Football Club Zenit (Russian: Футбольный клуб «Зенит», romanized: Futbolny klub "Zenit", pronounced [fʊdˈbolʲnɨj ˈklub zʲɪˈnʲit]), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Premier League and are the reigning champions. They won the 2007, 2010, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2025–26 seasons of the Russian Premier League, as well as the 2007–08 UEFA Cup and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup. The club is owned and sponsored by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The team plays its home matches at the Gazprom Arena. On 24 May 2023, Zenit became the first Russian sports club with 10 million followers on social media.
Contents
History
Before Zenit
Zenit's history is tightly connected with the political history of Saint Petersburg, Russia (also called "Petrograd" and "Leningrad" at times in its history). In 1897, the first officially-recorded 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.
Formation of Zenit
The original Zenit team stemmed from several football teams, which changed names and owners many times during the Soviet era after the Revolution of 1917, as 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 the team "Murzinka," founded in 1914, which played in the Obukhovsky stadium from 1914 until 1924, when the team came to be known as "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 to 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 "Stalinist"; however, in Russian, the name is a play on words as stal means "steel".) 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. The name Zenit means "Zenith".
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
Zenit won their first honours in 1944, claiming the war-time USSR Cup after defeating CSKA Moscow in the well-attended final. The club was always adored in Leningrad, but was not able to make much of a significant impact in the Soviet League. In 1967, Zenit finished last but were saved from relegation because the Soviet leadership decided it would not 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. Zenit won the bronze medal in 1980, also reaching the Soviet Cup Final and winning 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. In 1992, After being relegated in the first year of the Russian League, 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.
Gazprom era
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.
Although Zenit reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2006, a mediocre start to the league season led to the summer replacement of coach Vlastimil Petržela. In July 2006, Dick Advocaat took over as Zenit's manager. Advocaat worked together with his assistant manager, former Netherlands national youth team coach Cor Pot. Zenit won the 2007 Russian Premier League—their best league achievement since winning the USSR Championship in 1984—allowing them to compete in the group stage of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League.
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 German side Bayer Leverkusen, 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 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 club history, where they met Scottish side Rangers at the City of Manchester Stadium in 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. Andrey Arshavin was named man of the match.
On 29 August 2008, at the Stade Louis II in Monaco, Zenit then 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, the latter being named man of the match in his debut for Zenit.
In the 2008–09 Champions League group stage, Zenit was grouped with Real Madrid, Juventus and BATE Borisov in Group H, which by some was marked as the "group of death." Zenit ultimately finished in third place in the group, behind Juventus and Real Madrid, and was thus unable to progress to the knockout phase of the competition. This position, however, was good enough to earn the club a place in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup last 32, where the team faced VfB Stuttgart for a place in the last 16 of the competition. After defeating Stuttgart on away goals, Zenit went on to lose 2–1 over two legs against Italian club Udinese.
Stadiums
Zenit's home ground is now the 67,800-capacity Krestovsky Stadium, known as Gazprom Arena for sponsorship reasons, in Saint Petersburg. Petrovsky Stadium used to be the home ground of the team before the new Krestovsky Stadium was built. Before moving to the Petrovsky Stadium, Zenit's home ground was the Kirov Stadium. It stood on the site where the Krestovsky Stadium was later erected.
Honours
Domestic competitions
Soviet Top League / Russian Premier League
Champions (12): 1984, 2007, 2010, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2025–26
Soviet Cup / Russian Cup
Winners (6): 1944, 1998–99, 2009–10, 2015–16, 2019–20, 2023–24
Runners-up: 1939, 1984, 2001–02
Soviet Super Cup / Russian Super Cup
Winners (11) (record): 1984, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026
Runners-up: 2012, 2013, 2019
USSR Federation Cup / Russian Premier League Cup
Winners: 2003
Runners-up: 1986
Soviet First League / Russian National Football League
Runners-up: 1993 (Center)
International competitions
UEFA Cup
Winners: 2007–08
UEFA Super Cup
Winners: 2008
The Atlantic Cup
Winners (2): 2016, 2022
League and cup history
Players
Current squad
As of 14 August 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Other players under contract
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Players at Zenit-2
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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 fulfill Zenit's initial expectations. Zenit-2 reentered professional football in the 2013–14 season in the Russian Professional Football League.
Club officials
Board of directors
Source: fc-zenit.ru
In July 2023, by decision of the board of directors, a new executive body, the board, was created at Zenit. The purpose of creating a new structure is to streamline the decision-making process and increase the planning horizon. The board included CEO Konstantin Zyryanov as chairman, his deputies and heads of departments Andrey Arshavin, Alexander Vasilyev, Zhanna Dembo, Oleg Zadubrovsky, Vladimir Litvinov, Alexey Pak, Maxim Pogorelov, head coach Sergey Semak.
Management
Source: http://fc-zenit.ru/zenit/coaches/
Partnership
Other football clubs
Red Star Belgrade
Sepahan
Corporations
Winline
MegaFon
The Aeroflot Group
FUN&SUN
LADA
Rostelecom
Weissgauff
Kinopoisk
Astra Group
Yandex Plus
Icecream Chistaya Liniya
Bookmaker Ratings
Nonton
Vedomosti Sport
Sovetsky Sport
Metaratings
Jögel
Yandex Smena
Спорт День за Днем
The Galleria Shopping Centre
Юрент
Baltika
Яндекс Go Заряд
AUVIX
Northern Telecom
Solar
Notable players
Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Zenit.
Rivalries
Zenit's traditional rivals are the big Moscow clubs, most notably FC Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow, FC Dynamo Moscow and FC Torpedo Moscow. They also shared rivalries with the big Ukrainian clubs FC Dynamo Kyiv and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the Soviet era.