St Petersburg at a Glance
Population: 5,3m
Stadium: Krestovsky Stadium
Number of Matches: 7
Morocco – Iran
Russia – Egypt
Brazil – Costa Rica
Nigeria – Argentina
F1 – E2 (Round of 16)
Semifinal
Bronze game
Whilst Moscow might be the capital and most internationally recognisable Russian city, St. Petersburg is considered by many to be the cultural capital and arguably the most beautiful city in the country. St. Petersburg is also famous for being one of the world’s first ever planned capital cities, when it was inaugurated as the capital of the Russian Empire on 27 May 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great. It is thus a city with a long and proud history, that is ready to host the World Cup at the Krestovsky Stadium, the home of local pride Zenit St. Petersburg.
The World Cup Stadium
As soon as Gazprom took over Zenit at the end of 2005, talks about a new stadium in the city began. If Zenit were to fullfil Gazprom’s ambitions, the club had to move away from the old and outdated Petrovsky Stadium.
Eventually, it was decided to build the new ground on Krestovsky Island. The island previous hosted Zenit’s old ground, Kirov Stadium, where Zenit played until 1989.
The decision to build the stadium was taken long before Russia was awarded the World Cup. Ground was already broken in 2008, but since then the stadium has been hit by one scandal after another. Eventually this led to Gazprom pulling financial support for the construction, which led to the local government having to step in.
Upon completion in early 2017, the stadium became the most expensive stadium in the world due to the many problems. Eventually the price of the stadium turned out to be almost ten times higher than the original estimation.
Furthermore, the Krestovsky is also one of the most delayed new stadiums in the world – it was originally announced in August 2007 that the stadium’s construction would be completed by March 2009.
On 22 April 2017 Zenit finally moved into their new home, when they played against FC Ural in the Premier League. Branislav Ivanović became the first ever player to score at the ground.
An empty Stadium St. Petersburg. Photo: James Nickels/RFN
Saint Petersburg’s History
The city was founded in May 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great. The earliest history of St. Petersburg can be traced back to an old fortress built on the location of modern day St. Petersburg called Nyenskans in an area called Ingria, which in the early 17th century was under Swedish control. At the time of Peter the Great’s ascension to the Russian throne in 1682, he had a desire to build a strategic port which would give it better access to the seas around the Baltic. The resulting Great Northern War between the Swedish and Russian Empires, which took place between 1700-1721, resulted in a victory for the Russian Empire and its allies and the subsequent capture of Ingria and the land where the foundations of St. Petersburg were laid.
Upon the death of Peter the Great in 1725, the capital of the Russian Empire briefly moved back to Moscow, before returning under the reign of Anna Ivanovna as Empress of Russia between 1730 and 1740. As the 18th century progressed, the new city began to showcase itself. Ivanovna established the major parts of the city, such as Admiralty Island, Nevsky Prospekt, Median Prospekt and Voznesenky Prospekt. Under Ivanovna’s successors, architectural marvels such as the Winter Palace, Academy of Fine Arts, Gostiny Dvor and the Admiralty building were completed, which made the city the cultural hub of the Russian Empire.
The first half of the 20th century saw the relatively new city experience its darkest hours. Firstly, the 1905 Bloody Sunday uprising and massacre of unarmed protestors by Tsar Nicholas II was in the eyes of many the beginning of the end for the Romanov dynasty. This end was met in October 1917, when after three years of Russian participation in World War I, the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace in the city, known as Petrograd at this time. Tsar Nicholas had already abdicated the throne at this point, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was founded and the following year, the Tsar and his family were executed.
Upon the death of Lenin in 1924, the city was named Leningrad in his honour and was still known as this by the time the USSR entered into World War II following Nazi Germany enacting Operation Barbarossa in 1941 and invading the USSR. Leningrad was under siege by Nazi forces between 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944. Reportedly, between these dates a total of 800,000 civilians lost their lives, a figure greater than the combined American and British casualties in World War II.
In 1991, the city was renamed back to its original, and current, name, St. Petersburg.
Football in St. Petersburg
In 1898, the first ever organized football game in Russia was played in St. Petersburg. Since then, many games have followed, and football is an integral part of the city’s history. The beautiful game helped the citizens through some of the city’s hardest times.
In 1942, while the city was being bombarded by Nazi Germany, football showed the resistance of the citizens, and proved that they would never surrender. The Petrograd Party Committee arranged a match between local side Dinamo St. Petersburg and local factory workers. The game has since been known as The Siege Game, and it was broadcasted on local radio. The game showed that the citizens of Leningrad would never break, despite the horrible circumstances they were in.
READ MORE: The Siege Game – Football In the City of the Dead
After the liberation of Leningrad and the rest of the USSR, the Soviet Cup returned in 1944 to give the citizens a sense of normality. Zenit was one of the 16 participants in the tournament, but they arrived without big expectations as it was without star striker Petr Dementyev. He simply couldn’t bear returning to the city where he had lost his entire family.
However, Zenit surprised everyone, and won the tournament after a victory against CDKA Moscow, the current CSKA, in the final. When the players returned to Leningrad, they were received as heroes. To this day, the cup victory in 1944, still stands as the most important in Zenit’s history, as the club brought joy back to a city that had suffered so much.
READ MORE: The Soviet Cup 1944 – Leningrad Triumphs On and Off the Pitch
Despite massive support from their home town, Zenit wasn’t a very successful club during the Soviet era. In fact, it only won two titles, the aforementioned cup as well as the championship in 1984.
It wasn’t until Gazprom bought the club that it finally became the powerhouse we know it as today. Since Gazprom’s takeover, Zenit have won four championships, two cups, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup.
In St. Petersburg, one also finds Zenit’s historic arch rival Dinamo St. Petersburg as well as FC Tosno. Dinamo used to be the city’s most popular club, but these days their games in the second tier aren’t attended by more than a few thousand. Premier League side FC Tosno also play their games in St. Petersburg, at the Petrovsky, as the city doesn’t have a stadium that meets the required standards yet.
Petrovsky Stadium before the Zenit – Spartak derby in April 2016. Photo: Danny Armstrong/RFN
What to do in St. Petersburg
An absolute must for any tourist is to see both the Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum. The museum is one of the largest art museums in the world with reportedly over three million works of art on display. The State Russian Museum is also worth a view if you are a lover of art with a reported 400,000 exhibits on display. There is also a third option for any art lovers, and that is the Catherine Palace and Park in Tsarskoye Selo. The Catherine Palace is well known for its Amber Room and parks where many exhibitions and sculptures are on display.
Lovers of architecture will have no problem in St. Petersburg as the city has an endless array of structural delights. There are two religious buildings of high importance in the city, the first being St Issac’s Cathedral, the city’s largest domed cathedral, and the fourth-largest domed cathedral in the entire world. The second is the Church of the Saviour on the Spilt Blood, a classic Orthodox Church which was built in memory of and on the exact spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881.
A trip to Saint Petersburg to savour great architecture would not be complete without a visit to see nearby Petergof, and its truly stunning Grand Palace and Park. For those who wish to savour memorable sights by the Baltic Sea, look no further than the Peter and Paul fortress, the first building to be built in the city by Peter the Great. Finally, there is the Admiralty building, the headquarters of both the modern day and Russian Empire Russian Navy. It was designed in such a way that owing to it being within range of the cannon of the nearby Peter and Paul fortress, it could be destroyed should an enemy capture it.
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