History

Zenit Basketball Club

In 2014, Zenit took to the basketball court with a clear goal: to bring high-level basketball back to St. Petersburg. Since its foundation, the basketball club has been competing at the highest level both within Russia and beyond.

Zenit successfully represents its brand and St. Petersburg in one of the strongest European tournaments, the VTB United League. The club actively develops its own training system and young players, gradually bringing them up to the level of the main team.

In addition, Zenit expands and deepens its partnerships with the Russian Basketball Federation, leagues, industry organizations, educational institutions, higher education establishments, government bodies, businesses, the local community, and most importantly, its fans.

Club Major Milestones

A good start

In its first sports 2014/15 season, the Zenit Basketball Club proved itself worthily in two competitions at once both in the VTB United League and the EuroCup. In the European competition blue-whites reached the 1/8 finals, losing only to the future champion Khimki Moscow Region. In the VTB United League, the team finished in fourth spot at the end of the regular season and in the semifinals lost to Nizhny Novgorod in a five-legged clash. During the following seasons, the Zenit BC main squad became one of the leaders of Russian basketball and became a regular participant in the final stages of the VTB United League and EuroCup competitions.

The course for development

In July 2018, in accordance with the decision of the Board of Directors of Zenit Football Club, the founder of the basketball Club, replaced former CEO Igor Onokov, who made a significant contribution to the club's work in the period from 2017 to 2018, as Alexander Tserkovny was appointed Zenit BC future CEO. The Board of Directors of Zenit BC set the task of developing and implementing a strategy, the priorities of which were the creation and implementation of a modern sports and business model of the club, providing leadership in the basketball market of Russia and Europe, joining the permanent participants of the Euroleague, creating a multi-level system for identifying and training talented basketball players which would be sports reserve for the main team of the club and national teams of the country.

Founding the Zenit Basketball Academy

In 2019 Zenit BC launched the Zenit Basketball Academy. With the support of the general sponsor, together with regional partners, the Club has created and ensured the effective operation of a multi-level system for searching, selecting, training and improving the skills of talented basketball players. Together with educational institutions and sports training institutions of St. Petersburg, a system of basketball departments and teams of various ages was created, starting from 7-8 years old and ending with the club's reserve teams competing in youth and adult Russian competitions. An integral part of the Basketball Academy has become a material and technical base with two basketball courts. It has become the main training base both for the reserve teams and the main team. The Academy building has a gym, offices, medical offices with modern equipment, a hall for video sessions, as well as coaching offices for both the main and reserve teams.

Zenit BC Euroleague debut

In 2019, after successful negotiations between the members of the Club's Board of Directors and the Euroleague leadership, a lot of preparatory work was carried out in a short time, which in general allowed Zenit to receive the Euroleague wild card ticket and become the member of the main basketball competition of the continent. After the debut season, Zenit continued to work on improving its own system. In 2020, the Club's sports management was strengthened by leading European as the Spanish maestro, the youngest Euroleague champion coach, Xavi Pascual who became the Head coach of the main team, and the most experienced sports manager, former Sports Director and President of the Greek Panathinaikos Basketball Club, Manos Papadopoulos who was appointed the Zenit Sports Director. In the 2020/21 season, Zenit made the Euroleague playoffs for the first time and then lost in a hard five-game clash to Barcelona FC. In the 2021/22 season, the Club spent the European season even more confidently and had every chance to become the Euroleague Final Four participant, however, due to the suspension of Russian clubs from the competition, the blue-whites were unable to realize their ambitious plans.

The first golden season

In the 2021/22 season, our Club won almost all the major trophies. It all started with the victory in the revived Vladimir Kondrashin and Alexander Belov Cup in September 2021, then the silver medals of the first VTB United League Supercup, and continued in the spring with the victory of Zenit-M team in the VTB United Youth League, Zenit-UOR #1 in the Children’s Youth Basketball League, and the main squad in the VTB United League. In a dramatic finals Zenit beat CSKA Moscow in seven games, losing 1:3 during the series and for the first time in its history became the Champion of the VTB United League and at the same time the champion of Russia.

Club Uniform Gallery

2023/ 24

Home, VTB League

Club Records

Russian Cup winner (2024)

VTB United League champion (2022)

Champion of Russia (2022)

VTB United League Supercup winner (2022, 2023)

Kondrashin and Belov Cup winner (2021, 2022, 2023)

VTB Youth United League champion (2022, 2024)

CYBL champion (2022)

Russian Cup finalist (2016, 2023)

CYBL finalist (2023)

VTB United League bronze medalist (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021)

Russian Championship bronze medalist (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021)

VTB Youth United League bronze medalist (2023)

Euroleague quarterfinalist (2021)

EuroCup quarterfinalist (2017, 2018)

Great Moments

2023-24. VTB Youth United League champions

Zenit youth team won the gold medals of the Youth League for the second time in history. In the main game, the blue-whites beat CSKA Junior 77-74. Following the results of the Final Four, Zenit-M center Egor Ryzhov became the MVP, Egor Evstafiev entered the symbolic top five, and Artem Komogortsev became the best coach of the season.

2023-24. CYBL Champions

Zenit-UOR #1 led by Roman Knyazev defeated their peers from CSKA-CYBL in the final match and won the gold medals of the championship for the second time in their history.

2023-2024. Victory in the Russian Cup

Our team made it to the final of the national cup in 2023, but then lost in the final to Pari NN. A year later, the blue-and-white team reached the crucial game once again, where we once again faced the team from Nizhny Novgorod — and this time took revenge, winning the Russian Cup for the first time in our history. Trent Frazier was named the MVP of the final, while Vince Hunter made it into the Final Four symbolic five

2023-24. VTB United League Supercup Winners

For the second consecutive time, our team raised the Supercup of the VTB United League. In the quarterfinals, Zenit defeated the Turkish team Besiktas, in the semifinals they proved stronger than Nizhny Novgorod, and in the main game of the tournament, they outplayed Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar. Kyle Kuric became the most valuable player of the Supercup, scoring 23 points in the finals. Bojan Dubljevic made it into the symbolic five, and Zenit's head coach, Xavi Pascual, won the title of the best coach of the tournament.

2023-24. Kondrashin and Belov Cup winners

Zenit managed to win the cup for the third consecutive time, defeating Moscow MBA in the tournament’s semifinal and then overcoming the reigning champions of Russia, UNICS Kazan, in the final. Thus, the trophy remained in St. Petersburg. Second place went to UNICS, while Pari NN took third place, defeating MBA in the bronze medal match.

2022-23. VTB United League Supercup Winners

Zenit started the tournament with a narrow defeat to Lokomotiv Kuban by just 1 point. However, the team bounced back, defeated Partizan, topped the group, and reached the finals against CSKA. During the game, Xavi Pascual's team faced a double-digit deficit, but managed to make a comeback and win at the last second thanks to Thomas Wimbush’s incredible three-pointer.

2022-23. Kondrashin and Belov Cup winners

In the finals of this tournament, just like the year before, CSKA and Zenit faced each other. Once again, our team achieved a convincing victory! Zenit won the Kondrashin and Belov Cup for the second consecutive year after its revival in 2021.

2021-22. VTB United League champions and champions of Russia

In a very challenging season marked by the departure of many foreign players from Russia, our team reached the finals, initially trailing 0-2. However, the players didn't give up and eventually turned the series around against CSKA, winning the decisive match in Moscow and clinching the series 4-3. This victory allowed Zenit to claim the gold medals not only in the VTB United League but also in the Russian championship.

2021-22. CYBL champions

In this year, Zenit achieved victories at all levels, including CYBL. Under the guidance of Roman Knyazev, the team defeated their peers from CSKA in the final, winning the gold in the Children Youth Basketball League for the first time in their history.

2021-22. VTB Youth United League champions

This victory was the first in history for our youth team. Starting from the fourth place in the regular season, the team made it to the Final Eight, where they successively defeated the youth squads of Runa, MBA, and finally CSKA.

2021-22. Kondrashin and Belov Cup winners

Besides Zenit, the Cup featured CSKA, Nizhny Novgorod, and Parma. Fate brought our team against CSKA in the final, and a confident victory was secured by our team. Zenit won the first Kondrashin and Belov Cup after its revival.