The season 2010/2011 for our team starts unusually early. While the majority of Russian clubs are holding team practice sessions, BC Khimki is starting the fight Euroleague Qualification round. The first official match BC Khimki is to play ... just 4 days after it has held its first training in full strength. Last Friday, our team was joined by World Championship participants – Sergey Monya, Vitaly Fridzon and members of Spanish national team Raul Lopez and head coach Sergio Scariolo.

To get into the main draw our basketball players have to overcome 3 qualifying rounds. The first opponent of BC Khimki is an Italian club JuveCaserta Basket – the team that received from experts and journalists a title “Discovery of the Year” for a breakthrough into the elite of Italian basketball. After 13th place in season 2008-09, last year the club won silver medals of regular championship, and in the semifinal of playoffs with a score of 2-3 was defeated by Olimpia Milano.

CITY
We have arrived in Caserta and noted: despite the modest popularity of the local club in Europe, the city, indeed, lives in a world of basketball – it seems that there is no single person who does not know about the upcoming start of Euroleague. Local residents hope that their players will make this small and cozy city famous. As yet in all handbooks Caserta is mentioned in connection with its main attraction – Royal Palace (listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The palace was created in the 18th century by the Italian architect Luigi Vanvitelli as a Versailles-like residence ("Reggia") for the Bourbon kings of Naples and Sicily, and a historical fact – exactly in Caserta in 1945 the act of capitulation of German troops fought in Italy was signed.

BASKETBALL PITCH
Its home matches Caserta holds in the palace of sport PalaMaggiò, with a capacity of 6387 seats. It was opened in 1982. It is located 10 km from the city center, in a small suburb. The construction of this beautiful stadium was due to the president of the club of those years, Giovanni Maggiò, whose name is connected with all the successes of the team – a victory in Italian Cup and Italian Championship. The palace is actively used for multiple-called hall sports, but very often concerts of Italian show business stars are held there.

PRE-MATCH COMMENTS

Keith Langford

– I played in Italy before. I know that in Caserta it will be a very difficult environment for playing. In the last season they had a really good team, and they have the same group of players, best players from last season. So I think it will be a top game. I expect it will be a typical Euroleague game, both teams will fight very hard, both teams are very ambitious, and have a lot of goals. All guys will do their best to win. The first game will be very important. Normally we don’t start the year with elimination games. Last year we played in Euroleague and we have some experience now.

Benjamin Eze

– I played with Caserta many times. It is a very aggressive team at home, they have a lot of good players, good coach, and good crazy fans. It will be an interesting game. I’ve been to Caserta, it’s a small city in central Italy. I think there will be a lot of crowds despite it’s a small city. We’ll do our best, we will be working on. It will be a difficult game because they play home. I hope the result will be for our good.

VISITING CARD

CASERTA (ITALY)

Founded: 1951
Achievements:
Italian Championship – 1991
Italian Cup – 1988

CASERTA ROSTER

№	Player	Position	Birth	Height	Nationality
4	Domenico Marzaioli	guard	1991	185	Italy
7	Lukasz Koszarek	guard	1984	187	Poland
9	Ebi Ere	forward	1981	195	USA
10	Martin Colussi	forward	1981	193	Italy
11	Salvatore Parrillo	guard	1992	190	Italy
12	Alessandro Porfido	guard	1993	192	Italy
13	Fabio Di Bella	guard	1978	186	Italy
14	Timothy Bowers	guard	1982	188	USA
15	Luca Garri	center	1982	206	Italy
16	Dario Cefarelli	guard	1993	193	Italy
19	Antonio Zamo	forward	1991	198	Italy
20	Aaron Doornekamp	forward	1985	198	Canada
25	Philip Martin	center	1980	202	Italy
30	Olumide Oyedeji	center	1981	208	Nigeria
33	Jumaine Jones	forward	1979	203	USA

Head coach: Stefano Sacripanti