Andrey Vatutin, CSKA Moscow President

"I want to welcome Jordi as our guest to the game. He has been to some of our home games before and we had a chance to discuss some joint projects. But today kind of sets a precedent because he is always asking us to play in a bigger arena, and today he will not say this again. We are very glad to see him here and host him here, and we expect another big attendance tonight at Megasport.

"It is definitely very important for us and our club to play here. We feel very comfortable here, and I'd like thank the arena management at Megasport for welcoming us here and making us feel comfortable. It's different playing a couple of games here to support the club's image and playing the whole season. I see Megasport becoming a real home court for us."

Jordi Bertomeu, Euroleague Basketball President and CEO

"First of all, I just want to say it's a pleasure to come once again to Moscow. There are two special reasons for today's visit. First of all, because we are going to see a derby between two teams from Moscow, something that hasn't happened much before in the Euroleague. And for me, the most important reason is this is the first press conference we have the opportunity to hold in this arena, Megasport. This is for us very important because as you know our policy is to work with the clubs and convince them to move to big arenas. And the decision of CSKA to move to Megasport is something very important.

"That's why I am here to congratulate Andrey Vatutin and all the team because it's a great achievement. It's a great achievement because first of all it helps the club improve its business, but most importantly because the club will be able to offer a better experience for the fans. I think the two games played in this arena has confirmed, with the increase in attendance, that this has been a great decision taken by CSKA. That is the proof that the club has an ambitious project, as we have at Euroleague.

"You know that this season will be the last one in Euroleague that will be played under the current format. And CSKA will be part of this new project that will be the launch of the ultimate Euroleague for the first time. So beginning next season, basketball in Europe will have a true league, meaning that all the clubs will meet all others and we will have a round-robin competition for the first time in European history. Then we will have playoffs and the Final Four, of course. But the clubs will have the opportunity to offer fans the best teams in Europe, and all of them will come here to Megasport Arena to play against CSKA. What we expect is that for the league, the clubs, our partners, the clubs' partners and the fans, this will mean for them a very significant improvement in all aspects.

"Next season we are also going to re-size the Eurocup, our second division, that will have 24 clubs. And I think that the 24 clubs in the Eurocup and 16 in the Euroleague will be the 40 best clubs that professional basketball have to offer in Europe and this will be the real professional competition. Our duty is to look for quality, and we can see quality in the 40 teams we'll have in the Euroleague and the Eurocup. These 40 clubs are more or less the most that the top competitions can have. This is our project, approved by the clubs, and the project will begin next season.

"We all know there is a lot of noise around this project, but we are focused on working and developing this project. We are not going to be in conflict with anyone. The only think we are going to do is protect the freedom of the clubs to choose where they want to play. That's the reason why we presented to the European Union a filing against FIBA, to make sure that the clubs will not be under any pressure when they choose.

"So we welcome FIBA working with the clubs. I think after many years, it's good that they are also working with clubs. We respect them and it will be good if we can have progression in the future. But anyway, we are going to be focused on our project together with the clubs and partners."

Media question: What happened at today's meeting you had with the VTB League?

"What we are doing is explaining the project to the national leagues. VTB was the first one. They had some meeting with FIBA, they know approximately what is the FIBA project. Now they know our project. So tomorrow I believe they have a meeting and they will make the decision that is best for the Russian clubs, or the clubs that belong to the league, not only the Russian clubs. As always, we explain our projects. It is our duty to present the project in the way that people feel is the right one. And then the decisions belong to the clubs and to the leagues."

"We offer to all leagues and all clubs a whole project. We have 40 spots between the Euroleague and the Eurocup. We believe that all the top European clubs are welcome in this group. We would like to have the VTB be part of this, but again, this is up to them to decide if it is meeting their expectations and the expectations of the clubs. I can't say more because it's a league decision: it's not our decision. But we expressed to them our willingness to have VTB be part of the project, because teams from the VTB League are becoming more and more among the strongest teams in Europe. And so we would like to have VTB with us in this project. We always have open doors. CSKA, of course, is an owner of ours and will be in the Euroleague with us without restrictions. For the rest of the teams, we have to find accommodation for leagues in a system of access to the Euroleague through the Eurocup and the national leagues and the preliminary round."

Media question: What is going to happen with the national team breaks that FIBA plans?

"It will be a club decision to have a break for national teams. We will have to see the calendars. We know that domestic leagues have a very busy calendar. We also have a very busy calendar. We know that the NBA clubs have the freedom and they already said they are not going to send the players for those games. And our belief is that the same respect that the NBA teams have, our clubs deserve. Our clubs deserve exactly the same respect and freedom to send players or not. We have to give them the freedom to decide if they want to respect these windows or not. Basically because in our case, we had an agreement with FIBA in which those windows were not allowed. And then it will be all the clubs' decision, a league position, and the decision should be respected as the NBA decision is respected."

Media question: Are Euroleague and FIBA at war and how open is the door to Euroleague Basketball competitions for VTB teams?

"We are not at war. We have been running the clubs competitions for 15 years. Now it seems that FIBA wants to occupy our space. They have now said that next season the Euroleague will be organized by them. That won't be the case. And now they announced some champions league without champions that they plan to start. But it's not a war. We are not fighting. We are focusing on our league. And we welcome them to be involved in clubs competitions. And the clubs will decide which is more interesting for them.

"As for the second question, we think that clubs like Khimki, Lokomotiv and others have the mission to go to the top. The top today is to play against CSKA, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Barcelona, Real Madrid and so on. So if they want to have access to this quality, they know the way they have to go. If someone believes that level is a second-level competition, then there is no logic. But the ones that had the vision to be part of a true European basketball league are there. And now it's our duty to see how we can open the doors to the Russian, German, Adriatic and Turkish teams to this professional league. It's exactly what we are doing. And if Khimki, Kuban, Kazan and Nizhny have the vision and ambition to be part of this, they are welcome to our project. But it will be their decision and based on their freedom to decide, not anything else."

Media question: What if some VTB team might be better than the German champion, for instance?

"I understand. But that's based on the assumption that we can finish the league with some Spanish teams and some Russian teams. And we have to run a league in Europe. You mention Germany. I think Germany now compared to five years ago is so much better it's no comparison. And probably because they had the ambition to be part of this. Again, all these clubs will have the same door open that they have had in the last years."

Media question: What about clubs that go to FIBA and later want to play in the Euroleague/Eurocup in the future?

"It's not about sanctions. We are explaining our project. And the ones that want to join our project are welcome. And the ones that don't want to join this project will be respected. In the future, if the doors will be open again, we will consider. But I am not going to speculate. It is not a revolving door. Now we explain the project and everybody understands the project. All the clubs are professional. All the clubs understand what it means to go in the direction of a professional league and understand what it means to go in the direction of the federations. It is clear. So if a team makes a decision, we have to respect the decision."