What is the formula of the Supercup?
This year, there are 6 participating teams – all the semi-finalists of the last season of the VTB United League, as well as to foreign clubs: the current champions of the Adriatic League, Crvena Zvezda, and last year’s Eurocup semi-finalist, Beşiktaş.
From September 11 to 13, the participants, divided into two groups, will play round-robins. On September 14, the games for 5th, 3rd and 1st places are scheduled.
Despite CSKA, Lokomotiv will play Crvena Zvezda – this game will take place on September 13 at 17:00.
The other group consists of UNICS, Zenit, and Beşiktaş.
How did Loko prepare to Supercup?
Lokomotiv Kuban arrived in Moscow the day before yesterday from Türkiye, where, as part of the Gloria Cup, the Krasnodar team won two matches, lost one, and tied another (as it turned out, this is quite possible if the game is friendly).

Antonius Cleveland suffered a minor injury in the fourth game – that very draw against Tofaş. But since then he has recovered and is fully ready to play against CSKA.
Yesterday, Loko had one training session. This morning, the team had another one, dedicated primarily to shooting.

Andrey Vedishchev: "We are ready to fight"

– Congratulations to everyone on the start of the new season! – says the head coach and president of PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban. – I am very glad that we are starting against CSKA, one of the main favorites of the Supercup. We always have interesting clashes with them, difficult ones.
Our opponent has gained very decent form, going through the Gloria Cup without a single defeat. They have barely changed their lineup since last season, so everyone knows very well what to do on the court. We are the underdogs in this game. But in the Supercup, I think, any team, except perhaps Crvena Zvezda, will be an underdog against CSKA. We are ready to fight.
What to expect from CSKA?
The team that won the league last season changed slightly. Of those who received significant time on the court, Olivier Hanlan, Samson Ruzhentsev and Anton Kardanakhishvili left the team. Vladimir Karpenko, who gained a lot of experience at Yenisey, returned from a loan. Three more notable players with Russian passports also joined CSKA: defender Yuri Umrikhin, forward Aleksandr Gankevich and center Ruslan Abdulbasirov (by the way, a Loko alumnus).
With all respect to the above-mentioned players, their arrival pales in comparison to the Serbian transfer bomb: Aleksa Avramović, who just have won bronze at the Paris Olympics and was recognized as the best defending player of the Olympic tournament, moved from Partizan to CSKA.

Avramović began to play the key role in Andreas Pistiolis’ formations from the very first pre-season games. In a friendly match against Tofaş, he scored 20 points and made 6 assists. Except for the Serb, CSKA’s leaders (judging by the pre-season fixtures) are the same: Melo Trimble, Amath M’Baye, Tonye Jekiri, Livio Jean-Charles.
But although Pistiolis’ team won all 4 games at the Gloria Cup, they started three of them by letting the opponent trail them hard. Against Tofaş, CSKA had to outplay 18 points.
The Moscow team is far from perfect in defense at the moment – and this should be used. But the main battle will take place in the posts: a lot will depend on whether the Krasnodar front line will be able to contain the CSKA bigmen.
Where to watch?
The match will be broadcasted live on Match! Igra and Start TV channels, as well as on the official website of the VTB United League, and also us – lokobasket.com.
By the way, we remind you that very soon, on September 22, big basketball will return to Krasnodar. In the first game of the new season of the VTB United League, Loko will host Yenisei.