By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow sealed its 2019 Final Four ticket by beating Baskonia and now the Army Team will return to the… crime scene in Vitoria this May to fight for the title.
For CSKA this marks their 16th Final Four presence in their 18-year participation in EuroLeague. This, of course, marks a huge achievement on its own, though you can only fully understand the team’s success if you consider their three titles under this century’s format.
| Season | Final Four position |
| 2002-03 | Semifinalist |
| 2003-04 | 3rd |
| 2004-05 | Semifinalist |
| 2005-06 | Champion |
| 2006-07 | Runner-Up |
| 2007-08 | Champion |
| 2008-09 | Runner-Up |
| 2009-10 | 3rd |
| 2011-12 | Runner-Up |
| 2012-13 | 3rd |
| 2013-14 | Semifinalist |
| 2014-15 | 3rd |
| 2015-16 | Champion |
| 2016-17 | 3rd |
| 2017-18 | Semifinalist |
CSKA remains the only team since the launch of the best-of-three playoffs format in the 2004-05 EuroLeague season to have a total sweep with 14-0 in all of its series, a record that won’t be broken anytime soon, if ever! With the exception of the 2010-11 season when the team finished in the regular season, they keep an unstoppable presence in the playoffs. To put it in perspective, second-best Olympiacos ranks 6-6 in 12 playoffs series.
Playoffs results since the launch of the new format (for teams with a positive W-L ratio), as provided by euroleague.net:
| TEAM | Series | W-L | Win % | Games | W-L |
| CSKA Moscow | 13 | 13-0 | 100% | 44 | 35-9 |
| Olympiacos Piraeus | 12 | 6-6 | 50% | 47 | 24-23 |
| FC Barcelona | 11 | 6-5 | 54.5% | 42 | 23-19 |
| Panathinaikos Athens | 12 | 5-7 | 41.7% | 45 | 22-23 |
| Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz | 11 | 5-6 | 45.5% | 37 | 17-20 |
| Real Madrid | 10 | 6-4 | 60% | 39 | 21-18 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 10 | 5-5 | 50% | 34 | 16-18 |
| Fenerbahce Istanbul | 6 | 4-2 | 66.7% | 17 | 12-5 |
Photo credit: EuroLeague