Bayern Munich have named Sasha Djordevic their new head coach on a two-year contract, the club announced today.
Djordevic, who coached Panathinaikos last season and is currently with the Serbian national team for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro replaces Svetislav Pesic, who left the team to undergo knee surgery.
The new new head coach of @fcb_basketball is Aleksandar "Saša" #Djordjevic. #FCBB_myteam pic.twitter.com/8gKNGjEx1S
— FC Bayern Basketball (@FCBBasketball) August 1, 2016
As a player, 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 competitions.
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.”
