CSKA to play in Euroleague Group D

2015-16 Euroleague regular season draw took place in Barcelona today. Our team is going to play in group D.

Regular season groups:

Group А: Real Madrid, Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul, Khimki Moscow Region, Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, FC Bayern Munich, Strasbourg.
Group В: Olympiacos Pireaus, Anadolu Efes, Laboral Kutxa, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, Cedevita Zagreb, Limoges.
Group С: FC Barcelona Lassa, Panathinaikos Athens, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, Zalgiris Kaunas, Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir, Stelmet Zelena Gora.
Group D: CSKA Moscow, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Unicaja Malaga, Brose Baskets Bamberg, Darussafaka Dogus Istambul, Dynamo Sassari.


Andrey Vatutin, CSKA Moscow President:

It’s a tough group. First hope is to qualify for the Top 16. Seriously, there is nothing new to say at the Euroleague draw. The team is not built yet, the coach is trying to find good players for CSKA’s philosophy. Next season we will play in the new arena with 12,000 spectators, and our main target is to invite more fans to our games. With this group it is possible we will have time to create a good team and learn through experience we get in October and November, and then after the Christmas break, to play like team CSKA.

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

We have tough group which brings a lot of similarities from the previous season. We have Maccabi again, traditionally strong team, we have Unicaja which had great season and which we faced 5 times last year, including exhibition game, we have the champion of Germany, this time Brose Baskets, which is experiencing the new era of club’s history. Dinamo is an Italian champion. Darussafaka is a newcomer from Turkey, the team with wild card but it was given because of the good reasons. They will have great team next season, I know the coach and his philosophy, they were leading the Turkish league for a long time las year. We will be able to talk more when the opponents will have their rosters full. You have to be amongst 4 top teams, you have to start seriously from the very beginning because every team will fight for the spot in Top 16. I hope we will stay healthy and focus on our goals starting from preparation period. I also hope that this season we will have more fans to push the team. We will use the new arena which provides new services, we will try to play the same attractive basketball as last season so the fans will push CSKA to new victories.