Kondrashin and Belov Cup will be held on September 8-9
The preseason cup is organized by Zenit BC with the support of the City Committee for Physical Culture and Sports and the St. Petersburg Basketball Federation.
In addition to the Blue-White-Sky Blues, the tournament will feature UNICS Kazan (participating for the third consecutive year), PARMA Perm (last seen in the 2021 edition), and tournament debutant Dynamo Primorye, the 2023/24 Super League champions.
On the opening day, September 8, basketball fans can look forward to the semifinal games, while the final and third-place matches will be held on September 9.
The chief referee of the tournament will be All-Russian category referee Igor Demenkov. He will be assisted by Anton Makhlin, also an All-Russian category referee and deputy chief referee. Officiating on the court this year will be FIBA referees Ilya Putenko and Alexey Davydov, along with All-Russian category referees Andrey Lugovoy, Semyon Ovinov, Anton Kruglov and Sergey Mikhailov.
The cup is named in honor of two legends of Soviet and Leningrad basketball — coach Vladimir Kondrashin and center Alexander Belov.
The tournament first took place under its current name in 2002 and then entered the official FIBA competition calendar. Until 2018, it was organized by the Russian Basketball Federation, allowing national teams to participate.
In 2021, Zenit revived the tournament, which featured CSKA, Nizhny Novgorod and PARMA. In the final, the hosts secured a confident victory over CSKA (100:73), the reigning VTB United League champions.
In 2022, the St. Petersburg team — now reigning champions of the 2021/22 season — once again faced CSKA in the final and emerged victorious (79:58), keeping the trophy at home.
The following year, Xavi Pascual’s team claimed the Kondrashin and Belov Cup for the third time in a row, defeating MBA Moscow in the semifinals and edging past the 2022/23 season champions, UNICS Kazan, in the final (82:77).
Zenit also opened the 2024/25 season with a home-tournament victory. The lineup of participants remained unchanged, and the path to the trophy mirrored the previous year. In the semifinals, Zenit defeated MBA-MAI (80:71) and then beat UNICS in the final with a score of 63:50.
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Match schedule, ticket information and media accreditation details will be announced later.
