We study the existence of minimal networks in the unit sphere $${\textbf{S}}^d$$
S
d
and the unit ball $${\textbf{B}}^d$$
B
d
of $${\textbf{R}}^d$$
R
d
endowed with Riemannian metrics close to the standard ones. We employ a finite-dimensional reduction method, modelled on the configuration of $$\theta $$
θ
-networks in $${\textbf{S}}^d$$
S
d
and triods in $${\textbf{B}}^d$$
B
d
, jointly with the Lusternik–Schnirelmann category.