The army returned a member of the old headquarters

The most high-profile coaching resignation in recent years has occurred in Russian basketball. The most titled club in the country, CSKA, has decided to part ways with Emil Rajkovic, who has led the army team since June 2022. His place was taken, so far only until the end of the season, by Andreas Pistiolis, who had previously worked on the coaching staff of CSKA. The red-blue coaching reshuffle happened just a week before the start of the playoffs. Such an inopportune time for serious changes is explained by the weak results of the team, which in the last ten matches won only three victories and for the first time in history finished the regular season of the VTB United League not in first, but immediately in third place.

On Monday, the CSKA basketball club, which has a record ten VTB United League titles and six Champions Cup/EuroLeague triumphs, announced about the dismissal of the team’s head coach Emil Rajkovic. There have been talks for some time now that Raikovich’s position at CSKA is fragile, but the moment to fire the coach still seems inappropriate for a team aspiring to the title. After all, there is only a week left before the start of the VTB United League play-offs. During this time, Andreas Pistiolis, appointed instead of Rajkovic, will find it difficult to change the team’s game. The only goal that justifies an emergency measure is an attempt to shake up the team.

PBC CSKA President Andrei Vatutin does not hide this. “Yes, changing a coach before the play-offs is a big risk and a challenge, but with this step, instead of the doom of the last matches, we give ourselves and our fans hope for a successful performance,” he told the club’s official website. “I already said earlier that Raikovich approached his work with great responsibility; he found himself in a difficult situation in terms of big changes in CSKA,” noted Mr. Vatutin. “At the beginning of the season, expectations from our team’s play were not too high. Thanks also to the efforts of Raikovich, we exceeded these expectations in the first part of the championship. But now, despite the fact that we fought for leadership until the last round, the results of the second round and, most importantly, the quality of the game do not suit either the club or the fans. Life has shown that the team needs urgent and serious changes.”

The word “doom” used by Andrei Vatutin accurately describes the state of the team.

At the second stage of the regular championship of the VTB United League, she won only three victories in ten matches. Even against the backdrop of such a game, the army team could well have been first in the regular season (they never fell lower in this part of the championship), but in the decisive match last Saturday, the red and blue lost to UNICS. A day later, Zenit took a test shot at the army team’s pride, beating Parma and pushing CSKA to third place altogether. And this means that starting from the semifinals, CSKA, most likely (the net, apparently, will lead the army team to the same Zenit, which is on the rise), will not have the advantage of its home court.

What exactly was the reason for such a strong drawdown of CSKA is a debatable question. Obviously, it’s not just about Raikovich. After all, last season, the first under his leadership (the Macedonian took over the team at the end of the 2021/22 championship after the departure of Dimitris Itoudis), and at the beginning of this year, there was nothing similar. CSKA generally made an amazing start in the 2022/23 season, winning a record 24 victories in a row and finishing the regular season with 30 matches won. Yes, then there was a misfire in the crazy seven-game play-off semi-final against Lokomotiv-Kuban, but CSKA was still not left without awards. In the series for third place, the army team beat Zenit. This season, the army team was also in the lead for a long time, but then something broke. Well, or someone. It is noteworthy that the beginning of the strongest decline in the army team’s play coincided with the injury of their leader Casper Ware (he is expected to be back in action by the playoffs). It is interesting that in his farewell statement posted on the army team’s website, Raikovich, after thanking CSKA for all the good things, said: “I sincerely hope that the change of coach will spur the team, which, with the return of Casper Ware, will achieve its goal and win the title.” He didn’t mention any other players. And it’s hard to argue that losing Ware was a serious blow. However, it is difficult not to note that if a team is so dependent on one performer, questions for the coach inevitably arise.

As for Raikovich’s replacement, CSKA is not a stranger to the club.

For almost eight years, Andreas Pistiolis worked on the staff of Dimitris Itoudis (he led the team from 2014 to 2022), and before that he worked for seven seasons under another basketball guru, Zeljko Obradovic at Panathinaikos.

During his stay in Russia, Pistiolis managed to play the role of head coach three times. It was he who led the team in one of the craziest matches in the history of the VTB United League: in February 2022, CSKA and UNICS needed three overtimes to sort things out, and the Kazan team clawed out victory a split second before the siren. Twice more he replaced Itoudis in Euroleague games – he won one.

Pistiolis left CSKA in 2022 to begin his career as a head coach at Galatasaray. Despite a good start in the Turkish championship, Pistiolis was fired in the spring of 2023 and has not worked anywhere since then. Obviously, the factors of the coach’s availability and his familiarity with CSKA played a role in the decision to invite him to Moscow. For now, the contract with Pistiolis is only valid until the end of the season. “We will make everyone feel what it means to play against CSKA. We are here to win! – he noted upon taking office. The opportunity to prove this will present itself in a week: on April 22, a series of up to three wins against Yenisei will begin. A year ago, such an opponent would not have caused any concern among CSKA fans. But in this championship, in four matches against Krasnoyarsk, the army team was beaten twice.

Alexander Petrov