On 28 January, Zenit St. Petersburg were the only RPL representatives with friendly match at winter camps.

In Abi Dhabi, UAE, Zenit faced Al Fateh from Saudi Arabia, coached by ex-Lokomotiv Mosow manager Slaven Bilic. The match kicked off without pro referees, so Anatoly Tymoschuk had been officiating alongside two assistant coaches from Al Fateh, before pro referees arrived at stadium. The final score of meeting is 1-1; Claudinho scored fast goal on fourth minute, and the equalizer came Cristian Tello ten minutes later.

This was the final game for Zenit in Abu Dhabi, in four friendly matches Sergey Semak team earned three wins and one draw. Next, the Blue-White-Sky Blues will move to Qatar for participating in the international tournament, where they will face Al-Duhail, Shanghai Shenhua and Santos.