Vatutin: “Not all EuroLeague shareholders have agreed on Dubai yet”

Totally agree with the participation of a team from Dubai in Euroleaguestated Andrei Vatutin.

Its president CSKA Moscowwhich remains a shareholder in the organization despite its elimination due to the war in Ukraine, emphasized that the country of the Emirates is ready to field a team from the very next season and even host a Final Four.

From then on, the strong man of the “army team” revealed that even there is no complete agreement among the shareholders of the Euroleague for the approval of the specific project.

“We communicate a lot with our European partners. We also went to Dubai to discuss a possible participation of the Emirates team in the Euroleague and studied the plan“, initially stated Andrei Vatutin on “matchtv.ru” and was then asked how serious the Arabs’ plan is:

“They are ready to play from the next season in the Euroleague. They have a modern stadium of 14,000 spectators and can put a lot of money. As I understand it, Dubai is more interested in the Euroleague, while Abu Dhabi has already hosted two NBA friendlies. The basketball market has many prospects. In the Emirates they found that over 500,000 Euroleague-related people from various countries are in Dubai at the same time. For business trips, tourism and even permanent residents. There is a great prospect and a lot of income. I would like the Dubai project to succeed. At the moment there is a discussion between the shareholders on whether we will immediately give the right to participate to a team from there directly in the Euroleague or through the Eurocup. Overall, Dubai is ready to host a Final Four and the goals are clear».

On who is behind this idea:It is a group of investors, led by Sheikh Abdullah Al Nabouda, who owns a powerful investment company with a history of 60 years and 10,000 employees. A respected and very ambitious person who is not indifferent to sports. It is an interesting story for the Euroleague to conquer new markets. Ten years ago the effort for England was not successful, but the Emirates are very promising. Proof is the World Cup in Qatar. In fact, Dubai is available to cover much of the flights and even accommodation. So far there is no absolute agreement between the shareholders of the EuroLeague and the specific issue still has a way to go, but in any case the biggest European interclub competition should also enter new markets».

As for when he estimates that CSKA Moscow will return to the Euroleague: “With the current data there is no way back. In a private discussion one point of view can be heard, in a public one another and generally at the moment there is no discussion. We should understand that not all shareholders are free to make decisions. I believe that until the war is over it is extremely difficult and unrealistic for a Russian team to play in a European competition. No one is going to make the decision on their own and no one can guarantee safety».

On whether there is progress with the cases of Boloboi and Voigtman, who voluntarily left CSKA: “Their cases have been… frozen. It is still in the hearing process. We are unable to speed up the process».

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