The Presidential Basketball Club “Astana” continues pre-season training camps in Lithuania and there are only a few days left before the start of the new season.
VTB United League Championship starts on September 25th. “Astana” will play its first game of the season on 6th of October away with UNICS(Kazan), and the first home game will be held in the capital on 12th of October, Astana's opponent will be “Lokomotiv Kuban” from Krasnodar. In the domestic National League, the capital’s team will play the first games in Aktau against the “Caspiy” on October 15 and 16. But before that, the capital will host the traditional VTB United League Media Day, followed by the club’s official pre-season presentation. Detailed information will be published shortly.
The last season was the most successful in the history of the club. “Astana” became the champion of the National League and the winner of the Kazakhstan Cup, becoming the most decorated Kazakhstan men's team. In the VTB United League, our guys became sixth in the regular season and lost to future VTB vice-champions “Khimki” in the quarterfinal playoff series. It is worth mentioning Anthony Clemmons December MVP award and Emil Raikovich coach of the season 2018/2019 award.
Macedonian specialist Emil Rajkovic will lead the capital team’s coaching staff. In an exclusive interview with the club’s press service, he shared his plans for the upcoming season and noted that the team will continue to maintain its fighting spirit and try to win game after game.
As for the team’s roster, significant changes took place, which mainly affected foreign players. The imports compared to the last season has completely changed. Stephen Holt, Anthony Clemmons, Michael Jenkins, JJ O’Brien, Kenneth Horton, and Jeffrey Grossell will continue their careers in other clubs. They were replaced by American guard Jeremy Hill, a forward from the German Bundesliga, Malcolm Hill, Serbian center Dushan Ristic and one of the most effective VTB United League players Coti Clarke. The Kazakhstanis roster has also changed. The main backbone of the team was preserved, and two new players joined in: Robert Pan from “Tobol” and Andrei Litvinenko from “Almaty Legion”. It is also likely that at the beginning of the season one special player should join the club, but details about this have not yet been disclosed.
The plans of “Astana” for the upcoming season are, of course, to defend the title of the champion of Kazakhstan and the holder of the Cup of Kazakhstan. It is worth noting that there have been changes in the composition of the National League. Along with old friends — “Bars Atyrau”, “Tobol”, “Caspian” and “Sinegorye” our team will be playing with the team “Aktobe” for the first time, which became the champion of the Major League last season. In the regular championship of the National Championship, “Astana” will hold 20 away matches, 4 games with each opponent (2 at home and 2 away). In VTB United League, the squad of Emil Rajkovich is also determined only to win. If talking about our team’s rivals in the tournament, then from last season their roster has remained unchanged with the exception of the Riga “VEF”, which will not participate this season. Thus, 13 teams will take part in the League, and “Astana” will play two games with each opponent: one home game and one away game, a total of 24 matches in the regular season. Detailed information about tournaments, standings, schedule and results of matches are published in the Tournaments section.
All fans and fans of the “yellow-turquoise” squad are waiting for an unconditionally interesting and exciting season, and in order to make visiting your favorite team’s home matches as comfortable as possible, it is high time to think about purchasing a seasonal subscription. Having purchased a subscription, you do not have to stand in line for tickets and think about buying tickets for each game. In addition, you guarantee yourself not only an individual place in all home matches of Astana in the VTB United League regular season but also get a number of additional advantages.
We look forward to seeing you at the matches and wish to receive extremely positive emotions and pleasure from the best game performed by “Astana”. We always keep in mind who we play for, and your support gives us the energy to overcome the most difficult obstacles. You are always with us: in times of success, and in times of failure. In every match, we feel your support and we know that we are never alone. Thank you for that! Thank you for the indescribable atmosphere that we all create together at home matches, and which makes our club really special. In turn, we will strive for even greater sports results and achievements.
