Kristall and Zvezda crowned as Russian champs

An unbeaten Kristall side claim men’s silverware in Russia while Zvezda top the women’s league

This weekend the final of the men’s and women’s championships were won by two St. Petersburg sides, Kristall and WFC Zvezda. An invincible campaign from Angelo Schirinzi’s Kristall saw Lokomotiv knocked off their throne and new beach soccer kings crowned.

Meanwhile, Zvezda saw off challengers WFC Neva to retain their own throne.

Going into the men’s final, Delta were at a slight disadvantage, as two of their key players, Andrei Vinogradov and Andrey Andreev, were on loan from Kristall, and therefore unable to play against their parent club.

With the ranks slightly depleted, it was tough for Delta to withstand the combination of Russian and Brazilian firepower. Although just one Romanov goal separated the teams at the first break, Kristall had rattled the bar no less than four times, and their opponents were lucky the score wasn’t higher. 

Shishin went on to double the advantage, then when Mauricinho and Zharikov got on the scoresheet too, even a consolation goal wasn’t enough to keep Delta in the game and Kristall lifted the trophy once more.

Individual awards:

Season MVP – Llorenç Gomez (CSKA Moscow)

SuperFinal MVP – Rodrigo (Kristall)

Top Scorer – Llorenç Gomez (CSKA Moscow) 

Best Goalkeeper – Maksim Chuzhkov (Kristall)

In the women’s final, WFC Zvezda made history by defending the Russian women’s title, against an overwhelmed WFC Neva.

The Neva player Polina Ignatieva opened the scoring, but unfortunately turning the ball in her own net, giving the reigning champs the lead. Anastasia Gorshkova then scored a brace to widen the gap, and when Ushakova made it 4-0 it seemed that the mountain had become too high for the challengers.

Zvezda scored twice more to make it six, and even though Delta managed to pull one back the defending champions were well out of sight.

Ivan Kanayev’s side claimed gold with what ended in a 6-1 victory and the St. Petersburg-based team would take yet more silverware back to the city.

Individual awards:

MVP – Anastasia Gorshkova (WFC Zvezda)

Top Scorer – Natalia Zaitseva (WFC Zvezda)

Best goalkeeper – Ekaterina Klimchuk (WFC Neva)