1940S—1950S
The Second World War led to changes in the life of the team. Zenit came under the aegis of the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Consolidation. Most of the footballers and coaches were evacuated to Kazan, though some remained behind in Leningrad, playing in matches in the besieged city. Others went to fight at the front. Brothers Yevgeny and Valentin Shelagin, Nikolay Salostin, Samuel Kozinets and Nikolay Lepeka were killed in action. Arkady Larionov, Boris Ivin and Leonid Dorofeyev died in the Siege of Leningrad.
In spring 1944, Zenit returned to the city and caused a sensation by winning the USSR Cup. On their way to the final, they defeated Dynamo Moscow and Spartak Moscow. In the deciding match, Zenit beat the Red Army team of CDKA 2-1, thanks to goals scored by Chuchelov and Salnikov. The squad remained more or less unchanged throughout the tournament — Leonid Ivanov, Nikolay Kopus, Ivan Kurenkov (captain), Alexey Pshenichny, Victor Bodrov, Alexey Yablochkin, Alexey Larionov, Boris Levin-Kogan, Nikolay Smirnov, Boris Chuchelov and Sergey Salnikov. The team was trained by Konstantin Lemeshev.
Unfortunately, Zenit was unable to build on this success. Each year, the team’s results grew worse and worse. In 1948, there was even talk of disbanding the club. In 1958, for the first time in its history, Zenit was managed by a coach from outside Leningrad. Georgy Zharkov from Moscow put his trust in the graduates of the local sports schools, yet Stanislav Zavidonov, Anatoly Dergachev, Vadim Khrapovitsky, Lev Burchalkin, Nikolay Ryazanov and Oleg Morozov were unable to take the team higher than fourth place in 1958.
