Andrei Vatutin spoke about the prospects of returning CSKA to the Euroleague

Representatives of CSKA Moscow will soon meet with Euroleague CEO Chus Bueno and discuss further steps to return the team to the most prestigious basketball tournament of the continent. About this "Kommersant" said the president of the club Andrei Vatutin.

On October 6, the Euroleague summit was held in the Italian city of Chernobyl. After him, the owner of the Athens “Panatinaikos” Dimitris Jannakopoulos said about the need to return Moscow CSKA to the number of participants in the tournament.

Andrey Vatutin noted that “all colleagues and European fans in most countries are very much waiting for the return of CSKA to the Euroleague.” At the same time, he said, “a lot of obstacles remain, primarily political and logistical.” These obstacles “cannot be overcome by the efforts of the Euroleague Council alone,” added the CSKA president.

The suspension of Russian clubs was introduced during the 2021/22 season, after the start of a special operation in Ukraine. Since then, sanctions have been extended several times.

At a meeting of representatives of the Euroleague clubs, a plan was approved to expand the number of teams from 20 to 24. In addition, it was decided to replace the ten-year licenses for permanent participants with full-fledged franchises. The central issue of the summit was the consideration of the National Basketball Association (NBA) proposal for a merger. It was unanimously rejected.

Read more about the negotiations of the Euroleague and the NBA – in the material “Kommersant” “Europeans kept the rings in power”.

Arnold Kabanov