CSKA will play in the Euroleague Group D

The Euroleague Draw for 2012-13 season took place in Barcelona. CSKA was drawn into Group D.

Euroleague Groups:
Group A: Panathinaikos Athens, Real Madrid, BC Khimki, Fenerbahce-Ulker, Olimpija Ljubljana, QR winner.
Group B: Makkabi TA, Montepaschi Siena, Alba Berlin, Unicaja Malaga, Prokom Gdynia, Elan Chalon.
Group C: Olimpiacos Pireus, Caja Laboral, Efes Pilsen, Zalgiris Kaunas, EA7 Emporio Armani Milano, Cedevita Zagreb.
Group D: Regal Barcelona, CSKA Moscow, Partizan Belgrade, Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, Brose Baskets Bamberg, Besiktas.

Andrey Vatutin, CSKA President:

I think our group is pretty difficult. First of all, because we have to play our away games on hot arenas, our opponents are proud to have great, sometimes even mad support. Though brand-wise the draw was very successful. For example there were a lot of talks that we did not meet Barcelona for 5 years in group stages - and here they are. For sure, CSKA has maximum goals for the tournament. But it will be also a great challenge for the management because we have to play the games on 10+ thousand arenas. The club have to work hard to fill the stands. And this work should be started right now.

Ettore Messina, CSKA head coach:

It is an interesting group though it is too early to make any estimates as the teams don’t have full rosters yet. Still I can say that we will meet the teams with traditions and the ones which know how to use their home court, they use their loud arenas to press the opponents. We will definitely face tough competition.