Petersburg-based Zenit is a recognized leader in marketing campaigns in Russia. And now, unexpectedly, the club's logo was ranked among the ten worst in the world according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
This rating was compiled by the publication after the German "Wolfsburg" beat Real Madrid with a score of 2: 0 and got a chance to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. "An ultra-modern club with an ultra-boring logo," summed up the journalists. This conclusion prompted them to a whole study, which resulted in the list of "Ten Worst Emblems".
The modern Zenith logo appeared in 2013. Then the designers decided to follow the path of minimalism. The Admiralty ship, soccer ball and the inscription "Football club St. Petersburg" were removed from the logo. The only thing left is the name "Zenith" in the shape of an arrow and the year the team was founded. In 2015, after Zenit won their fifth championship, a gold star was added to the logo.
It's funny that the sketch of the arrow was developed by British designers - the Wolff Ollins bureau, and the Russian Ilya Ruderman brought it to mind.
It's great that the club decided to pay more attention to making their schedule more modern. This is a logical step, and Zenit has maintained continuity, and this is good, - said the logo designer to the club's official website.
The logo that appeared was then highly appreciated by the team's veterans.
Arrow, date of birth - that's pretty. This is a real symbol of Zenit, which is known all over Europe and the world, not to mention Russia, - said the former player of the club Alexei Strepetov.
The well-known designer Artemy Lebedev also evaluated the club's logo in his "Manhood" column and found several flaws. Among them, he named the very thick crossbar at the letter "T" and the overwhelming perspective.
Not bad, but not class "A", - said Lebedev.
Along with the Zenith emblem, the logos of the Italian team "Napoli", "Wolfsburg" from Germany, the Portuguese "Pasos de Ferreira", some more Germans from "Hamburg", the Czech "Bohemians", "Valenciennes" from France were included in the list of the worst. Also in this ranking were three non-European clubs. These are the Melbourne Victory from Australia, the Argentine Newells Old Boys and the New York Red Bulls playing in the MLS.
MOREOVER
The official Zenith Twitter account responded to the British edition. The logo of the Daily Mail newspaper was placed there with the caption: "Here is one of the worst newspaper logos."
British journalists tried to explain: "Guys, we just love your old logo."
To which Zenith Twitter replied with a message with the old Daily Mail logo. "Actually, we too," - summed up the representatives of the club.
No famous football club gets by with its official emblem or logo. This symbol is the personification of the history of the football team. This emblem is passed down from generation to generation giving new players positive emotions and fills them with strength to meet the opposing team.The Zenith club has never changed its logo once in its history. Each new leadership tried to give the emblem only understandable special features.
Until the early forties of the last century, the name of the team was completely different. This club was called "Stalinets"... Nowadays, the Zenith team emblem looks like a simple blue lettering decorated with an image resembling an arrow.
However, from 1940 to 1977, the word Zenith on the emblem has undergone major changes. Its design became more striking, as the inscription began to be written in various colors of blue, red and white, moreover, the same arrow became wavy.
Time passed and when it was time for restructuring, the club's logo also began to change slightly. In 1988, a soccer ball drawing was added to the emblem. And the famous arrow was framed from the phrase "Leningrad Football Club".
After, in those troubled times, the city of Leningrad was taken away from its historical name and it again began to be called St. Petersburg, then changes were made to the Zenith emblem. In addition, next to the inscription "Zenith", inscribed in the form of an arrow, there were drawings of a soccer ball and a ship, around which there was an inscription "St. Petersburg Football Club".
Several years passed, and at the end of 1997 the logo was modified again, adding new details that give the emblem a more modern look. In the image, the central place is also occupied by an elegant arrow, and next to it are drawings of a soccer ball and a ship inscribed in an inscription going in a circle. The creators of this logo see in her an irrepressible desire for victory and support for the winning spirit of the team.
Relatively recently, namely in 2013, the leaders of Zenit made another decision to change their logo. Zenith now looks like it was handwritten on a white background. In addition, in the drawing of the Zenith emblem, the arrow remains unchanged, but numbers were added, the club was founded in 1925... Thus, an attempt was made to indicate the continuity of traditions in FC Zenit.
History of the Zenit logo
First straight, then sharply downward, at an angle. So he painted on school desks, having adopted three colors. What does it look like? To greet our own people, to take an oath of allegiance. The heart of the city beats inside the arrow. Inside the Zenith arrow!
The first emblem of the football team, founded in 1925 at the Leningrad Metal Plant, is a flag with the inscription "Stalinist", a symbol of the voluntary sports society of the same name. Two variants of its color are known: the extreme vertical stripes could be either sky-blue or close to the modern "electrician". However, some historical sources say that in reality all shades of both blue and green were present on the banners of the Stalinets DSO, and the only clear rule was the coincidence of the colors of the extreme stripes and the large inscription “Stalinets” was emphasized.
The emblem, which has been in use for over 30 years, has undergone minor cosmetic changes quite often. It is known that Zenit entered the field with white, blue and red arrows, while the size varied - the team played both with the logo, which covered almost a quarter of the shirt, and with a sign of quite modern sizes.
A modified version, under which the club won the national championship for the first time: the word "Zenith" (blue or white) is inscribed in the arrow with straight rays, with the letter "Z" corresponding to the extension, and the letter "T" to the arrowhead. The connection of the letters "E" and the letter "H" is drawn according to the calligraphic canons of that time - with a horizontal exit of the connecting line to the level of the crossbar of the letter "H".
The first logo with the use of a boat and a ball, which appeared, among other things, as a result of changes that took place with the country as a whole. Changed on it and the arrow transition from the letter "E" to the letter "H" became less bright, while the crossbar of the letter "T" was emphasized even more. At the top of the circle is one of the most famous symbols of the city on the Neva - the golden ship of the Admiralty.
The symbol of the team that was no longer for Leningrad, but for St. Petersburg: another version of a clean arrow without additional decorations, rather roughly assembled. Which, however, is easy to explain: the club at that time was not working on the emblem, but on the game. In 1996, after returning to the top league, the ship returned to the logo, and at the same time the inscription appeared: "St. Petersburg".
The canonical image of the logo with a ship and a ball, as well as the inscription “Football Club St. Petersburg”, under which Zenit became known in Europe, won three national championships, as well as the UEFA Cup and Super Cup. In 2008, the emblem underwent minor changes - volume was added, a new font appeared.
The new Zenit logo, presented on July 11, 2013 in one of the workshops of the Leningrad Metal Plant, where the history of the team began. Developed by Wolff Ollins and one of the leading font specialists in Russia, Ilya Ruderman.
Having won the national championship for the fifth time in history, the blue-white-blue secured the right to put the first star on the Zenit emblem. From May 17, 2015 and forever!
On the first emblem of FC Zenit, the modern name was not used, since the progenitor of the St. Petersburg team was the Stalinets team, organized on the basis of the Leningrad Metal Plant in 1925. The flag with the words "Stalinist" was both the emblem of the football team and the symbol of the voluntary sports community of the same name. The main element was the inscription. The Zenith flag consisted of vertical stripes of sky-blue color. A color close to the modern "electrician" was also allowed. Some sources claim that all shades of blue and green were present on the flag. The only rule with such a variety was the coincidence of extreme colors and the presence of an inscription.
After the team changed its name to Zenit, the emblem also changed. It represented the inscription "Zenith", in which arrows led from the capital letter. It was from them that the word was inscribed. To the last letter were slightly reduced. Players have been on the pitch wearing T-shirts with this emblem for over 30 years. She underwent only minor cosmetic work. Sometimes the Zenith emblem covered a quarter of the T-shirt, in other cases it resembled today's version. 
In 1978, a modified version of the inscription appeared, which had sharper corners. The name of the team was inscribed in the arrow, in which the letter "Z" corresponded to the extension of the arrow, and the letter "t" - to its point. The transitions between the letters corresponded to the calligraphic canons of that time. Under this updated version, the club won the national championship for the first time. 
In the transitional years 1988-1991, the famous ship of the Admiralty appeared on the emblem of "Zenith" - one of the symbols of Leningrad. Changed transitions, arrow. More emphasis was placed on the "t", which has grown significantly in size. 
In the period from 1992 to 1997, the team was actively working on the game, so the inscription from the above emblem was used, without the gold ship and the words "Leningrad Football Club". " After Zenit returned to the top division, these elements were returned, only Leningradsky was replaced by St. Petersburg. 
The canonical emblem is "Zenith" with a ship, the inscription "St. Petersburg" and a ball. It was under this emblem that the club became popular in Europe, winning the UEFA Cup and Super Cup, as well as three Russian championships. 
In 2008, the emblem underwent further changes in the form of volume and a new font.
The new Zenit logo, recognizable by many modern fans, was presented on July 11, 2013 in a historic place for the team - one of the workshops of the Leningrad Metal Plant. The emblem was designed by Wolff Ollins and Ilya Ruderman. 
After Zenit won the national championship for the fifth time, the club's emblem was adorned with a new element - one star.
Published the ten worst football club logos in the world based on the preferences and tastes of the publication's journalists (which was emphasized several times along the way). The reason for compiling such a rating was the new emblem of the German "Wolfsburg", consisting of a rounded letter "W" of a poisonous green color, which may soon appear at the semifinal matches of the Champions League.
According to British newspapermen, the rebranding was not good for the team, and the new symbol looks terrible.
Also, the authors of the publication criticized the logos of several other well-known bands - Italian Napoli (for minimalism), German Hamburg (for a strange design without letters, numbers and any references to the history of the team), Czech Bohemians (for some unknown in Prague kangaroo) and others. But, having reached the emblem of the St. Petersburg Zenit, the journalists, unwillingly, entered the minefield.
The newspaper, in fact, did not write anything offensive about the Zenith symbol, especially in comparison with the same "Hamburg", on which it walked much more harshly.
The British simply complained that after the rebranding, the emblem of the champions of Russia had lost important elements: the Admiralty ship as a symbol of the Russian fleet and a round shape that made it look more like a logo. In the new version, there was nothing left except the name and the year.
"It's not a real logo, is it?" - concluded in the publication.
However, it was enough to cause a storm. Most of the teams did not pay any attention to the article, but for some reason Zenit took it to heart and decided to take revenge on the offender with his own weapon. On the same day, a dozen of the worst newspaper logos appeared on the club's official twitter, consisting entirely of the emblems of the Daily Mail.
The British responded with a conciliatory post, once again praising the previous team logo and reminding that together with it Zenit became the owner of the UEFA Cup.
And in order to finally leave the victory in this one-sided dispute, the English-language twitter of the blue-white-blue shared the post of the Russian-Italian fan of Lokomotiv with a short recording of the Daily Mail - Zenit - 0: 2.
Of course, even when the Daily Mail subscribed to Zenit's twitter, the Petersburgers could not react without irony, writing: “Thanks for that at least”.
We must pay tribute to the authors of Zenit Twitter - their first post about a British newspaper became the most popular in the history of the St. Petersburg club. The British, however, did not take up the challenge, allowing them to compete in wit with themselves.
You can get acquainted with other materials, news and statistics at the Russian Football Championship, as well as in the sports department groups on social networks
