• Shengelia Breaks with CSKA in protest of the war in Ukraine

  • Georgia Shengelia's patriotic display

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is also shaking the foundations of continental sport.

And especially affected is being the Euroleague.

The great paradigm of the crisis is CSKA Moscow, which in a few hours has gone from announcing a star signing to confirming that four of its players have abandoned the team's discipline because of the war.

Last Wednesday, hours before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine and war officially broke out, CSKA Moscow made a transfer official that, a priori, turned the Euroleague upside down.

Kevin Pangos

, who last season was included in the best quintet of the competition and who had decided to try (without luck, like so many) in the NBA, returned from the Cavaliers to reinforce the Moscow giant.

But, in a few hours, everything has turned radically.

The present of CSKA, as well as Zenit Saint Petersburg and UNICS Kazan, is up in the air.

First, by the boycott towards them of several rivals.

And second, because of the exodus that is taking place in their templates.

The group of

Dimitris Itoudis

, the historic Central Sports Club of the Russian Army that has eight European crowns in its showcases (the last one, in 2019 in Vitoria), is the most flagrant.

From positioning himself as the favorite again after his irregular start to the course, to seeing how up to four of his stars have already left Moscow.

The first of them, the most notorious case, was

Tornike Shengelia

.

The Georgian, who was already heavily criticized in his country the day he signed for the Russians and who even signed a clause in his contract allowing him to go with his team in the event of a match, stated that he could not "continue playing for the club of the Russian army".

This Sunday it has been the Danish

Iffe Lundberg

who has taken the suitcases.

He has written on his social networks: "Due to the current complex situation in which we find ourselves, today I have returned to my country, Denmark, to safeguard the safety of my family, hoping that everything will return to normal as soon as possible. Say no to war".

According to different information, later officially confirmed, both the Lithuanian

Marius Grigonis

and the German

Johannes Voigtmann

have chosen to leave CSKA.

Xavi Pascual

's Zenit

was left without

Shabazz Napier, Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Arturas Gudaitis

.

More and more players are expected to leave Russian clubs.

CSKA has reacted in a statement.

"For personal reasons related to the current situation between Russia and Ukraine, as well as its possible consequences,

Tornike Shengelia and Iffe Lundberg

have left the CSKA discipline. In the near future,

Marius Grigonis and Johannes Voigtmann

will also go to their homeland. The actions of the players are a violation of the terms of the contract and the regulations, but the club treats the personal situation of each of the players with understanding. The status of the player agreements will be resolved when the political and sporting situation in Europe returns. back to normal."

The Euroleague, meeting urgently, made the decision on Friday that the three clubs could not play their games on Russian soil and that their matches would be postponed or played on neutral ground.

Although some of its member teams went further.

Zalgiris

CEO Paulius Motiejunas

was in favor of a boycott.

"We will suggest not only not to play in Russia, but to boycott all matches against Russian teams."

CSKA should host Real Madrid on Friday, but that duel is totally up in the air today.

Because of the problems in the Moscow workforce and because of the difficulty that Russians would have to travel to another city: 20 countries have closed their airspace.

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  • Ukraine

  • Russia

  • Europe

  • Real Madrid

  • Denmark

  • Euroleague

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