St. Petersburg
City and Population
Saint Petersburg is Russia's second largest city with more than 4.5 million residents. Extending across more than 40 islands formed by the Neva River, this 'Venice of the North' is, along with Moscow, Russia's best known city. Europe's best architects and Russia's foremost creative talents, including Alexander Pushkin, Nikolay Gogol, Fydor Dostoevsky, Dmitry Shostakovich and Alexander Brodsky, left their indelible prints on this remarkable city.
Sights
From architecture and city planning to the performing talents of the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet to the masterpieces of the magnificent Hermitage Museum, everything in this city is focused on beauty and elegance. The city's drawbridges over the grand Neva River and the famous "White Nights" in June draw tens of thousands of tourists every year. Saint Petersburg city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Football
Saint Petersburg has always been at the heart of Russian culture and sport. At the beginning of the 20th century it was the very centre of football life in Russia. In August 1901, the secretary of "Nevski futbol-klub" and employees of a local factory created the "Saint Petersburg Football League", the first football league in Russia.
In more recent times, Saint Petersburg has been reclaiming its prominent position in the game. Zenit Saint Petersburg, founded in 1925 and playing in the Russian Premier League, lifted the Russian league championship title in 2007 and went on to win the 2008 Russian Supercup, followed by the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Supercup in the same year.
Grassroots participation in the region is also high; there are over 20,000 athletes of all ages playing football on over 60 pitches. In 2009 there were 54 football competitions in Saint Petersburg, 11 of them international.
Stadium
The City Government is building a new state-of-the-art stadium for FC Zenit with a capacity of 62,000 spectators. The stadium will be located in the western part of the Krestovsky Island replacing an old Kirov Stadium. Designed by iconic architect Kisho Kurokava to resemble a spaceship, the stadium will have a high-tech retractable pitch. Surrounded on three sides by water, the venue is a model of sustainable and environmentally eco-architecture technologies, including rainwater recycling, drainage water recycling, and the use of solar energy.
FAN FEST
The Fan Fest shall be located in the main square on the left bank of the Neva River, the historic Palace Square. Different architectural styles are combined in an elaborate and aesthetically pleasing way on this wide square. It is surrounded by important historical buildings such as the State Hermitage Museum, the building of the former Royal Guards' General Staff, the classical yellow-and-white building of the former Imperial Army General Staff, the Admiralty and the Admiralty Garden.
