| CSKA Moscow | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Nickname | Армейцы (Army men) Кони (Horses) Красно-синие (Red-Blue) | |||
| Leagues | VTB United League EuroLeague (suspended) | |||
| Founded | 23 April 1923; 102 years ago (1923-04-23) | |||
| History | PBC CSKA Moscow (1923–present) | |||
| Arena | Megasport Arena | |||
| Capacity | 13,344 | |||
| Location | Moscow, Russia | |||
| Team colors | Red, blue, white | |||
| President | Andrey Vatutin | |||
| Head coach | Andreas Pistiolis | |||
| Team captain | Semyon Antonov | |||
| Ownership | Norilsk Nickel | |||
| Affiliation | CSKA Junior | |||
| Championships | 8EuroLeague 24Soviet Championships 29Russian Championships 4Russian Cups 3Soviet Cups 1North European League 12VTB United Leagues 3VTB League Supercups | |||
| Website | https://cskabasket.ru | |||
| ||||
| Sports Teams ofCSKA Moscow | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
PBC CSKA Moscow[1] (Russian:ПБК ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian professionalbasketball team based in Moscow, Russia. The club is a member of theVTB United League, and was a member of theEuroLeague. On February 28, 2022,EuroLeague Basketball suspended all Russian teams because of theRussian invasion of Ukraine.
CSKA won two titles between 2006 and 2008, as well as between 2016 and 2019, in Europe's principal club competition, the EuroLeague, making thefinal in all seasons these years, and in total has advanced to theEuroLeague Final Four 18 times in the 21st century.[2] CSKA is dominating in VTB United League, winning all but three titles to date. With 8 EuroLeague championships, 1NEBL championship, 53home league championships, 7home cups, 2home Supercups and 12 VTB United League titles in total, CSKA is the most successful basketball team in Russia (formerSoviet Union), and is also one of the most successful basketball teams in Europe.
In EuroLeague in 2006 CSKA won its first title in a long time, defeatingMaccabi Tel Aviv 73–69 in thefinal in Prague.Next year the team lost in the2007 final 93–91 toPanathinaikos on the Greens' home floor, theNikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens. In2008, they won a rematch of the 2006 final against Maccabi Tel Aviv91–77 in Madrid. In2009, they lost a rematch of the 2007 final against Panathinaikos 73–71in Berlin. The club competed in eight consecutiveEuroLeague Final Fours from 2003 to 2010, which is an all-time record. Later the team beat its own record by making it to nine consecutive Final Fours from 2012 to 2021 (with 2020 Final Four cancelled due to COVID-19 situation). CSKA then won its seventh title in2016, after beatingFenerbahçe in thefinal by a score of 101–96 inovertime.[3] The last European title up-to-date was won in2019, when CSKA defeatedAnadolu Efes in thefinal inVitoria-Gasteiz.
Well-known players who have played for the club over the years include:Sergei Belov,Gennadi Volnov,Viktor Zubkov,Yuri Korneev,Vladimir Andreev,Anatoly Myshkin,Stanislav Yeryomin,Ivan Edeshko,Armenak Alachachian,Alzhan Zharmukhamedov,Heino Enden,Jaak Lipso,Sergei Tarakanov,Rimas Kurtinaitis,Vladimir Tkachenko,Sergei Bazarevich,Sasha Volkov,Andrei Kirilenko,Trajan Langdon,Darius Songaila,Gordan Giriček,Dragan Tarlać,Marcus Brown,Matjaž Smodiš,Sergei Panov,Aleksey Savrasenko,Ramūnas Šiškauskas,Theo Papaloukas,Nenad Krstić,J. R. Holden,Sasha Kaun,Miloš Teodosić,Victor Khryapa,Nando de Colo,Kyle Hines,Cory Higgins,Sergio Rodriguez andWill Clyburn. Also,Alexander Gomelsky, theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame basketball coach, worked in CSKA for more than 20 years. Nowadays, CSKA has the reputation for being one of the richest sports clubs in Europe, having been previously owned by Russian billionaireMikhail Prokhorov,[4][5] and being currently owned byNorilsk Nickel.[2]
CSKA was founded on 29 April 1923,[6] then known asOPPV,[7] when on that day soldiers and sportsmen fought infootball against each other for the first place of Moscow. "OPPV", which meansОпытно-показательная военно-спортивная площадка всевобуча, a department in the General military education service, was the first central sports department of theRed Army. It was based on the pre-revolutionary "Community of Amateur Skiers".[6]
The first success of the basketball department came at the 1924Soviet League championship, which was played between cities, not clubs. Two more titles followed in 1928 and 1935. In 1938, the Soviet League championship was played between clubs, and CSKA under the nameCDKA (Центральный дом Красной Армии, Central House of the Red Army) debuted there.Stalin's son,Vasily, then founded the clubVVS MVO (Военно-Воздушные Силы Московского Военного Округа), with CDKA merging with it. By the end of theGreat Patriotic War, CSKA established itself as one of the most respected Soviet basketball teams.[6]
In 1953 and 1954, the club was renamedCDSA (Центральный дом Советской Армии, Central House of the Soviet Army), between 1955 and 1960, it was known asCSK MO, and finally in 1960, it received its current nameCSKA (Центральный спортивный клуб Армии, Central Sports Club of the Army).[6]
CSKA won theFIBA European Champions Cup (now calledEuroLeague) title, in 1961, 1963, 1969, and 1971. They also won theSoviet League championship 24 times (1945, 1960–1962, 1964–1966, 1969–1974, 1976–1984, 1988, and 1990).[citation needed]
CSKA won theRussian League title every year from 1992 through 2000, and every year from 2003 to 2008. CSKA also made the1996 EuroLeague Final Four. They also made the2001 SuproLeague Final Four, the2003 EuroLeague Final Four, the2004 EuroLeague Final Four and the2005 EuroLeague Final Four, before finally winning theEuroLeague championship at the2006 EuroLeague Final Four.[citation needed]
.jpg)
In the 2004–05 season, CSKA eventually lost in the semifinals on their home court toSpanish League clubTAU Cerámica, and toPanathinaikos, of theGreek League, in the third-place game. That sent them to the 2nd grade teams in the EuroLeague draw. That same year they also lost a game in the finals series of the Russian League, but they eventually got the Russian League crown.[citation needed]
In 2006, CSKA qualified for the2004–05 EuroLeague Top 16, by finishing third in their group. They finished at the top of their Top 16 group, being denied a perfect record atTau, in their final game. CSKA entered the2006 EuroLeague Final Four on a roll, as the only club to sweep their best-of-three quarterfinal series, by defeatingTurkish Super League powerEfes Pilsen. They defeatedBarça in the EuroLeague semis, before defeating the high-powered offense ofMaccabi Tel Aviv, of theIsraeli Basketball Super League, in thefinal, on April 30, even though the overall record of Maccabi's games with CSKA Moscow favored the Israeli club.
The following year, they faced Panathinaikos in the final, on the Greek team's home floor,OAKA Indoor Hall, which had been designated more than a year earlier as the site forthat year's Final Four. Panathinaikos won. In 2008, their EuroLeague championship win at the2008 EuroLeague Final Four, put them in sole possession of second place for overall top-tier level European-wide titles. On October 14, 2008, the team played anNBA preseason game against theToronto Raptors, atAir Canada Centre, in Toronto.[citation needed]
CSKA won theRussian League title every year from 2009 through 2018, continuing to add to their streak of consecutive Russian League titles won every year since 2003 overall. Since the foundation of theVTB United League in 2008, CSKA has dominated the league, winning the title in 10 of its first 11 seasons (2010, 2012–2019, 2021), excluding the league'sPromotional Cup in 2008.[citation needed]
EuroLeague success, however, continued to elude the team. From 2009, CSKA had played in the Final Four every single year except 2011. However, CSKA suffered multiple heartbreaks. CSKA struggled, in particular playingOlympiacos, who beat CSKA in the EuroLeague finals in 2012, and eliminated CSKA in 2013 and 2015. In 2014, CSKA lost a shocker toMaccabi Tel Aviv. CSKA won 3rd place in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
.jpg)
In the2015–16 season, CSKA won its 7th EuroLeague championship. Atthe Berlin Final Four, CSKA Moscow defeatedFenerbahçe, by a score of 101–96, afterovertime.[8] The star player of CSKA wasNando de Colo, who was named both the seasonEuroLeague MVP, and theEuroLeague Final Four MVP.[9][10] In 2016–2017, CSKA reached the Final Four again, but once again lost to Olympiacos in the semifinals. CSKA beat Real Madrid to win 3rd place.
In2017-18 season CSKA finished with a 24–6 record. Qualifying to the Final Four, however, CSKA suffered a complete fiasco - losing to Real Madrid in the semifinals, and toBC Žalgiris in the 3rd place game. In theVTB United League, CSKA secured their 9th title after defeatingKhimki 95:84 in the2018 Final Four.[citation needed]
In thenext season CSKA finished at the 2nd place of the regular season, securing its 17thFinal Four appearance in the 21 century. InVitoria-Gasteiz the club made a comeback during the semifinals against Real Madrid and beatAnadolu Efes in the final, achieving 8th title in club's history. CSKA also won theVTB United League, sweeping Khimki 3:0 in the finals.[citation needed]
There were changes in the 2019–20 season. Defending champion CSKA Moscow played steady until November, when they suffered four losses in a row, stepping down to the 6th position at worst. Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, CSKA and all other teams quit playing after the 28th round; there was no winner declared.[citation needed] At the time of the season's stopping, CSKA was behind Khimki in the VTB standings. The tournament was also stopped with no winner being announced.[citation needed]
In the 2020-2021 season, CSKA again lead in the EuroLeague standings for much of the season, before repeated conflicts by Itoudis, CSKA management, andMike James resulted in James, team leader, leaving the team in March. While losing the first place in the standings to FC Barcelona, CSKA went all the way to the EuroLeague Final Four. CSKA, however, lost to Efes in the semifinals, and were beaten byEA7 Emporio Armani Milan in the third place game, thus finishing the season in disappointing 4th place. In the VTB United League, despite finishing the regular season in just 4th place, CSKA beatNizhny Novgorod 2-1 in the quarterfinals, regular season winnersZenit Saint Petersburg 3-1 in the semifinals, andUNICS Kazan 3-0 in the finals to win the VTB United League once again.[citation needed]
In early 2022, upon the outbreak of the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine,Tornike Shengelia from Georgia left the club (saying: "Everyone says it was a difficult or big decision, but it was not. First of all, I felt that my family was threatened, even though the war was not in Moscow. With war you never know what will occur, one second is enough for something to happen. The first thing I wanted to do was to send my family away and then I made the decision to depart too."),Johannes Voigtmann from Germany ("I can't reconcile myself playing for a Russian team.... The Russian president is responsible for a brutal war, because of which innocent people are dying in Ukraine. Millions of people have to flee their homes, and children, in particular, are losing their homes or even their lives. I just couldn't stay in Russia and carry on as if nothing had happened...."[11]),Gabriel Lundberg from Denmark,Marius Grigonis from Lithuania, Italian-AmericanDaniel Hackett, and Russian-AmericanJoel Bolomboy all left the team.[12][13][14] Canadian-SlovenianKevin Pangos who signed with CSKA one day before the war started never joined the team. The team informed them all that the departure means violating of their contracts and reached the agreements on terminating the contracts with all but one player, Joel Bolomboy, who was given a letter of clearance by FIBA to sign forOlympiacos Piraeus when his CSKA contract expired in summer of 2022. CSKA informed about the intention to sue Bolomboy for breaching his CSKA agreement earlier.[15]
On February 28, 2022,EuroLeague Basketball suspended the team because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[16] On March 22, 2022, CSKA, UNICS Kazan, and Zenit St. Petersburg were disqualified from the EuroLeague. In October 2022, CSKA Moscow president Andrey Vatutin said: "Owners and sponsors are in crisis and are not interested in spending big money just to participate in the VTB league – therefore the budget is reduced. We have left the international scene, so CSKA's role in world basketball is declining."[17]
In the VTB United League, CSKA made the finals once again. Despite leading 3-1 in the finals, CSKA lost the last three games to Zenit St. Petersburg, who won the VTB title with a 4-3 series win - for the first time since 2010-2011, CSKA did not win the competition. Greek head coachDimitrios Itoudis left the team in June 2022, immediately after losing the final game to Zenit, with one year remaining on his contract.[18]
CSKA played all of its home games, both national domestic league games, and European league games, at the 5,500 seatUniversal Sports Hall CSKA, from 1979 to 2015. They also played a homeEuroLeague game at the 13,344 seatMegasport Arena, on January 23, 2008. Starting with the 2015–16 season, CSKA began regularly playing its homeEuroLeague games at Megasport Arena, while still playing at CSKA Universal Sports Hall for VTB United League games. Kaliningrad'sYantarny Sports Palace was used as a substitute for their round of 16 and 17 home games during the 2019-20 EuroLeague season.[19]
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| CSKA Moscow roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Updated:November 25, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.JPG)
.jpg)
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| Criteria |
|---|
To appear in this section a player must have either:
|
Evgeny AlekseevVladimir AndreevSergei BazarevichSergei BelovYuri KorneevValery MiloserdovAnatoly MyshkinViktor PankrashkinSergei Tarakanov
Valeri Tikhonenko
Vladimir TkachenkoGennadi VolnovStanislav YeryominViktor ZubkovRuslan AvleevAleksandr BashminovDmitri DomaniVitaly FridzonVasily KarasevSasha KaunVictor Khryapa
Andrei KirilenkoEvgeni KisurinIgor KudelinNikita KurbanovSergei MoniaNikita MorgunovSergei PanovZakhar PashutinAnton Ponkrashov
Alexey SavrasenkoAlexey ShvedDmitri SokolovVitaly NosovVictor KeyruAndrey VorontsevichAleksei Zozulin
Zoran ErcegBoban MarjanovićNenad KrstićIvan RadenovićDragan TarlaćVladimir MicovMiloš TeodosićNikola MilutinovVictor AlexanderJames AugustineRon BakerMarcus BrownDionte ChristmasWill ClyburnPatrick EddieChuck EvansKenneth FariedAllerik FreemanJamont GordonMarcus GoreeAntonio GrangerCory HigginsDarrun HilliardKyle HinesJ. R. Holden
Othello HunterAaron JacksonMike JamesTrajan LangdonRusty LaRueCurtis McCants
Sammy MejiaTerence MorrisDrew NicholasDemetris NicholsJeremy PargoRoy RogersVictor RuddMelo TrimbleCasper WareMarcus WebbSonny WeemsDavid Vanterpool| Team Captain | Years As Team Captain |
|---|---|
 Evgeny Alekseev | 1944–1953 |
 Arkady Bochkaryov | 1954–1960 |
| Armenak Alachachian | 1960–1966 |
| Gennadi Volnov | 1966–1970 |
| Sergei Belov | 1970–1980 |
| Stanislav Yeryomin | 1980–1985 |
| Sergei Tarakanov | 1985–1990 |
| Viktor Berezhniy | 1990–1991 |
 Aleksandr Gusev | 1991–1992 |
| Maksim Astanin | 1992–1994 |
| Andrei Kornev | 1994–1997 |
| Valeri Tikhonenko | 1997–2000 |
| Igor Kudelin | 2000–2001 |
| Dmitri Domani | 2001–2002 |
| Evgeniy Pashutin | 2002–2003 |
| Sergei Panov | 2003–2006 |
| Zakhar Pashutin | 2006–2008 |
 Matjaž Smodiš | 2008–2009 |
| Victor Khryapa | 2009–2018 |
| Kyle Hines | 2018–2020 |
| Nikita Kurbanov | 2020–2023 |
| Semyon Antonov | 2023–present |
| Player | Jersey Number | Date Honored |
|---|---|---|
| Vadim Kapranov | #8 | |
| Yuri Korneev | #11 | |
| Evgeniy Kovalenko | #14 | |
| Aleksandr Kulkov | #4 | |
| Andrey Lopatov | #8 | |
| Valery Miloserdov | #6 | |
| Yuri Selikhov | #6 | |
| Vladimir Tkachenko | #11 | |
| Aleksandr Travin | #9 | |
| Viktor Zubkov | #7 | |
| Gennadi Volnov | #13 | 26 November 2011 |
| Sergei Belov | #10 | 11 August 2012 |
| Ivan Edeshko | #9 | 11 August 2012 |
| Alzhan Zharmukhamedov | #7 | 11 August 2012 |
| Armenak Alachachian | #6 | 28 March 2013 |
| Vladimir Andreev | #15 | 28 March 2013 |
| Anatoly Astakhov | #5 | 28 March 2013 |
| Arkady Bochkaryov | #8 | 15 November 2013 |
| Mikhail Semyonov | #10 | 15 November 2013 |
| Anatoly Myshkin | #12 | 16 April 2014 |
| Stanislav Yeryomin | #4 | 16 April 2014 |
| Viktor Pankrashkin | #12 | 3 April 2015 |
| Sergei Tarakanov | #6 | 3 April 2015 |
| Head Coach | Years |
|---|---|
| Victor Grigoriev | 1937–1948 |
| Konstantin Travin | 1948–1952 |
| Evgeny Alekseev | 1953–1959, 1960–1966 |
| Vasily Kolpakov | 1959–1960 |
| Armenak Alachachian | 1968–1970 |
| Alexander Gomelsky | 1970–1979, 1985–1986 |
| Yuri Selikhov | 1980–1981, 1982–1985, 1986–1989 |
| Sergei Belov | 1981–1982, 1989–1990 |
| Ivan Edeshko | 1990–1992 |
| Stanislav Yeryomin | 1992–2000 |
| Valeri Tikhonenko | 2000–2002 |
 Dušan Ivković | 2002–2005 |
 Ettore Messina | 2005–2009, 2012–2014 |
| Evgeniy Pashutin | 2009–2010 |
| Duško Vujošević | 2010 |
| Dmitry Shakulin | 2010–2011 |
 Jonas Kazlauskas | 2011–2012 |
| Dimitrios Itoudis | 2014–2022 |
 Emil Rajković | 2022–2024 |
| Andreas Pistiolis | 2024–present |
_by_Sandro_Halank%25E2%2580%2593122.jpg)
.jpg)
| Seasons | |
|---|---|
| Playoffs | |
| Finals | |
| Supercup |
|
| All-Star Game | |
| Clubs | |
| Awards | |
| Statistics | |
| Other | |
_pictogram.svg)
