FC Zenit St. Petersburg

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg is a Russian football club based in the city of Saint Petersburg. They currently feature in the Russian Premier League and are one of the top clubs in Russia.

History

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg were established in 1925 although the club owes its origin to the political history of Saint Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad. In 1914 a team called Murzinka was established and was renamed as Bolshevik in 1924.

Then began the team called the “Stalinets” in the 1930s and they merged with Murzika in 1939. Actually, Bolshevik became part of the Zenit sports society in 1936 and were rechristened as FC Zenit and three years later absorbed Stalinets.

In 1990 FC Zenit became an independent city-owned professional club. They were relegated from the Russian premier League in the very first year (1992) but returned to the Russian top flight in 1996. They won the Russia Cup in 1999.

In 2005 Gazprom took over the club and invested heavily in it. Zenit have since gone onto establish themselves as a major force in Russian football and won the Russian Premier League and the UEFA Cup last season.