PBC CSKA Moscow

CSKA was founded on 29 April 1923,[6] then known as OPPV,[7] when on that day soldiers and sportsmen fought in football against each other for the first place of Moscow. "OPPV", which means Опытно-показательная военно-спортивная площадка всевобуча, a department in the General military education service, was the first central sports department of the Red Army. It was based on the pre-revolutionary "Community of Amateur Skiers".[6]

Sergei Belov, voted the best FIBA Player ever, in 1991.

The first success of the basketball department came at the 1924 Soviet League championship, which was played between cities, not clubs. Two more titles followed in 1928 and 1935. In 1938, the Soviet League championship was played between clubs, and CSKA under the name CDKA (Центральный дом Красной Армии, Central House of the Red Army) debuted there. Stalin's son, Vasily, then founded the club VVS MVO (Военно-Воздушные Силы Московского Военного Округа), with CDKA merging with it. By the end of the Great Patriotic War, CSKA established itself as one of the most respected Soviet basketball teams.[6]

In 1953 and 1954, the club was renamed CDSA (Центральный дом Советской Армии, Central House of the Soviet Army), between 1955–60, it was known as CSK MO, and finally in 1960, it received its current name CSKA (Центральный спортивный клуб Армии, Central Sports Club of the Army).[6]

CSKA won the FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague) title, in 1961, 1963, 1969, and 1971. They also won the Soviet League championship 24 times (1945, 1960–1962, 1964–1966, 1969–1974, 1976–1984, 1988, and 1990).

CSKA won the Russian League title every year from 1992 through 2000, and every year from 2003 to 2008. CSKA also made the 1996 EuroLeague Final Four. They also made the 2001 SuproLeague Final Four, the 2003 EuroLeague Final Four, the 2004 EuroLeague Final Four and the 2005 EuroLeague Final Four, before finally winning the EuroLeague championship at the 2006 EuroLeague Final Four.

Theo Papaloukas, club star and EuroLeague Legend.

In the 2004–05 season, 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 2005 EuroLeague 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 third-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 2004–05 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 game. CSKA entered the 2006 EuroLeague Final Four on a roll, as the only club to sweep their best-of-three quarterfinal series, by defeating Turkish Super League power Efes Pilsen. They defeated Barça in the EuroLeague semis, before defeating the high-powered offense of Maccabi Tel Aviv, of the Israeli Super League, in the final, on April 30, even though the overall record of Maccabi's games with CSKA Moscow favored 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 championship win at the 2008 EuroLeague Final Four, put them in sole possession of second place for overall top-tier level European-wide titles. Only Real Madrid, with eight titles (ten now), had won more than CSKA's six titles at the time (and seven now). On October 14, 2008, the team played an NBA preseason game against the Toronto Raptors, at Air Canada Centre, in Toronto.

Miloš Teodosić, club star in mid-2010s

CSKA won the Russian League title every year from 2009 through 2018, continuing to add to their streak of consecutive Russian League titles won every year since 2003 overall. Since the foundation of the VTB United League in 2008, CSKA has dominated the league, winning the title in 10 of its first 11 seasons (2010, 2012–2019), including the league's Promotional Cup in 2008.

EuroLeague success, however, continued to elude the team. From 2009, CSKA had played in the Final Four every single year except 2011. However, CSKA suffered multiple heartbreaks. CSKA struggled, in particular playing Olympiacos, who beat CSKA in the EuroLeague finals in 2012, and eliminated CSKA in 2013 and 2015. In 2014, CSKA lost a shocker to Maccabi Tel Aviv. CSKA won 3rd place in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

Nando de Colo, EuroLeague MVP and Final Four MVP in 2016

In the 2015–16 season, CSKA won its 7th EuroLeague championship. At the Berlin Final Four, CSKA Moscow defeated Fenerbahçe, by a score of 101–96, after overtime.[8] The star player of CSKA was Nando de Colo, who was named both the season EuroLeague MVP, and the EuroLeague Final Four MVP.[9][10]

In 2016-2017, CSKA reached the Final Four again, but once again lost to Olympiacos in the semifinals. CSKA beat Real Madrid to win 3rd place.

In 2017-18 season CSKA guaranteed its first place of the regular season, beating Olympiacos at home on March 22 with a score of 89:81, and finished with a 24-6 record. Qualifying to the Final Four once again, however, CSKA suffered a complete fiasco - losing to Real Madrid in the semifinals, and to BC Žalgiris in the 3rd place game. In the VTB United League, CSKA secured their 9th title after defeating Khimki 95:84 in the 2018 Final Four.

In the next season CSKA finished at the 2nd place of the regular season, securing its 17th Final Four appearance in the 21 century. In Vitoria-Gasteiz the club made a great comeback during the semifinals against Real Madrid and overpowered Anadolu Efes in the final, achieving 8th title in club's history. CSKA also easily won the VTB United League, sweeping Khimki 3:0 in the finals.

There were some remarkable changes in the 2019–20 season. Players such as 1st shooting guard Nando de Colo, point guard Sergio Rodríguez and 2nd shooting guard Cory Higgins were replaced by Jānis Strēlnieks, Mike James and Ron Baker. The 2nd point forward (Alec Peters) was removed in favour of a second center. The new centers were Johannes Voigtmann and Kosta Koufos. Defending champion CSKA Moscow played steady in the top positions until November, when they suffered four losses in a row, stepping down to the 6th position at worst. Due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, CSKA and all other teams quit playing after the 28th round; there was no winner declared.

• USSR Premier League (defunct)

Winners (24): 1944–45, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1987–88, 1989–90

Runners-up (11): 1945–46, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1974–75, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87

• Russian League

Winners (26): 1992, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19

• VTB United League

Winners (10): 2008, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19

Runners-up (1): 2010–11

• USSR Cup (defunct)

Winners (3): 1971–72, 1972–73, 1981–82

• Russian Cup

Winners (4): 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10

Runners-up (3): 2002–03, 2003–04, 2007–08

• EuroLeague

Winners (8): 1960–61, 1962–63, 1968–69, 1970–71, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2015–16, 2018–19

Runners-up (6): 1964–65, 1969–70, 1972–73, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2011–12

Semifinalists (1): 1961–62

3rd place (8): 1965–66, 1976–77, 1995–96, 2003–04, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2016–17

4th place (7): 1982–83, 1984–85, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2013–14, 2017–18

Final Four (19): 1966, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

• FIBA Saporta Cup (defunct)

Semifinalists (2): 1985–86, 1986–87

• FIBA Korać Cup (defunct)

Semifinalists (1): 1989–90

• European Super Cup (semi-official, defunct)

3rd place (1): 1988

• FIBA International Christmas Tournament (friendly, defunct)

Winners (1): 1998

• Gomelsky Cup

Winners (9): 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019

Runners-up (2): 2009, 2017

• Vladimir Kondrashin and Alexander Belov Tournament

Winners (1): 2008

• Rossiiskie Zheleznye Dorogi Cup

Winners (1): 2011

• Trofeo Città di Caserta

Winners (1): 2011

• Nikos Galis Cup

Runners-up (1): 2014

• Moscow, Russia Invitational Game

Winners (4): 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019

• Thessaloniki, Greece Invitational Game

Winners (1): 2016

• Zadar Basketball Tournament

Runners-up (1): 2018

• Gloria Cup

Winners (2): 2014, 2019

Runners-up (1): 2018

• North European League (defunct)

Winners (1): 1999–00

• Double

Winners (7): 1971–72, 1972–73, 1981–82, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10

• Triple Crown

Winners (1): 2005–06