures. Their highest achievement was reaching the semi-finals of the National Championship in the 1961 and 1977. In 1967 Zenit was saved from relegation, because the federation decided it wouldn't be prudent to relegate a Leningrad team during the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, which occurred in the city.

Zenit fortunes changed in 1978, when a new coach Yuriy Morozov was brought in to revive the team. In 1980 the club won its first national bronze metal. Morozov was replaced by Pavel Sadyrin in 1983, and the ended in 4th place. However, in 1984 they were runners up in the national cup championship and winners of the USSR Championship for the first time in the team’s history. From that point on it went downhill, until the nineties.

FC Zenit became an independent city owned professional club in 1990. In 1997 the club made it to the Russian Cup semi-finals under the leadership of Byshovets. Then in 1999, Zenit won the competition, under the coaching of ex Zenit player Anatoliy Davydov.

This was the start of a new period of success for Zenit. In 2001 the club won the bronze medal in the Russian Championship under the coaching of Yuriy Morozov. They continued their streak of success into 2003, as they became the Russian Premier League Cup winners under a foreign coach named Dick Advocaat. The Russian oil company "Gazprom" became the main shareholders of the club in 2006, and invested money into talents players for the team. These investments payed as the players such as Alejandro Dominguez helped put the team into to finals of the UEFA Cup, were they are currently competing.

Stars of the Current Squad

Alejandro Damian Dominguez -- Argentinian born Dominguez started playing for Zenit in 2007. He was chosen to play the striker position due to his great dribbling and passing abilities. One of his most notable performances was during a 4-0 victory over Bayern Munich in order to place Zenit into the UEFA Cup finals.

Andrei Arshavin- Arshavin, born in St. Petersburg, is the leading forward for Zenit. He has been playing for Zenit ever since 2000. He won the Russian Premier League Award for the Player of the Season, in 2004, due to his play making abilities.

Club Legends

Oleg Salenko-- Salenko played striker for Zenit from 1986 till 1988, and for the Russian National Team from 93 till 94. He scored five goals in a World Cup match against Cameroon on June 28th 1994, becoming the only player to ever score that many goals in an international game, and winning the Golden Shoe Award. His career ended in 1996 due to health problems.

Yuri Voinov-- Former player and manager. During his career he earned 23 caps for the USSR national football team.

Mikhail Biryukov-- Biryukov is a very renowned goalkeeper in St. Petersburg football. He has the most caps out of any football player to ever play on Zenit. Recently he came back to the club in order to be the goalkeeper's coach.

Player Recognition & Awards

Andrei Arshavin-- Player of the Year 2004, 2004 and 2005 - best second striker according to Sport-Express Russian Footballer of the Year- 2006

Team Honours

* Russian Premier League
         o Winners: 2007
         o Runners-up: 2003
         o Third place: 2001

   * Russian Cup
         o Winners: 1999
         o Runners-up: 2002

   * Russian Premier League Cup
         o Winners: 2003

   * Russian Super Cup
         o Winners: 2008

   * Soviet Top League
         o Winners: 1984

   * Soviet Cup
         o Winners: 1944
         o Runners-up: 1984

   * Soviet Super Cup
         o Winners: 1985

   * Soviet Federation Cup
         o Runners-up: 1986

   * UEFA Cup
         o Finalists: 2008 

Club Management

Aleksandr Dyukov-- Chairman

Dick Advocaat--Head Chairman

Uniforms

Stadium

Zenit FC currently plays at Petrovsky stadium, located on the Petrograd side of St. Petersburg. The Stadium is best know for hosting the Goodwill Games in 1994. A new more modern stadium is currently being built in order to host 62,000 people.

Sponsors

Gazprom

Important Links

http://petrovsky.spb.ru/-- www.fc-zenit.ru-- team website

References

http://www.fc-zenit.ru/eng/page.phtml?id=366 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Zenit_Saint_Petersburg http://www.zenitspb.org/eng/stadium.htm