History of BC "Samara" begins in 1976
Then, at the initiative of the Honored Coach of the USSR Genrikh Primatov, the Stroitel team was created in Kuibyshev. Under the leadership of Primatov, she made her debut in the USSR championships.
Performance in the Major League of the USSR Championship
Super League Champions!
The 2018/2019 season has become truly historic for the club! The men's team managed to take another, so difficult, step forward - and finally won the "gold" of the Super League!
"Samara" performed smoothly, without failures in the regular season, becoming the second according to its results. But in the playoffs, the team of Igor Grachev gained cruising speed, leaving no chance for the opponents either in the quarterfinals (3:1 with Ural), or in the semifinals (3:0 with Temp-SUMZ-UMMC), or in the main series season (3:0 with St. Petersburg "Spartak"). A nice bonus was the MVP title of the season, which was received by team captain Anton Glazunov. Vladimir Pichkurov also entered the symbolic five according to the Russian Basketball Federation.
Our "youth team" did not disappoint either. Pupils of Dmitry Pivtsaikin, in fierce competition with the teams of the leading clubs of the country, took another set of medals from the VTB United Youth League (this time bronze). The DUBL team made it to its Final Eight again.
An indicator of the efficiency of the club system was the award from the Russian Basketball Federation for the most effective club "pyramid" and the involvement of several representatives of Samara in various reserve teams of Russia at once.
Dmitry Khaldeev as part of the Russian U20 team took part in the European Championship. Semyon Shevkoplyas was included in the extended list of the Russian U19 team in preparation for the World Cup. Danila Chikarev, as part of the Russian U18 team, played first at the 3x3 Basketball World Cup (the team reached the semi-finals), and then at the U18 European Championship, and also received a call-up to the national team to prepare for the 3x3 Basketball European Cup. The head coach of the youth team of BC Samara Dmitry Pivtsaikin was a member of the coaching staff of the Russian U18 team at the European Championship.
Debut of the women's team and the triumph in the Cup of Russia!
2019/2020 season for the club, as well as for the entire sports world, turned out to be unusual and crumpled: in March 2020, due to the coronavirus epidemic that swept the world, all basketball and sports events in general were suspended, and the season was completed ahead of schedule. Nevertheless, our teams managed to please their fans.
The summer of 2019 has already become historic, when it was decided to create a women's team in the structure of BC Samara. Under the guidance of the famous Samara specialist Viktor Kurilchuk, she made her debut in Superleague-2 - and immediately confidently won the regular season, and then reached the playoff final. The final was not played due to the pandemic, but by the decision of the Executive Committee of the RSE Samara was classified in first place in the final Superleague-2 rating. Our team's defender Irina Kiseleva was named MVP of the tournament, and Samara captain Yana Mitrofanova was named the best forward of the championship.
The development of the club structure continued with the creation of 3x3 basketball teams - first for men and then for women. Staffed with pupils of local basketball, they took an active part in the Russian 3x3 basketball championship.
Youth and youth teams spent the season at the usual high level. Boys for the eighth time in a row won the right to play in the "Final Eight" of the Youth League Championship. And the youth team throughout the season remained among the leaders of the VTB United Youth League, guaranteeing itself participation in the Final Eight of the tournament in advance.
Finally, the men's team did not slow down even after the championship in Superleague-1. In the championship, at the time of the suspension of the tournament, she shared the first place in the table with Spartak-Primorye (four rounds remained until the end of the regular season). Summing up the season, the RFB recognized Vladimir Pichkurov as the Superleague-1 MVP, and team captain Anton Glazunov was included in the symbolic five of the championship.
And in March, for the first time in its history, Samara won the Russian Cup. This, by the way, turned out to be the only tournament (along with the Women's Cup) held on time and without any restrictions associated with the epidemic. The decisive match of the Cup took place in Samara on March 12 and caused great excitement among basketball fans, becoming a real sports holiday. Vladimir Pichkurov was named MVP of the Cup, while Anton Glazunov and Maxim Dybovsky entered the symbolic five of the tournament.
The club was once again honored with an award from the RFB, which expressed “Special gratitude to Samara for the effective club system for developing basketball and promoting the club in social networks.”
New challenges and new victories
The 2020/2021 season was no less successful for the club: almost all of our teams were pleased with victories.
This season has become a real breakthrough for 3x3 basketball teams. The guys became the winners of one of the qualifying rounds and managed to get into the main tournament of the European United League 3x3, where the strongest teams of the continent became their rivals. The performance in the Russian Championship turned out to be bright, but, unfortunately, uneven: the men's team made it to the final round of the championship, but was left without medals. But the girls, having simultaneously won several preliminary stages (one of them was held in Samara, becoming the first tournament of this status in our city - and traditionally held at the highest organizational level), eventually won the silver medal. And the end of the season turned out to be completely “golden”: the Samara women's team (Olesya Kosyakova, Victoria Trofimova, Maria Chernova and Anastasia Pizhenko) became the winner of the U23 Russian Championship, and Victoria Trofimova was recognized as the MVP of the tournament.
In "classic" basketball, the women's team made its debut in Superleague-1 and did not get lost at a new level. Having passed the whole season among the leaders of the championship, the girls under the leadership of Alexander Garshin made it to the Final Four. The RFB gave Samara the right to hold the decisive stage of the championship - and again our club coped with this important task perfectly, having received many grateful reviews. Only in the final match "Samara" lost to the best team of the Superleague-1 of recent years, "Rostov-Don-Southern Federal University", having won silver medals. Two representatives of our team entered the symbolic five of the championship at once: Ksenia Kunakova and Yulia Poluyanova.
And the men's team confirmed the title of the best in Superleague-1. If in the Russian Cup Samara stumbled in the most offensive way at the semi-final stage (only 1 point difference in two matches with Temp-SUMZ-UMMC), content this time with bronze, then in the championship Igor Grachev's team looked more than confidently. In the playoffs, Samara, however, made the fans worried: both in the semi-final with the capital's Runa and in the final with the Yekaterinburg Uralmash, the series dragged on for five matches - but in the decisive matches held at the MTL Arena, chances no more rivals. The second championship in a row is a serious success and an indicator of the stable development of the club. Individual awards were a nice bonus: Vladimir Pichkurov was included in the symbolic five of the championship, and Anton Glazunov was recognized as Superleague-1 MVP.
But for many players and coaches of our club, the season did not end even in the summer, it just continued within the framework of various national teams. Sofya Trachuk and Daria Godyaeva, who played for Samara in the junior junior league among girls, received an invitation to the Russian U16 team (Godyaeva eventually played in the Eurochallenger as part of the national team), Danila Chikarev - to the U20 team, whose coaching staff included the mentor of the youth team "Samara" Dmitry Pivtsaikin. One of the leaders of our 3x3 basketball team, Mikhail Yermilov, as part of the Russian U23 team, became the bronze medalist of the League of Nations, and girls Olesya Kosyakova, Victoria Trofimova and Anastasia Pizhenko also played at one of the stages of the League of Nations.
Two Russian Cups and a Super Cup to boot!
2021/2022 season was also busy.
One of its main events was the long-awaited "housewarming", which our men's and women's teams celebrated in March 2022: they played the end of the season on the floor of the Sports Palace, which was put into operation after the reconstruction.
And they have already managed to get a bright victory on the new site: the men's team won the Russian Cup for the second time in three years, having outplayed Temp-SUMZ-UMMC in a dramatic two-match confrontation. Maxim Sheleketo, the author of the "golden" shot, was named MVP of the Cup, Vladimir Pichkurov and Maxim Dybovsky were included in the symbolic five of the tournament. But in the championship, Samara for the first time in several years was left without medals, finishing only fourth. Defender Artem Isakov, who joined the team during the season, was included in the symbolic five of Superleague-1.
The season turned out to be difficult for the women's Samara, which made its debut in the Premier League. She began the season under the guidance of one of the most experienced coaches in the country, Dmitry Donskov (who, like Igor Grachev and Alexander Garshin, played as a player for Samara in the Euroleague) and until the last claimed a ticket to the playoffs, but the team did not Literally one victory was enough to get into the top eight. Two months before the end of the championship, Alexander Garshin returned to the head coach's place - and the girls had a great time in the final part of the season, winning all six matches of the tournament for 9th-12th places.
In 3x3 basketball, the main successes were again associated with the women's team. In October 2021, Kristina Evseycheva, Yana Mitrofanova, Victoria Trofimova and Anastasia Pizhenko won the Russian Cup, in December they also won the first Russian Super Cup, and Kristina Evseycheva was recognized as the MVP of both tournaments. In the course of the Russian regular championship (one of the tandems again took place in Samara), our girls won several stages - and following the results of the final tournament, Kristina Evseycheva, Yana Mitrofanova, Maria Chernova and Vlada Safonova won bronze medals. For the second season in a row, the men's team tried their hand at the United League of Europe 3x3, and in the Russian Championship they managed to improve their previous result, finishing the final tournament in sixth place.
In the 2021/2022 season, a new page was written in the history of the “relationships” between the club and the Russian national team: in November 2021, Samara coach Alexander Porinkevich joined the coaching staff of the country's men's national team. In the summer of 2022, Samara forward Maxim Barashkov was included in the extended list of candidates for the national team, defender Daria Kurilchuk and forward Daria Kolosovskaya were included in the list of candidates for the women's team.
Debut in the elite among men, breakthrough from girls
The 2022/2023 season has been historic for the club in many ways.
The Samara men's team, which was headed by ex-coach of the Russian national team Sergey Bazarevich in the summer of 2022, made its debut in the elite division of Russian basketball - the VTB United League. Needless to say, the interest of the fans was aroused by the first home match of the Samara team against the titled CSKA! Samara played its home matches at the Sports Palace and became one of the most visited teams in the League. Unfortunately, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs on their first attempt, although they fought for a ticket to the knockout round almost until the very end of the regular season, eventually finishing in 10th place.
For girls, the second season in the Premier League was a real breakthrough. Under the leadership of Igor Grachev, for whom this was the first experience of working with women's teams, Samara more than confidently passed both rounds of the regular season, was one victory away from reaching the semi-finals - and eventually took 5th place, letting only the giants go ahead our women's basketball.
In the course and after the season, several representatives of the club system were called up to various Russian national teams at once. Alexander Porinkevich continued to work in the men's national team, defender Yuri Umrikhin and forward Maxim Barashkov were invited to the training camp. Daria Kurilchuk and Daria Kolosovskaya are still among the candidates for the women's team. Margarita Zolotukhina, the captain of the Samara-DYuBL team, was called to the training camp of the U16 women's team. And forward Egor Amosov, who became the youngest player in the history of the VTB United League, played in the 9th Russian-Chinese Games in May 2023 as part of the U16 youth team.