Moscow coming of age: who will win the Moscow Open – 2025

The Moscow Open— the world's oldest international 3x3 basketball tournament— is celebrating its coming of age this year. The 18th international launch in our capital (which has been held annually since 2007, with the exception of the pandemic 2020) will feature the strongest Russian clubs, as well as teams from Serbia, Turkey, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan. The first Vice-president of the Street Basketball Association told Izvestia about the upcoming tournament, which will be held from May 31 to June 1 in Luzhniki Stadium Sergey Grunis.

Youth and experience

Before the unprecedented sanctions against Russian sports, the Moscow Open was a member of the FIBA World Tour for 10 years. It was regularly attended by teams that later became gold, silver and bronze medalists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (Latvian national team players won the tournament in 2017, Russia in 2018, 2021 and 2022, Serbia in 2016 and 2019). But even without the status of an international federation, the organizers from the Moscow Sports Department and the Street Basketball Association have been able to assemble a strong squad for years. In addition to the best Russian clubs, competitive teams from four countries also came to Moscow.

"We have never chased after the number of flags, but have advocated for the tournament to have a high sporting level and high competition," said the first vice president of the Street Basketball Association (Streetbasket) in an interview with Izvestia Sergey Grunis. — Now, despite all the difficulties, the concept has not changed. We have invited teams that can really compete with Russian clubs (which are still at the level of the best in the world). First of all, we are talking about the Serbian youth national team and the Shutis-Sharks from Mongolia, where 3x3 basketball has become one of the most popular sports in recent years. There will be a strong team from Turkey. I would also like to note that the Russian Alikson Team will feature Serbian players led by the award-winning Miroslav Pashalic. Have I invited teams that are currently at the top of the FIBA rankings? They remember our tournament very well and, as soon as the opportunity arises, they will come to Moscow with great pleasure.

According to Grunis, from the point of view of the participants, this will be the strongest start in 3x3 basketball in Russia in the first half of 2025. Interestingly, the format of the tournament will change this year. The teams will be divided into two divisions: six young teams (three under-24 players and one U-29 player) and six experienced teams will first play in their age groups, and in the playoffs fans will face direct confrontations of "Youth" and "Experience".

"We decided to try out a new format, as the Moscow Open has always opened up new 3x3 basketball stars," continued the first Vice President of Streetbasket. — For example, in 2018, Alexander Zuev, the future vice-champion of the 2020 Olympics, made his debut in this discipline at our tournament. Back then, no one knew their young team with another hero of the Tokyo Games, Stanislav Sharov, but they came and beat the strongest clubs in the world, becoming champions. We want to see something similar this year. We hope that the young teams will show their teeth and make a splash. Although the favorites are very serious. I know that Bionord Pro, Inanomo and Moskovsky will field the strongest teams.

— Since I started playing 3x3 basketball, we take part in the Moscow Open every year, — Alexander Zuev, the silver medalist of the 2020 Games, noted in an interview with Izvestia. — It turns out that I won it three times. It's a pity that we lost in the final last year. We will try to take revenge in 2025.

It should be noted that last year the tournament was won by the Moscow team Inanomo, which was supported by Vladislav Meleshkin, Yuri Bespalov, Joshgun Aliyev and Konstantin Grekov.

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Disassembled the slots

Also, according to the long-standing tradition of the Moscow Open, there will be a competition for overhead shots.

— This year we will also divide the dunkers into young and experienced ones, — says Sergey Grunis. — They will have a real knockout playoff, and it will be something new even for the most sophisticated fans of 3x3 basketball. On the one hand, there will be such well-deserved guys as Miroslav Yeletsky, Kirill Miroshnichenko and Yuri Streltsov. On the other hand, Vladislav Stepanov (who will defend last year's title), Ruslan Ligai, a dunker from Kazakhstan, and another young basketball player, whose name we will announce on the day of the competition.

Traditionally, in parallel with the international cup, there is a massive tournament (14+ categories) and a children's cup (13 years and younger), in which about 600 teams will take part.

— I like the dynamics of the development of our mass tournaments, which we have been building for many years (until 2022, Streetbasket held a number of international competitions, including the U-18 World Cup in Kazakhstan), — emphasizes Grunis. — This year, applications for slots in the mass and children's cup were closed in less than 20 minutes after registration began. So in two days of the Moscow Open – 2025, we will see about 600 teams. We are now at such a point that our goal in the coming years is to increase this number to 1,000-2,000 teams. And here I would like to express my gratitude to the Moscow Sports Department, which always supports our ideas and initiatives. We have been going side by side since the very beginning of the creation of the Streetbasket Association. We invite all sports fans, both Moscow residents and guests of the capital, to see the strongest teams play live. Admission to the Moscow Open is free.

On May 31, Moscow Sports Day, a mass tournament will be held, and on June 1, on Children's Day, a children's cup will be held.