Vatutin: “Maccabi will continue to play in the Euroleague fairly – We were not given the chance”

Despite the fact that the war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas raged, Maccabi Tel Aviv will continue to compete in the Euroleague, playing their home games in Serbia.

THE Andrei Vatutinher strong man CSKA Moscowdescribed this decision as fair, to which he also contributed, since he remains a member of its Council Euroleague. He emphasized, however, that the Russian teams were not given the same opportunity, when they were expelled from the organization after the outbreak of the war with Ukraine.

His statements in detail:

“It is only fair that Maccabi continue to play this season, even if they cannot use their home ground and the support of incredible fans in Tel Aviv. It is important for the entire EuroLeague to maintain the integrity of the organization and address the problems of colleagues with support. Of course, the current situation with Maccabi is understandably very sensitive for us and I noted this in my speech to the EuroLeague Council.

We still believe that two years ago we moved away mainly for political reasons, although official statements mentioned problems with flights, visas, recommendations from ministries, security reasons. I would like to remind you that at the time we were not even given the opportunity to discuss the possibility. We should have opposed Maccabi to continue playing, but this is the wrong way.”