Zenit officially closed season with the fans
The evening kicked off with a performance by the Zenit Show cheerleading squad and the club’s charming blue-whites lion mascots. Then the main stars of the season — the players, coaching staff, and club management — appeared on the court. All eyes turned to the screen, where the audience watched a video featuring the season’s most memorable moments: post-victory emotions, tense endings, clutch wins, the sting of defeat, behind-the-scenes footage, and, of course, the invaluable support of their beloved fans, who turned out in large numbers at the home arena that evening.
Chairman of the board of Zenit, Alexander Medvedev, opened the event with a speech in which he highly praised the team’s performance this year:
It’s wonderful to see so many fans here today. Of course, we all dreamed we’d still be playing right now, but there are no victories without defeats. If I were asked to describe this season, I wouldn’t start by saying we won the regular season, set a record of 25 consecutive victories, or triumphed in Game 7 of the semifinals. I’d simply say: this year, we had a team. A real team that played the kind of basketball fans love — not only in St. Petersburg but across all of Russia.
A traditional Q&A session followed, involving fans and members of the media. Team doctor Evgeny Rozhenkov answered questions about injuries during the season, while Andrey Vorontsevich and Alexey Shved thanked the fans for their support and shared their experiences playing in St. Petersburg. Later, team captain Sergey Karasev took the floor:
We all hoped to bring the series back to St. Petersburg and play here at full strength, but due to a number of circumstances, it didn’t work out. We were upset — and I think the whole of St. Petersburg was upset with us. That’s why I hope that next year, we’ll reach our goal and win the cup.
A special moment of the evening was the recognition of Igor Bulgakov, one of the leaders of the Zenit Basketball Supporters movement, for attending his 100th away game with Zenit. To honor the occasion, he was presented with a basketball signed by the entire main team.
The event ended with a shared photo, followed by an autograph session that has already become a tradition.
There, the interaction continued in a more informal setting: fans approached the players to thank them for the season, take selfies and collect autographs.
Thank you to the fans for your incredible support! See you next season!
