Raise the sails! This season’s concept takes all the participants and supporters back to the time when St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire, when the honour of the state was defended on the high seas and men wore stunning uniforms!
The blue-white-sky blue coaching staff under the leadership of General-Admiral Sergei Semak have recruited a brave team, which will take on the rival fleets from Germany, Italy and Belgium.
Every player from Zenit’s first-team squad has been given their own military character. Alexander Erokhin comes to you as an eagle-eyed lieutenant defending the borders from surprise invasions, Malcom and Douglas Santos are artillerymen who provide our offence with support, and Yaroslav Rakitskiy is a daring and fearless Cossack.
You can see all the characters in the full video right here:
The blue-white-sky blue’s flagship of the fleet is inspired by the Peter the Great era Poltava, the first large ship built at the St. Petersburg Admiralty.
FC Zenit General Director Alexander Medvedev said: “This new season we are announcing the start of the #RaiseTheSails campaign, designed to unite all of Zenit behind our matches in the most prestigious club tournament in the world, the UEFA Champions League! The blue-white-sky blues continue to honour the traditions of the city, whose fate has always been linked with the conquest of the sea. St. Petersburg is a port city, where Russia’s sea power, the fleet of Peter the Great, was born. To the sea we cry "#RaiseTheSails!" and we have given that call a new football look, a look that symbolises our team spirit and the willingness to travel to find adventure!"
Sergei Migitsko, People's Artist of the Russia Federation and a huge Zenit fan was part of the film’s production. The illustrations were created by Brazilian artist Ryan Smallman, whose portfolio includes more than one hundred works, including drawings for the world's leading media companies such as Disney, Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures.
