Sport in Saint Petersburg has a long tradition, back to the founding days of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in the early 18th Century. Estadio zenith san petesburgo

International sports events held in Saint Petersburg

St. Petersburg hosted part of the

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tournament during the 1980

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. The

1994 Goodwill Games The 1994 Goodwill Games was the third edition of the multi-sport event, created by Ted Turner, which was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia between July 23 and August 7, 1994. The event – designed to improve Soviet Union – United States relatio ...

were held here. It bid for

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

and might bid again for

2032 Summer Olympics The 2032 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXV Olympiad and also known as Brisbane 2032, will be an international multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featu ...

if Russia's ban on state-sponsored doping would end before host decision.

History

The first competition here was the 1703

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

event initiated by

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

, after the victory over the

Swedish fleet The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels of ...

Yachting Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, t ...

events were held by the Russian Navy since the foundation of the city.

Yacht clubs A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mari ...

: St. Petersburg River Yacht Club,

Neva Yacht Club The Neva Yacht Club (Yacht-club Neva or simply Club Neva) is a sailing club located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, close to the Neva River. It was founded in 1718 and was re-established as a club in 1958. It claims to be the first and oldest yacht ...

, the latter is the oldest yacht club in the world. In the winter, when the sea and lake surfaces are frozen and yachts and dinghies cannot be used, local people sail on

ice boat An iceboat (occasionally spelled ice boat or traditionally called an ice yacht) is a recreational or competition sailing craft supported on metal runners for traveling over ice. One of the runners is steerable. Originally, such craft were boats ...

Sports

Bandy

A sport with long history in Russia is

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

, and this was played on the frozen

Neva River The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it i ...

in the 19th Century. The Saint Petersburg team Yusupov Sad («Юсупов Сад») toured Germany, Sweden and Finland in 1907 under the name ''Sankt Petersburger Amateur Eislaufverein'' and won most of its games. Bandy was also played during the Soviet years, with

Dynamo Leningrad FC Dynamo Saint Petersburg is a Russian football club from Saint Petersburg, in Northwest Russia. Founded in 1922, the club was one of the oldest in the city. It plays in the third-tier Russian Football National League 2. They were a regular i ...

becoming the runner-up for the

Soviet Cup The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (russian: Кубок СССР),, be, Кубак СССР, uz, СССР Кубоги, kk, КСРО Кубогы, ka, სსრკ თასი, az, ССРИ кубоку, lt, TSRS taurė, ro, Cupa URSS (Moldova ...

in 1947 and Lenin IVF Leningrad being the runner-up for the Soviet Union Championship in 1952. However, Saint Petersburg has not had an elite team in this sport since

BSK Saint Petersburg BSK Saint Petersburg (russian: БСК Санкт-Петербург) was a bandy club in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The club was founded as «Krasnaya Zarya» (russian: Красная Заря; "Red Dawn") in 1936 and switched to the name BSK in 200 ...

had to cease its operations in 2005.

Basketball

Piterbasket Piterbasket (ru. - ''Питербаскет'', lt. - ''piterbolas'', ''trikrepšis'') is a team sport closely resembling basketball. The game was initially created for kindergarten children, but is now played by adults and handicapped athletes. Pi ...

, a team sport closely resembling basketball, created in 2002 at Saint Petersburg.

Chess

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

tradition was highlighted by the 1914 international tournament, in which the title "Grandmaster" was first formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II to five players: Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

, and which the Tsar had partially funded.

Equestrian

Equestrianism Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...

has been a long tradition, popular among the Tsars and aristocracy, as well as part of the military training. Several historic sports arenas were built for Equestrianism since the 18th century, to maintain training all year round, such as the Zimny Stadion and Konnogvardeisky Manezh among others.

Powerboating

One of the first international major sport event held in Saint Petersbourg is Formula 1 powerboating also called

F1H2O The Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship (also F1) is an international motorboat racing competition for powerboats organised by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) and promoted by H2O Racing, hence it often being referred to as F1H2O. ...

. The first edition of the World Championship F1H2O Grand Prix of Russia was held in 1995. Since then the event took place again in 1996 1997 1998 1999 2008 2009 2010. The event used to take place in front of

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

Sports venues

Kirov Stadium Kirov may refer to: * Sergei Kirov (1886–1934), Soviet Bolshevik leader in Leningrad after whom all other entries are named * Kirov (surname) Places Armenia *Amrakits or Kirov *Taperakan or Kirov Azerbaijan * Kirov, Baku * Kirov, Lankaran * Kir ...

(now demolished) was one of the largest stadiums anywhere in the world, and the home to

FC Zenit St. Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

in 1950–1989 and 1992. In 1951 the attendance of 110,000 set the record for the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

football. Zenit now plays their home games at

Krestovsky Stadium Krestovsky Stadium, known as Gazprom Arena for sponsorship reasons (russian: «Газпром Арена»), is a retractable roof stadium with a retractable pitch in the western portion of Krestovsky Island in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which se ...

Saint Petersburg teams

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, St Petersburg will not be hosting the Champions League.