Kushchenko on the limit on foreign players in the United League: “We are not obligated to develop young players”

President of the VTB United League Sergei Kushchenko said that the league does not yet plan to tighten the limit on foreign players.

Currently, United League clubs cannot include more than six foreign players in their roster for the season.

— Limit on foreign players in the United League: six foreigners in a roster of 12 players for the match. Optimal format or maybe an alternative? Is there pressure from the Ministry of Sports?

— There is no pressure, but the discussion is ongoing. We have formulated our position more than once. You can’t put different sports under the same brush. Russian hockey is world-class, this is a historical fact. Volleyball is the same. Therefore, there is a different, more stringent approach to the limit. Basketball? We have nowhere to get so many Russian players of the level of Andrei Kirilenko or Alexei Shved to maintain high-quality basketball in the United League. A “mix” with foreigners is necessary. At the same time, with the current limit, the Russians have enough options to get themselves playing time.

And what do we see? Veterans who are over 35 years of age, Vyacheslav Zaitsev, Nikita Kurbanov, Andrey Vorontsevich and others, are still in demand. Why? They never got a replacement. Although there are plenty of chances. This means that somewhere the reserve training system is flawed. The United League is not obligated to develop young players. We must offer the fan high-quality basketball,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta quotes Kushchenko.

Watch the VTB United League playoff matches on the TV channels of the Match TV holding, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.