Bayern puts legend Djordjevic on the bench

Aug 01, 2016 by Eurocupbasketball.com Print
Bayern puts legend Djordjevic on the bench

FC Bayern Munich found its new head coach for the 7DAYS EuroCup season on Monday, when it announced that Aleksandar “Sasha” Djordjevic has joined the club on a two-year deal. Last season, Djordjevic coached Panathinaikos Athens to a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs appearance, and the Greek Cup title. Currently, he is preparing to lead Serbian national team to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio. Djordjevic takes over Bayern's head-coaching job from his Serbian countryman Svetislav Pesic, who stepped down earlier this summer following knee surgery. Djordjevic is a legendary point guard from his playing days and was chosen in 2008 among the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors to the first half-century of European club competitins.

Djordjevic, who will turn 49 later this summer, is famous for hitting a game-winning three-pointer that lifted Partizan Belgrade to its only EuroLeague title in 1992. During his career, Djordjevic suited up for EA7 Milan, Scavolini Pesaro and Fortitudo Bologna in Italy, Portland in the NBA, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain. He won the Korac Cup three times and a total of five national championships in Yugoslavia and Spain. On the international scene, he also helped ex-Yugoslavia to three EuroBasket gold medals, the 1998 World Championship title and a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. After he retired as a player in 2005, Djordjevic coached Milan in the EuroLeague and Benetton Treviso in the 2011-12 EuroCup. In recent years he took over the Serbian national team and guided it to the silver medal at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

"I am very happy to be a part of the Bayern organization," Djordjevic said. "I am also pleased to be able to continue the work of Svetislav Pesic. We have a long relationship; I was his captain in the junior national team. He was always a teacher and a role model.

"I know about the seriousness of this project in Munich. With our recent compilation of the team, I am very satisfied."