The SuperCup 2025 is over. The final and third-place game were held at Belgrade Arena on Thursday – here are the results.
The main game of the day
Crvena Zvezda and Dubai are set to play their opening games of the new Euroleague season on September 30. The 3rd Place Game of the Russian league’s preseason tournament was the second game in 2 days for both teams, but that did not affect their mood. There were no experiments with the lineup. This game was destined to be the most interesting on the decisive day of the SuperCup. An even first half ended with a beautiful mini-run by Crvena Zvezda: series of steals and fast breaks, dunks by Chima Moneke and Julius Nwora – 44:41.
Two three-pointers from Nemanja Dangubic cost Crvena Zvezda the lead at the end of the third quarter, but the Serbian team did not let the Middle Eastern guests pull away, and the battle smoothly transitioned into the final minutes. In the clutch, the intensity of the defense made it easy to forget that this was a friendly tournament, and both teams struggled to score.
As against CSKA, Crvena Zvezda again failed to score three-pointers well (5 of 20), but at the most important moment still managed make it work. Exactly one minute before the end, Tyson Carter (3 of 4 three-pointers made) made a significant contribution to the win (79:73). This shot was really decisive. Even Kosta Kondic and Awudu Abbas could not save Dubai, as the Serbian team maintained the lead with Chima Moneke efforts.
Crvena Zvezda is in the top 3 for the first time
In its debut SuperCup a year ago, Zvezda finished fourth, losing to Zenit in the 3rd place game.
Russian classic
However, the final, which was familiar to Russian fans, did not provide much excitement. The first quarter did not foreshadow anything special, but the second quarter began with five long-range shots by CSKA, three of which were made by Melo Trimble, resulting in a 21:2 run at the start of the quarter. The MVP of the last two League Finals once again demonstrated his superpower – shooting at the right moment. The guard scored 16 points and made 5 assists in 10 minutes, shooting 5 of 5 from the field (4 of 4 three-pointers). The Moscow team was up by 17 points at halftime.
In the semifinal, Zenit came back from a 19-point deficit, but the new team was unable to pull off a second miracle in two days. CSKA was well prepared and played well together. This helped to maintain a comfortable lead without any hint of the St. Petersburg team comeback.
The most competitive moment of the SuperCup final was unexpectedly the battle between the mascots.
CSKA brings the trophy back to Moscow
The Moscow team defended SuperCup title, and the win was the third in tournament history for CSKA. The team now leads all-time list, ahead of Zenit – 3-2.
MVP
Melo Trimble added to his collection of Most Valuable Player awards. In the SuperCup semifinal against Crvena Zvezda, CSKA guard scored 19 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. In the decisive game of the preseason tournament, the American got 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 8 assists.
The all-SuperCup team included – Livio Jean-Charles and Samson Ruzhentsev (both CSKA), Chima Moneke (Crvena Zvezda), Kosta Kondic (Dubai), and Andrey Vorontsevich (Zenit).
Photo
The VTB United League SuperCup in Belgrade is now history.
Results of the SuperCup Day 2
3rd Place Game
Crvena Zvezda (Serbia) vs Dubai (UAE) – 82:80 (22:19, 22:22, 15:20, 23:19)
Crvena Zvezda: Julius Nwora (19 + 5 rebounds), Chima Moneke (15 + 8 rebounds), Tyson Carter (15)
Dubai: Kosta Kondic (15 + 5 rebounds), Awudu Abbas (12), Dzanan Musa (11 + 5 rebounds + 5 assists), Mfioundu Kabengele (10), Filip Petrusev (10)
Final
CSKA (Russia) vs Zenit (Russia) – 96:79 (19:18, 30:14, 32:26, 15:21)
CSKA: Melo Trimble (26 + 8 assists), Samson Ruzhentsev (20), Livio Jean-Charles (16)
Zenit: Georgii Zhbanov (17 + 9 rebounds), Aleksandr Shcherbenev (12), Andrei Martuk (11), Andrey Vorontsevich (11).
