How are the reserve teams doing?
Zenit-2
Oliver Popovic’s squad concluded the first round of the Super League regular season in second place, effectively sharing the top spot with Temp-SUMZ and CSKA-2. All three teams have secured 12 wins, making them the leaders heading into the second half of the tournament.
In their most recent game, Zenit-2 claimed an away victory over Grozny’s Dynamo with a score of 75:85. On January 11, in their first match of 2025, they will face the Chechen team again, this time on home court. The rest of Zenit-2’s schedule will mirror the first round, with a home match against Dynamo followed by away games against Novosibirsk on January 15 and Barnaul on January 18.
Zenit U21
Before the break, the youth team delighted fans with a productive trip to Moscow, securing a victory (62:78) over the championship leader MBA-MAI-Junior. However, the second game went to the home team, ending 78:68. Head coach Roman Knyazev noted that the team has gained "an understanding that most losses resulted from their own mistakes and lapses in concentration, rather than the opponents’ strengths or tactical ideas. In this regard, the team needs to improve and find consistency in the second half of the championship".
Currently, Zenit U21 is in fourth place in the VTB Youth League standings. Having played two fewer games than most participants, they hold 15 wins and 7 losses.
January will be a challenging month for the youth team, consisting entirely of away games. They will face Samara-2 on January 9-10, Avtodor-2 on January 13-14, PARMA-M on January 19-20, and wrap up the series against Uralmash-2 on January 23-24.
Children's Youth teams
Less than a month ago, Zenit U19 participated in the first round of the Semifinal stage of the Russian U19 Championship. Dmitry Nikolaev’s team finished fourth in group P1-1 and will compete in group P2-2 in the next round. The second semifinal of the Children Youth Basketball League will take place from January 26 to 31 in Saratov. Zenit-2008, coached by Petar Marinkovic, will also participate in the same group. Their opponents include the local Avtodor Basketball School, Samara’s SSOR №13 CYBL and Samara-CYBL, as well as Magnitogorsk’s Metallurg.
Zenit-2009, led by Vladislav Shumkov, also is continuing their campaign in the Russian U19 Championship. From January 27 to 31, they will play in group P2-6 in Nizhny Tagil. Their opponents will include MBA-Academy (Moscow), SSOR №2 Juventa (Tolyatti), Olimpiets (Perm), and Dynamo (Vladivostok).
Zenit Academy
A new team of the blue-whites system performed at its first official competitions in November, where it immediately showed a successful result. Zenit's debut in 3x3 basketball ended with silver medals at the Russian U23 Championship. In the future, the team assembled from the Academy's trainees will continue to represent the club at All-Russian competitions.
