12 Facts About FC Zenit

1. In 2015, FC Zenit won their fifth Championship, and, according to the stars system of the Russian Football Union, they could add a star on their emblem, which is exactly what they did.

2. Football Club FC Zenit, were founded in 1925, after a merger of clubs that already existed in Saint Petersburg, or "Leningrad", as the city had started being called just a year earlier, in 1924.

3. Football Club FC Zenit, known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian football club from the city of Saint Petersburg.

4. On 1 June 2017 FC Zenit appointed Roberto Mancini as the new manager of the team.

5. In May 2015, FC Zenit won the Russian Championship, the first championship title under Villas-Boas and the team's fifth-ever on the eve of its 90th anniversary celebration.

6. On 25 August 2010, FC Zenit lost its first game under Spalletti to French side Auxerre and failed to advance to the Champions League group stage, instead participating in the Europa League.

7. In 2008, FC Zenit won the Russian Super Cup and reached the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup for the second time in their history.

8. In 1990, FC Zenit were re-registered as an independent city-owned professional club.

9. In 1967, FC 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.

10. The current name of FC Zenit was registered in 1936, three years before the Stalinets merged with it.

11. In 1925, another predecessor team of FC Zenit was formed, of workers from the Leningradsky Metallichesky Zavod; they were called the "Stalinets" in the 1930s.

12. The oldest documented predecessor of FC 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".