Field check: what to expect from CSKA and Zenit in the United League Super Cup

The VTB United League Super Cup will be held outside of Russia for the first time. The Belgrade Arena, which holds 18,000 people, CSKA Moscow, Zenit BC, Crvena Zvezda and Dubai, will play off the trophy as part of the Final Four. In the semifinals (on September 24), the Moscow club will meet with the hosts of the venue, and the blue-white-blues will face off against the club from the UAE, which their former leader Dwayne Bacon now stands for. The next day, the finals and the match for the third place will be held. Read more about the upcoming tournament in the Izvestia article.

CSKA and Zenit

The Super Cup has been held since 2021 (the tournament became the successor to the Alexander Gomelsky Cup). CSKA became the first winner of the Super Cup, then Zenit won twice in a row, and in 2024, the Army team regained the title.

The current winner of the United League is approaching the new season without significant changes in the championship squad. The losses of Alexa Avramovich and Amat Mbye were offset by the invitation of players with experience in the VTB League (Antonius Cleveland, Alexander Chadov, plus the return of Samson Ruzhentsev from loan). The club also managed to maintain a strong forward line in the form of Tony Jackiri and Livio Jean-Charles. The preseason is also going smoothly. After several friendly matches in Moscow, CSKA basketball players played in Dubai for the first time in history, where they first lost to Bosna (89:90) in a friendly tournament, and then beat Besiktas (98:88) and the hosts of the tournament (98:97).

The army went to Belgrade in full force, including Nikita Kurbanov, a veteran of the team, who had completed recovery from surgery on his right hand. The continuity of the squad can be a decisive factor in the fight for the trophy.

— I won't hide it, the transition of Alexa Avramovich helped us a lot. Dubai paid a buy-out for the termination of his contract, which significantly contributed to maintaining the quality of the squad," said Andrei Vatutin, president of the Army, in a conversation with Izvestia.

The situation is different at Zenit. The team has been seriously updated by signing both top foreigners (Andre Roberson, Nenad Dimitrievich, Levi Randolph) and Russian national team players (Andrey Martyuk, Vladislav Yemchenko). In turn, such masters as Dwayne Bacon, Alexey Shved, Vince Hunter, Okaro White, Xavier Moon left the team. Such a large-scale restructuring is largely due to the change of the head coach. Now the Slovenian national team coach Alexander Sekulic will lead the team to the titles.

— The task is to rebuild the team with a view to the coming seasons, taking into account the very difficult situation for us in the basketball market, — said Alexander Tserkovny, CEO of Zenit BC. — Each coach plays his own basketball, and Sekulic's basketball will be different from Pascual's basketball. We must give the coach the opportunity to build the team that will fit the model of his vision of the game. Plus, the new sports director, Sani Bechirovich, and the coaching staff have the task and desire to actively flirt with young people and give players of the Zenit Basketball Academy a chance.

In the offseason, Zenit became a five-time winner of the Kondrashin and Belov Cup, defeating UNICS in the final (89:71). Then the team went to Belgrade, where they played friendly matches with Maccabi Tel Aviv (77:102) and Uralmash (92:80).

"Crvena Zvezda" and "Dubai"

In the second year of its existence, the Super Cup became an international tournament — Serbian Mega and Partizan were added to the four Russian teams. In 2023, Turkish grandees Fenerbahce and Besiktas arrived. Last year, the black-and-white Turkish club performed again, and the Serbian Red Star also made its debut.

Only six players from last year's Super Bowl bid for Zvezda will be represented at this tournament (including Uros Plavsic, who made it to the symbolic top five of the 2024 Super Bowl). The Serbian grand has radically restructured the line-up. The most notable recruit of the club was Devonte Graham, who a few years ago was one of the leaders of Charlotte in the NBA. It is also worth highlighting the signing of forward Jordan Nvora and point guard Tyson Carter, who is remembered in Russia for his performances for Zenit (Cody Miller-McIntyre, Isaia Kanan and Dejan Davidovac also managed to play in the VTB League with Belgrade).

In the offseason, Yannis Sferopoulos' team played in a representative tournament in Crete, defeated Fenerbahce, the Euroleague champion, and lost to Olympiacos in the final with a minimum score. So, in front of their fans, the Zvezda players will try to take the Super Bowl.

The debutant of the Euroleague and the Super Bowl, Dubai, has seriously strengthened the roster in the offseason. The current MVPs of the United League (Bacon) and the Adriatic League (McKinley Wright), as well as one of the leaders of last year's Real Madrid, Janan Musa, joined the team. The strong moves in the transfer market were the signings of proven Euroleague fighters Justin Anderson from Barcelona, Muhammadu Jaite from Monaco and Philip Petrushev from Olympiacos, as well as the already mentioned Alexa Avramovich. However, Jaite and probably Avramovich will miss the Super Bowl due to injuries.

"No matter what we say, everyone will evaluate the level of the strongest VTB League clubs last season against the background of very serious Euroleague teams," Sergey Kushchenko, president of the VTB United League, told Izvestia. — The season is about to start for all four participants of the Super Bowl, so we will see the optimal lineups. For our clubs, this is an official tournament, which is in the regulations. These are still exhibition matches for Red Star and Dubai, but I am sure that the mood of the players will be very serious. The Belgradians are playing in front of their fans, of whom a lot is expected, and a crucial match against CSKA awaits them in the semifinals. Dubai has greatly updated the team in the offseason, and it is new for Juric Golemac to work with such experienced players as Bacon. For them, this is also a kind of test of strength before their debut in the Euroleague.

It should be noted that foreign teams have never played in the Super Bowl finals. Fenerbahce had the best result — bronze medals — in 2023.