Vitaly Fridzon

Vitaly Fridzon started playing basketball in his hometown of Klintsy in the Bryansk region. Here's what Vitaly remembers about his first training session:

— I still remember my first basketball practice. It was a special day. Thirty or forty people came – there was a selection. The coach gave a two-hour workout. We ran around the benches, up the stairs – he wanted to see our preparation. Only 15 people crawled to the next training session. More than half of the guys realized that they were not interested, their arms and legs hurt. I also barely got up on the second day, but I came to the gym. And then I began to like it all, and I fell in love with basketball," Fridzon told the Bryansk Community portal.

In one of his interviews, the defender said that in order to be given more time to spend in the hall, he volunteered to wash the floors in it.

At the age of 16, Vitaly moved to Togliatti to the school of the local basketball club Standard where he spent the next three years and received his first call-up to the youth national team of Russia. In 2004, Fridzon, together with the national team, took sixth place at the European Championship, in the summer he moved to the Khimki school, and the following year he already won the European championship.

In 2005, for the first time, he received a call-up to the main Russian national team, simultaneously gaining weight in the club. A year later, Fridzon reached the final of the FIBA European Cup together with the yellow and blue, two more years later he won the Cup of Russia and went to the Olympic Games as part of the national team. In 2011, Fridzon won the VTB United League and Eurobasket bronze, in 2012 - together with Sergey Monia — led Russia to the bronze medals of the London Olympics.

In 2013, a new stage began in Fridzon's career — he signed a contract with CSKA, with whom he took the next five championships in the United League, as well as Euroleague gold in 2016.

In 2018, the defender moved to Lokomotiv Kuban, where he spent two years. Then there were two years at Zenit, six months in the Moscow amateur championship and a triumphant return to St. Petersburg in March 2022. Together with the Zenit Fridzon won the VTB United League gold and received an offer to stay in the team.

Euroleague Champion (2016)

VTB United League Champion (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)

Champion of Russia (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)

VTB United League Supercup winner (2022)

European Championship Champion (2005)

The VTB United League Final Four MVP (2011)

Eurobasket bronze medalist (2011)

Olympic bronze medalist (2012)

MVP of the United League All-Star Game (2021)

Winner of the three-point shooting contest at the United League All-Star Game (2019, 2020)

Participant of the United League All-Star Match (2019, 2020, 2021)