Club News

For the first time in 36 years CSKA won the Euroleague. The team did it in a perfect way against a strong tournament favorite Maccabi – 73-69. CSKA was leading by 10 points in the second quarter and in the middle of the third but Maccabi thank to a couple of the three pointers managed to cut down the lead and made CSKA win rather narrow.

Theodoras Papaloukas and Trajan Langdon were among the nominees for the All-Euroleague team this year. Both were selected by the panel of 31 journalists several weeks ago. And with less then 24 hours to go to the final game the time to give the final awards came.

CSKA Moscow reached the Euroleague championship game for the first time since 1973 by beating Winterthur FC Barcelona 75-84 in their Euroleague semifinals on Friday night at sold-out Sazka Arena in Prague. CSKA will meet Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, which earlier defeated Tau Ceramica 85-70, in Sunday’s final. Theodoros Papaloukas and J.R. Holden led the winners each with 19 points. Papaloukas made 7 of 10 shots coming off the bench while Holden had all his points in the last 23 minutes, helping CSKA to rally and win the game. CSKA ended a string of three semifinals losses in a row by reaching Sunday’s title in its record fourth consecutive Final Four.

The day before the start of every representative tournament is the most bustling but on the other side it is marked with maximum good words said by all the team representatives. It is the time to explore the hotel, the arena, to meet friends. But everyone knows that tomorrow the things would change dramatically.

CSKA worked hard not to make the trip to Prague any special. The schedule of the team looked regular. The same as a lot of times before. The practice at USH CSKA that lasted for 2 hours, an hour to get ready for the trip, bus to Vnukovo, charter flight

CSKA won 2005/06 Russian Cup beating BC Khimki in the final game – 79-76. It is the second Russaian Cup in Army club history and the first one for Ettore Messina, Emmanuele Molin, Matjaz Smodis, David Vanterpool, Trajan Langdon, Tomas Van Den Spiegel and Vladimir Dyachok.

Semifinal was a good strengh test for CSKA. It was an opportunity to prove everybody that qualifying to Euroleague Final Four didn't weaken the team. And Army men showed that they have enough motivation to do their best in every game they play. A confident and beauty win - 77-63.

In one of the most competitive seasons in European basketball history, only one team swept its Quarterfinal Playoffs series and advanced early to the 2006 Final Four. That team was CSKA Moscow, and shooting guard Trajan Langdon, Euroleague Basketball's choice as MVP for April, was a major reason.

CSKA arrived in Perm for the 18th time in its history without Theodoros Papaloukas who stayed in Moscow having a rest. And this time Army men were very close to loss - Ural Great players showed their best and moved the game into an overtime. But CSKA finally found the rhythm and won - 99-91...

CSKA rival in the Euroleague half finals determined last night. The Army club would face Barcelona that overscored Real in the 3rd game of the quarterfinal series.

Today CSKA center David Andersen arrived to Moscow from Melbourne where he had a surgery on his injuried leg two months ago and after followed rehabilitation process. From the airport the player went directly to PBC CSKA office where we made a short interview.

The game against Sibirtelecom marked for CSKA the last home game this season that was not important for the standing or making it to the other stage of any of the tournament. CSKA managed to build some kind of lead from the very start – 16-0. But by the beginning of the second quarter it disappeared – 20-20. But several good shots of Panov, Zakhar Pashutin and 5 points in a row by Alexey Savrasenko helped the team to come back to control the game.

CSKA outmatched Efes Pilsen in the second game of the series too and acquired a place in Euroleague Final Four, which will be held in Prague from 28th to 30th April. In the very close game Army men finally found the way to reach their goal. The score was equal even at the beginning of the last quarter (55-55). But CSKA made a decisive 10-0 run in the first minutes of the fourth period and stole the win - 76-72.

This quarterfinal game could easily become the last home match in Euroleague for Army club this season. So full stands of Universal Sport Hall CSKA weren't a surprise. CSKA made some unexpected scoreless stops, but finally found needed skills to win. Army men are now leading in series 1-0.