Zenit U21 will open the season with a home game against Samara-2

The youth team of the blue-whites is following in the footsteps of the main squad and entering the 2024/25 season. In the upcoming VTB United Youth League competition, Roman Knyazev’s team will begin their title defense with two home games against Samara-2.

As part of their preseason preparation, the youth team played a series of three friendly games in Moscow against local teams CSKA-Junior, MBA-MAI-Junior, and TSSP-Khimki-2. At the end of September, the team won bronze in the home Federation Cup. Both of these events positively influenced the preseason and helped the team get in shape for the start of the championship.

Our opponent Samara-2 participated in the preliminary round of the Russian Cup, where they won two games in the group stage but they lost in the final four.

In total, the teams have faced each other 38 times in the Youth League, with Samara holding a slight edge — 20 wins against 18 for the blue-whites.

The head coach of the youth team Roman Knyazev shared his expectations for the start of the season:

We’re starting the season on our home court with a strong opponent, a team with a balanced roster and good experience from the Russian Cup against men's teams. We’ve worked hard in preparation for these games and will do our best to succeed in the opening matches.

The first official games of the season will be held at the Basketball Academy on October 7 and 8. Both matches starting at 14:00 Saint Petersburg time.

A live broadcast will be available on the VTB United Youth League website. You can follow the statistics and progress of the games on our website's match center for the first and second matches.