Bogachev, president of UNICS: “Europe of basketball is still not enough, it has pulled us up”

President of UNICS Yevgeny Bogachev in an interview with , he said Russian teams lack rivalry with European clubs.

In March 2022 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.

– Do you deeply regret that due to international isolation, such a long-awaited victory has become a success for domestic use?

— We were in the top eight of the Euroleague, we were one step away from the Final Four. This is what we lack now, especially in terms of public interest. When Barcelona and other big clubs won at home, it was a great event for the fans. What does a person need? Bread and entertainment. The second UNICS has always tried to provide. Now part of the show is gone. To compensate, the VTB United League made the playoffs up to four wins. But the Europe of basketball is still not enough, it has pulled us up.

In addition, today we are limited in transfers. Although “restricted” isn’t quite the right word, I’m proud of the players on the current team. But creating a competitive team has become more difficult. Top players who understand that they cannot play in Europe are not so easy to attract to a Russian club. However, we have a big country, Belarusians play in the United League, negotiations with Israel are almost over, as far as I know. Sport should not be isolated, it is not politics. Therefore, we don’t have enough international matches,” Bogachev said in an interview with .

In season 2022/23 VTB United League UNICS became the champion for the first time in its history. The last playoff series against Lokomotiv-Kuban ended with a 4-1 win for Kazan.