Luxembourg, February 24, 2020. Heading into the sixth leg of the fourth round of the 2020 edition of the CEV Champions League, there was only a slight chance that Zenit Kazan would qualify for the playoffs. It needed Greenyard Maaseik to lose to Jastrzębski Węgiel who had already qualified for the quarterfinals. If that happened then it needed to to win its match with a better sets ratio than Knack Roeselare. If that didn’t happen, it needed Kuzbass Kemerovo to lose or have a better result than Itas Trentino. While Kazan handled business by way of a 3-1 decision against winless Halkbank Ankara, a Greenyard Maaseik win over Jastrzębski Węgiel in five sets eliminated Kazan before the final phase for the first time in their Champions League history.
Article by Blair Lambert - CEV External Writer
While it has lost more group matches this season than in any of its past seasons since it first appeared in the competition back in the 2008 edition, Zenit Kazan has usually found a way to fight through adversity in the Champions League. Just last season it beat Trefl Gdansk in the quarterfinals in five sets and then fought back from being down 0-2 in the return leg to force a fifth set. It lost that tie break but won the golden set to advance to the next round, eventually reaching the finals.
Zenit Kazan fought back in the 2018 final against Lube Civitanova. After falling behind 1-2 in sets and 7-10 in the fifth set, Wilfredo Leon carried the team to victory with 32 points. Leon scored 27 points in the 2016 final when Kazan came back from an 0-2 deficit to defeat Diatec Trentino. Its first title in 2008 came by way of a fifth set after dropping a 2-0 advantage to PGE Skra Belchatow in the semis.
Kazan has shown a propensity to get results when the deck seems stacked against it. Even though it has lost three matches thus far in the Russian Super League, the same amount it has lost in the past three seasons combined, it still hoisted the Russian Cup for the ninth time back on December 26. It is a club that has continually shown it is capable of the highest levels of success since its creation back in 2000.
Zenit Kazan was created on May 13, 2000 by the decision of the Tatarstan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Kazan City Administration under the name Dinamo-Tattransgaz Kazan. In its first three seasons it earned promotion to Major League B, Major League A, and then the Russian Super League. It made its debut in Russia’s top division in the 2003-2004 season, where it claimed the bronze medal. The club won the Russian Cup and the bronze medal in the Russian Super League once again in 2005. The club won the Russian championship for the first time in 2007, and would take place in the CEV Champions League the following year.
Clayton Stanley, Sergey Tetyukin and Lloy Ball led Dinamo-Tattransgaz Kazan to the European crown in its first Champions League appearance in 2008. That was simply the curtain being raised on a over a decade of dominance in Europe’s top club volleyball competition. After reaching the quarterfinals in 2009 under its new moniker, Zenit Kazan, (falling to Lube Macerata) and the playoffs 12 round in 2010 (being eliminated by Olympiacos Piraeus), the Russian giants became almost untouchable.
Starting in 2011, Kazan reached at least the semifinals of the Champions League for nine straight years. It won the bronze medal in 2013, and silver medals in 2011 and 2019. During that span of nine years it won the title five times, including a four-year span from 2015-2018. Wilfredo Leon was very instrumental in those four championships, and they provided a platform for him to be put back in the international volleyball spotlight after serving a two-year suspension following his defection from Cuba.
The absences of Matt Anderson, Wilfredo Leon, Vladimir Alekno, and Maxim Mikhailov not playing his customary role of opposite have made this Zenit Kazan team seem off kilter. Though routine for Zenit Kazan is at the top of the club volleyball world, it was a matter of time before something would remove the club from its perch. Its six Champions League titles make it second behind only CSKA Moscow. CSKA, the military-run club from the former Soviet Union, were crowned champions of Europe on 13 occasions between 1960 and 1991.
It will certainly be a peculiar playoffs in this year's Champions League. There are undoubtedly fans who have never followed a tournament without Zenit Kazan being in the knockout stage. There is no doubt the club will be active in the transfer market to build a team that will once again be working towards Champions League success. Even with its European difficulties, Kazan sits in third place in the Russian Super League, currently level on points with second-place Dinamo Moscow and having played two fewer matches. While it still has to play first-placed Lokomotiv Novosibirsk, it did claim victory over the league leaders in the Russian Cup. Kazan is setting itself up for a playoff run to earn another domestic trophy and qualify for next year’s Champions League.