The 1944 USSR Cup was the country's first official tournament since 1941. On 30 July, just six months after the blockade of Leningrad was lifted Zenit made it all the way to the final. 

On the route to the final Zenit defeated the USSR's top club Dynamo Moscow 3-1 in the first round, then saw off Dynamo-2 1-0 in a reply,  next up was Dynamo Baku 1-0 in the quarter-finals, before finally defeating Spartak Moscow 1-0 in the semi, also in a reply.

In August 1944 with the war still continuing, 70,000 spectators filled the Dynamo Moscow Stadium to see Zenit defeat CDKA 2-1 thanks to goals from Boris Chuchelov and Sergei Salnikov, enabling Zenit captain Kurenkov to lift the first trophy in the club's history.

The Zenit team on that day, and the team that played every match on the way to the final was: Leonid Ivanov, Ivan Kurenkov (captain), Nikolai Kopus, Alexey Pshenichny, Alexey Yablochkin, Viktor Bodrov, Boris Levin-Kogan, Nikolai Smirnov, Boris Chuchelov, Alexey Larionov and Sergey Salnikov.