The VTB Unified League season 2009-2010 was presented in Moscow President Hotel today. The event included the draw of the tournament and some important comments from Russian basketball bosses.
In the regular season the teams will play two legs in two groups.
Group A: VEF (Riga, Latvia), BC Donetsk (Ukraine), BC Khimki (Moscow region, Russia), UNICS (Kazan, Russia).
Group B: CSKA (Moscow, Russia), Kalev (Tallinn, Estonia), Azovmash (Mariupol, Ukraine), Zalgiris (Kaunas, Lithuania).
Two best teams from each group will play in the Final Four on January 21-22.
Sergey Ivanov, Russian Vice Prime Minister:
“There are no politics in this project. We are just trying to have more fans on the stands. Also we had some talks with Russian clubs and we are considering publishing full budgets next season as a condition to play in the VTB League.”
Sergey Chernov, RBF President:
“The VTB League will be expanded next year. I have already spoken about this possibility with our Russian colleagues and we found mutual understanding. The upcoming season should show the strength of our clubs in the Russian Championship, the strength of our clubs and clubs from neighboring countries in the VTB League. Perhaps we will create one single division instead of two Superleague divisions (A and B). The best Russian clubs will be represented in the VTB Unified League and the rest will play together.”
Andrei Vatutin, PBC CSKA President:
“Not all the projects lined up a year ago, for known reasons, received a chance. Our league has two years of history and it is not just existing, but developing – and I’d like to say many thanks for that to RBF and VTB. There are not so much sponsors in the sport so we have to nourish and cherish them. It's no secret that in the coming season the level of the Russian championship will fall down. The new league will help to solve the task of popularizing basketball in this difficult time. The project to unite the Superleague and United League is very interesting.”
VTB Teams:
League&Tournament:
