VTB United Youth League Final Four. Preview

For Zenit U21, the decisive moment of the entire season is approaching — on April 30 and May 1, St. Petersburg will host the Final Four of the VTB United Youth League 2025/26. The main games of the sports year will take place on the court of the Blue-White-Sky Blues' Basketball Academy at Severnaya Road, 12. We invite all basketball fans to support Zenit U21 in the battle for the trophy. Admission for fans is free!

For more details about the Final Four in the Northern Capital, read the preview on the official Zenit website.

Zenit U21

Roman Knyazev's team has rightfully approached the final games of the year as one of the favorites. For the first time in history, the Blue-White-Sky Blues finished the regular season in first place and confidently swept MINSK-M in the quarterfinals without a single loss.

However, despite a record-breaking regular season — 47 wins in 52 games — it is crucial for the St. Petersburg team to approach the Final Four with a cool head. Each of the semifinalists has beaten our youth team this season, and there is no doubt that the opponents will cause problems in the head-to-head matches in the coming days.

Opponents

MBA-MAI-Junior spent the entire season at the top of the standings, but several losses in direct matchups with rivals eventually dropped Alexander Afanasyev's squad to second place. In the first round of the playoffs, the Moscow team easily closed out the series 2-0 against Perm's PARMA-M.

A Moscow derby awaits us in the semifinals, a rematch of last year's final — the reigning champion MBA-MAI-Junior will face CSKA-Junior. The army men predictably finished the regular season in third place and defeated Nizhny Novgorod-Meshchersky in the quarterfinals, who this time missed out on the Final Four.

The only team that went to a third game in the quarterfinals was Krasnodar's SSOR Lokomotiv Kuban. Last week, Anton Kataev's charges struggled against the youth team of Khimki but emerged victorious from that battle. It is precisely against the Krasnodar team that Zenit U21 will face in the semifinals.

Direct speech

Zenit U21 head coach Roman Knyazev shared his thoughts ahead of the decisive matches of the season:

The Final Four is the culmination of the season, and we are approaching the final games with a fighting spirit. It's great that we will be playing at home, in front of our own fans. The guys have done an excellent job throughout the season, winning the regular championship for the first time in history, and of course, they want to confirm that achievement with a good performance in the Final Four. In the semifinals, we face the youth team of Lokomotiv Kuban. The opponent has a good group of players and tries to slow down the pace of the game with their defense. We need to play our basketball, be aggressive on defense, and neutralize their strengths.

Game schedule (St. Petersburg time)

April 30

16:00 — Zenit U21 vs. SSOR Lokomotiv Kuban (semifinal №1)

19:00 — MBA-MAI-Junior vs. CSKA-Junior (semifinal №2)

May 1

14:00 — 3rd Place Game

17:00 — Final

The matches will be broadcast on the official website of the VTB United Youth League and on VK Video.