Athletistic/Hockey. One of the main clubs in the KHL is CSKA. The Moscow club began to claim this status from the 2014/2015 season. Then CSKA, under the leadership of Dmitry Kvartalnov, managed to win the regular season and reach the semifinals of the Gagarin Cup, where they lost to Vyacheslav Bykov’s SKA. In 2016, the military team repeated the success of the regular season and reached the final in the playoffs, but lost the trophy to Metallurg. The 2016/2017 season was the least successful in the Dmitry Kvartalnov era. The army team again won the regular season, but then reached only the quarterfinals, where they lost to Lokomotiv.

In the 2017/2018 season, the team was led by Igor Nikitin. The army team reached the final of the Gagarin Cup, but lost there to Ak Bars Kazan. In 2019, the Moscow club’s goal was achieved. CSKA won the regular season and the Gagarin Cup, defeating Avangard in the final. In 2020, the Army team became the winner of the KHL regular season, but after the 1/8 finals of the playoffs, the season was stopped. In the 2020/2021 season, Igor Nikitin’s team won the regular season and reached the playoff final, but this time they lost to Avangard.

In 2021, the team was unexpectedly led by Sergei Fedorov. And a lot has changed with him. CSKA’s results in the regular season were less confident. Although in the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 seasons the army team managed to move up to second or third place. At the same time, CSKA achieved almost everything in the Gagarin Cup. In 2022, the army team destroyed Lokomotiv and Dynamo in the first two rounds, and in the semifinals and final they faced SKA and Metallurg, which resulted in winning the Cup Gagarin. In 2023, the playoffs proved to be more viscous and most series consisted of seven games. However, CSKA won the Gagarin Cup again, defeating Severstal, Lokomotiv, SKA and Ak Bars.

This season, the results have seriously deteriorated. CSKA managed to take only sixth place in the regular KHL championship. In the 1/8 finals of the KHL playoffs, the army team went to Lokomotiv. CSKA started the series with a 4:0 victory, but then lost four games in a row – 1:2, 2:3 in overtime, 1:2, 2:6. On Friday March 8, CSKA was eliminated from the Gagarin Cup. The Army team failed to advance past the first round for the first time since 2014.

CSKA fans reacted to their team’s early departure. They left comments in the official club community on VKontakte.

Anton Kuznetsov:

– Thank you for the season – the people with whom we lived this season, only you deserve the victories. Thanks to the CSKA emblem for this season, but not to the players and technical staff. Unfortunately, this is currently the case. We hope that management will come to a conclusion. And we will have victories in the future!

Diane Mikaïlova:

– Since 2017, we have been constantly in the final, up to 3 Gagarin Cups, of course, sooner or later the CSKA extravaganza had to end, but not so shamefully! It’s a shame, a shame, but there’s nothing to be done, it was obvious that after a terrible regular season and six defeats against SKA, we had no chance of reaching the playoffs, we were too weak .

Pavel Sharapov:

– Fiery offensive hockey from a happy coach! Since November 23, we have been sliding into a hole.

Sergei Diaghilev:

– The game is like the epitome of the season – complete failure and apathy. “Thank you everyone, you are free.”

Victor Mokhine:

– Well, that’s it, the shame is over, we’re waiting for the next season, Loko take the cup, you deserve it.

Yaroslav Piatykh, Athletistic



Athletistic