VTB United League Super Cup starts

The VTB United League Super Cup kicks off in Moscow on Thursday, marking the opening of the new basketball season in Russia. The tournament turned out to be very representative. In addition to the six strongest teams of the VTB United League championship of last season, the undisputed giant of the Euroleague Fenerbahce and another strong club from Turkey Besiktas will take part in it. Considering that Russian sport has remained isolated for a year and a half, the arrival of teams of this level in Moscow is an event in itself.

The VTB United League Super Cup starts in Moscow on Thursday. The history of the tournament goes back to the Gomelsky Cup, which was held with varying success since the 90s of the last century (in fact, the trophy for which Super Cup participants compete is named after the legendary coach Alexander Gomelsky), but it only acquired a truly high status three years ago, when it was included in the VTB United League schedule as an official pre-season competition (the next league championship starts on September 30).

Despite the obvious obstacles caused by the virtual isolation of Russian sports after the outbreak of events in Ukraine, the VTB United League manages to gather a completely representative and, what is important, international composition of cup participants without any reservations. Last season, the Serbian Partizan and Mega took part in it. In this regard, the level of foreign participation has become even higher. The league managed to agree on the arrival to Moscow of one of the Euroleague giants, Fenerbahce, as well as another strong Turkish club, Besiktas.

For European basketball, Fenerbahçe is one of the key elements. The team has an A license to play in the Euroleague, that is, it is among the founders of the tournament. The peak of Istanbul’s successes occurred in the second half of the last decade. In 2017, they became Euroleague champions, and reached the finals in 2016 and 2018. In the previous edition of the main European basketball cup, Fenerbahçe reached the playoffs of the tournament, although they failed to make it to the Final Four. It was in Fenerbahçe that CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis moved in 2022, leaving the army club after eight years of working there (during which time the Greek specialist won all the VTB United League championships with him and twice won the Euroleague title). As for Besiktas, there seem to be no really big victories to its name. Twice (last time in 2012) Besiktas became the champion of Turkey, participated in the Euroleague, and consistently performed in the European Cup. However, this does not prevent the team from remaining a difficult opponent for any opponent.

Russian participation in the tournament is ensured by the six strongest teams of last season: UNICS (league champion), Lokomotiv-Kuban (tournament finalist), CSKA, Zenit, Nizhny Novgorod and MBA. The format of the competition this time is the simplest. There will be no division into groups, but the elimination game will begin immediately. On the first day of the tournament, the pairs MBA – Fenerbahce and Lokomotiv-Kuban – CSKA will play, and on the next – UNICS – Nizhny Novgorod and Zenit – Besiktas.

As you can see from the schedule, already in the first round there will be a kind of repetition of the semi-finals of the United League last season. The same one in which Lokomotiv-Kuban did not allow CSKA into the final, forcing the army team to be left without the gold they were accustomed to for the second year in a row. In the other half of the bracket, a repeat of last year’s semi-final clash between UNICS and Zenit is very likely.

Alexander Petrov