former defender CSKA Victor Keyru in a conversation with , he pointed out that the absence of Russian clubs in the new Euroleague and Eurocup season would be a big disadvantage for the tournaments.
Earlier on Thursday, Euroleague Basketball announced that Russian clubs will miss out on next Euroleague and Eurocup season. In March, the Euroleague excluded CSKA, Zenit St. Petersburg and UNICS Kazan from participating in the season and canceled the results of the clubs. Lokomotiv-Kuban has been suspended from participation in the Eurocup.
“Probably the exclusion of our teams from participating in the Euroleague in the new season was expected,” Keyru told ”. – In the middle of last season, the participation of Russian clubs was discontinued. In principle, the situation has not changed geopolitically. Of course, it’s a pity that we won’t play in Euroleague and Eurocup in the new season. But we discussed within our basketball community that in the Euroleague the rest of the season and, probably, in the Final Four, the strongest teams did not play. After all, three Russian teams were in the top eight of the season. That is, it turns out that the clubs, which actually took 9th-11th places, went to the playoffs. Russian teams, I repeat, are among the best teams in the Euroleague, and they are financially stable, they can face strong players. And, of course, when such strong teams do not participate, it is a disadvantage for the tournament. Yes, they will replace our teams with others, yes, there will always be greats there, but anyway, the club tournament does not benefit from the non-participation of our teams.
As for the Russian clubs, they of course do not benefit either from this non-participation in the Euroleague. As for the coming season, all the teams will be focused on the United League, the fight will be more uncompromising and interesting, because everything will be focused on the national championship. The final this time turned out to be incredibly spectacular, a large number of spectators were present at the decisive matches.
– What will be the level of the national championship in the new season?
– It’s impossible to predict here, because we don’t yet know who will come and who won’t come to us in the league, who will come and who won’t play. This situation, that our teams do not play in the Euroleague, may affect the decision of European and American basketball players. If we are talking purely theoretically, then, of course, players are interested in playing in European competitions. Basketball players who are now at the peak of their career will most likely choose clubs that play in the Euroleague. For players who have already almost passed the peak of their career, theoretically not taking part in European competitions will not be a stumbling block. It seems to me that if we talk about foreign players, here the emphasis will be on American basketball players. Because there are a lot of them. And Americans, in my opinion, usually don’t really focus on where they’re playing. For them, the most important thing is that good conditions are created, the team is strong and pays a lot of money – for them this is a primary factor. But with the Europeans, it will be more difficult.
Source : MatchTV
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