Dynamo lost to Zenit in the first match of the season

March 21, 2026 for the Dynamo women's team is not just a match day, but the long–awaited start of the whole season. Having missed the first round due to the peculiarities of the calendar and the rules of the Super League, the blue and white entered the fight immediately from the most serious test: the bronze medalist of last season and one of the main contenders for medals, the Zenit Sports and Sports Complex, arrived in Novogorsk. The match promised to be a real test for the renewed team, which has undergone large-scale and in many ways key changes over the winter.

The most important of them happened on the coaching bridge. Now at the helm of Dynamo is a 45-year-old specialist Maxim Zinoviev, who has worked successfully for many years in the structure of the Housing and Communal Services of CSKA and is involved in its main successes. This appointment marked the beginning of a new stage in the life of the team, associated with the introduction of a new game philosophy and tactical developments.

Under the guidance of a new mentor, a serious restructuring of the composition took place. In winter, a large group of players left the team, including key figures and leaders of last season.

The team prepared thoroughly for the first official match. Having started preparing on January 12, Dynamovki held the main training camp in Turkey, where they tested their strength in friendly meetings with the leaders of Russian football. It is noteworthy that during the training camp the team has already met with Zenit, losing in an equal fight with a score of 1:2. In addition, the blue and white drew with Krasnodar (0:0), Spartak (1:1) and Lokomotiv (1:1).

Anyway, today's match was not just a three-point game, but the first official exam for the updated Dynamo Maxim Zinoviev. And in many ways he could give an answer to the main question: how successful was the winter restructuring and whether the team is ready to challenge the Super League favorites from the very first rounds.

The start of the match was expected to begin with the active actions of the guests from St. Petersburg. After all, Zenit is considered one of the main favorites of the whole season. Dynamo, having missed the first round, held its first match in the Super League-2026.

Another important nuance is that as a result of the team's renewal this winter offseason, there have been changes in the key white–blue line. So, in the center of defense, a couple of Zelka Belovan and Anna Chudilina, who successfully played for the Dynamo youth team last year, came to the game with Zenit. Another tactical change: Anastasia Kovaleva was on the left flank of the defense, and Isidora Vuchkovich was at the forefront of the attack.

The first approaches of the guests could have brought them success – the same Belovan took the ball literally from the ribbon after Beatriz Gomez hit. Almost immediately, Kovaleva "sat down" on the yellow card, which did not add confidence to the defender's game.

However, even without this, the guests from the banks of the Neva themselves acted in such a way as to solve all issues without the help of rivals. In the 24th minute Nina Matejic beat Belovan in a face-to-face confrontation and elegantly threw the ball over Anastasia Ananyeva, opening the score in the match and the score of goals conceded for the blue and white.

The wards of Maxim Zinoviev reacted adequately to the missed ball, first taking it under control, and then also adding pressure to their rivals. The only thing that was missing was really dangerous moments at the gates of Zenit. Dynamo forwards Anastasia Shlapakova and Ekaterina Sergeeva were literally on dry rations – they practically did not meet with the ball in the first half. That's why the blue and white had practically no scoring opportunities.

What can not be said about Zenit. The blue-white-Blues sent their second ball just before the break – Alyona Andreeva's cross from the right flank was clearly closed by Zhivana Stupar, sending teammates and rivals to the locker rooms with the score 2:0 in favor of her team.

The second half, as expected, began with a replacement in the Dynamo lineup – Daniela Basaeva took the place of Zelka Belovan in the center of defense, having retrained from a center forward to a central defender during the last season. Interestingly, in the second half, the blue and white did not miss.

But they couldn't score either, which was probably much more important than playing the second half to zero. Yes, there have been approaches, and quite promising ones. Anastasia Shlapakova could have gone one-on-one with Yulia Grichenko, Irina Dricheva did well from a distance, again, captain Yulia Bessolova beat for sure at the very end of the meeting. However, none of the Dynamo players managed to hit the opponents' goal in the first game of the season.

The debut of Maxim Zinoviev in Dynamo and Dynamo itself in the 2026 season turned out to be unsuccessful – the score 0:2, recorded at the end of the first half, remained the same after the final whistle of the referee Marina Krupskaya.

However, while this is just the first game of the season, all the fun is just beginning.

For full information about the starting lineups and the events of the meeting, see the match center.