Last season’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague runner-up and the winningest coach in European club basketball history will stay together through the end of the decade after Fenerbahce Istanbul announced an agreement with Zeljko Obradovic on a three-year contract extension. Obradovic, 56, is in his fourth season at Fenerbahce and over the last two has taken the club to its first two Final Fours. Fenerbahce reached overtime in last season’s championship game before falling to eventual champion CSKA Moscow. This marks the second time the sides have agreed to a contract extension; Fenerbahce and Obradovic first came together on a two-year contract in the summer of 2013 and then agreed to a second two-year deal in May 2015. This time, Fenerbahce GM Maurizio Gherardini have extended his contracts for the next 3 years, as well as Obradovic’s his coaching staff.
Obradovic is the only coach to lead six different teams to the Final Four: Partizan Belgrade, Joventut Badalona, Real Madrid, Benetton Treviso, Panathinaikos Athens and Fenerbahce. Obradovic won his first Euroleague title with Partizan in 1992 and also lifted the trophy with Joventut in 1994, Madrid in 1995 and Panathinaikos in 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011. He won the Alexander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year award in 2007 and 2011 and was chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Contributors to European club basketball in 2008. Obradovic also won two Saporta Cup titles, with Madrid in 1997 and Benetton in 1999. He has lifted 14 league titles, including two with Fenerbahce, and nine domestic cups. Obradovic also coached the Yugoslavian national to a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games, the 1997 EuroBasket title and the 1998 World Championship.
Before trading in his uniform for a whistle, Obradovic was a point guard of some renown. He helped Partizan win the Yugoslavian League in 1987 and the Korac Cup in 1989 and was a member of the storied Yugoslavian national team that won the silver medal at the 1988 Olympics and at the 1990 World Championships.
