Zenit St. Petersburg’s largest supporter group, Landscrona, has publicly demanded that the Russian club refrain from buying black and gay players.

A letter on the group’s website read, “We’re not racist but we see the absence of black players at Zenit as an important tradition. It would allow Zenit to maintain the national identity of the club, which is the symbol of St. Petersburg.“Due to its preservation the club has their own recognizable face in the football world – along with a few other clubs, who still hold on to their identity. As the most northern club among the big European cities, we have never been mentally connected with Africa as well as South America, Australia and Oceania.

“And there is no racism or nationalism here. The club is just losing its regional identity and we cease to associate ourselves with them. We go from the fact that Zenit is a symbol of our city. Therefore it should reflect its essence, represent its face. It’s principal for us that Zenit would keep its identity, not turning into an average European club with a standard set of foreigners.”

The club’s fans have long used the motto “no black in the colours of Zenit” and during the summer they issued death threats to the black French footballer Yaan M’Villa while he negotiated a potential move to the Russian club.

Zenit is the only top flight Russian club to have never signed an African player. The signings of Axel Witsel, the Belgian midfielder (pictured, right), and Hulk, the Brazilian striker (pictured, left), caused unrest in some sections of the support base.
The group also object to any gay players joining the club, saying they “stand against the representatives of sexual minorities playing for Zenit”.

The club have distanced themselves from the comments, saying to Russian sports news agency, R-Sport, “Zenit football club have always been tolerant, bringing together players of different nationalities and faiths. Moreover, our club has millions of fans from all over the world. And Saint Petersburg is an open city, which historically unites different cultures. We want to remind everybody that the players are invited to our team, not on the basis of ethnicity or race, but only because of their athletic abilities and achievements.”