President of CSKA Andrey Vatutin told of Sheikh Abdullah Al Nabud’s desire to make the UAE team a part of European basketball.
Currently, clubs from nine European countries and Israel participate in the Euroleague.
In March, the Euroleague announced that CSKA, Zenit Saint Petersburg and UNICS Kazan were excluded from the tournament due to the situation in Ukraine, their results were cancelled. Russian clubs are also not participating in the new European Cup season.
— We communicate a lot with our European colleagues. We went to Dubai for a possible participation in the Euroleague of a team from the Emirates, studied the infrastructure.
– Serious project?
“They are ready to play next season. There is a fancy arena with 14,000 seats, full order with money. The emirate of Dubai, as I understand it, is more focused on the Euroleague, and the emirate of Abu Dhabi has already organized two exhibition matches with the participation of NBA teams. The basketball market is promising: the Emirates discovered that half a million representatives of Euroleague basketball countries were in Dubai at the same time. Business travellers, tourists, foreign permanent residents. This is a high potential and probable income.
I would like the Dubai project to succeed. We are discussing with our Euroleague colleagues whether now is the right time to immediately allow the Southern team to participate in the tournament or give them a chance via the European Cup. Dubai is generally ready to host the Final Four, the objectives are very clear there.
Who is behind this idea?
– A group of investors led by Sheikh Abdullah Al Nabuda, chairman of a large investment company with over 60 years of history and 10,000 employees. A respected and ambitious person, not indifferent to sports.
For the Euroleague to conquer new markets, it’s a very interesting story. An attempt to enter England ten years ago failed, but here everything is much more promising. The World Cup in Qatar convinced that there is a place for top sports in the desert. In addition, a five-hour flight from Moscow to Dubai, more to Spanish Vitoria, and when we played with Gran Canaria in Tenerife, we had to order a huge plane, because a small one would not have flown there . Dubai is also ready to partially compensate customers for flights and almost accommodation. There is no single opinion among Euroleague shareholders yet, the issue is far from settled, but Europe’s main club basketball tournament will have to develop new markets anyway.
Read the full version of Andrey Vatutin’s interview soon on the website.
A source:
Source : MatchTV
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
