History
CSKA has had a long history of success. They won the European Cup in 1961, 1963, 1969 and 1971; won the Soviet Championship 24 times; and won the Russian League title every year from 1992 through 2000 and 2003 through 2009. CSKA also made the Final Four of the Euroleague in 1996, 2004, and 2005, before winning the Euroleague in 2006.
The team became the first in the history of the Euroleague to go through the regular-season phase undefeated during the 2004–05 Euroleague season, and before the final four it had only lost to one team: FC Barcelona. Though CSKA eventually lost in the semifinals on their home court to Spanish League club Tau Cerámica and to Panathinaikos of the Greek League in the 3rd-place game. That sent them to the 2nd grade teams in the Euroleague draw, although they finished the league with the best record. That same year they also lost a game in the finals series of the Russian League, but they eventually got the Russian League crown.
In 2006, CSKA qualified for the 2005–06 Euroleague Top 16 by finishing third in their group. They finished at the top of their Top 16 group, being denied a perfect record at Tau in their final match. CSKA entered the Final Four on a roll as the only club to sweep their best-of-three quarterfinal series defeating Turkish League power Efes Pilsen. They defeated Barça in the Euroleague semis before defeating the high-powered offense of Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli League in the final on April 30, even though the overall record of Maccabi's games with CSKA Moscow favors the Israeli club.
The following year, they nearly repeated as Euroleague champions, but wound up facing 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 for that year's Final Four. Panathinaikos won a closely fought battle.
In 2008, their Euroleague win put them in sole possession of second place for overall European titles. Only Real Madrid, with eight titles (all in the European Champions Cup era), have won more than CSKA's six. On October 14, 2008, the team played a NBA preseason game with the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Read more about this topic: PBC CSKA Moscow
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