After the morning training session, Alexey Miller, chairman of the board of Gazprom, acting chairman of the Zenit board of directors, Elena Ilyukhina, president-general director Alexander Medvedev, the new president of the Russian Football Union, Alexander Dyukov and former head of the club Sergey Fursenko, all met up with the team at the club's training base.

Alexey Miller addressed the team: "As you know, Alexander Dyukov has been elected as the new head of the Russian Football Union and we wish him great success in the new job. Due to this, he will not be able to perform his duties as the chairman of the board of directors. Elena Ilyukhina has been appointed acting chairman of the board of directors and we recommend to elect her at the next board meeting as chairman. Elena has been a member of the board of directors for many years and she is completely familiar with our current aims and the workings of the club, as well as the club's current situation, prospects and objectives."

Mr. Miller continued, "Elena Ilyukhina is a very famous person in St. Petersburg, we can talk a lot about her business qualities, but I’ll just say that she led the construction of the Lakhta Centre, Gazprom's new headquaters and the tallest building in Europe standing 462 meters tall on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. The fact that she headed such a project already says a lot about her business skills."

"Sergey Fursenko is leaving us to work at Gazprombank, where he will hold the position of vice-president and represent the bank on the club's board of directors. You know the workings of the club and Sergey has given his soul to the club. It was under his leadership that Zenit made history and won our first Russian league title, before also winning the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. During this particular period, Zenit moved to a new level of quality and we will continue to develop." Said Mr. Miller.

After that Alexey Miller introduced the new president-general director of the club. 

"Alexander Medvedev is a man who knows all about Russian sports and St. Petersburg sport. He took part in the creation of the KHL, an organisation that is now an example for many sports organisations. Alexander also headed SKA hockey club and is on the board of directors. He is very familiar with management in sports and the work we do. Without a doubt, for Alexander Medvedev this will be a new sports challenge. We wish him every success in this high and responsible position. And, as we say in Gazprom, we will continue our work!"

Alexander Dyukov said in response “Friends, I want to thank you all for the years of working together, It certainly has been an interesting time. We have experienced a lot of exciting times. There were moments of joy and amazing victories, but there were also disappointments. The main thing is that there wasn't indifference. It is important that we were there, helping each other and supporting each other."

Sergey Fursenko thanked the team for the work and wished Sergey Semak special success: “I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. I wish Sergey lots of success and to finish in the highest positions! I am sure that the team will support you. Good luck and lots of success! ”

Finally, Elena Ilyukhina addressed the players and coaches “My heart is always with you, with the Zenit team” My motto in life is: Failure is not fatal. Success is not final. Only moving forward is priceless. I am sure that we will always be ahead!"

After the end of the official part of the event, Alexander Dyukov and Sergey Fursenko did a symbolic handover to the club's new internal management team and ended the meeting with a joint photo