Božidar Maljković

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Božidar "Boža" Maljković (born 20 April 1952 in Otačac, Serbia, Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia) is Serbian basketball coach, one of the most successful in Europe, having won a title with practically all clubs he trained, including four Euroleague titles with three different clubs (Jugoplastika Split, Panathinaikos and Limoges). Currently, he's the coach of TAU Cerámica.

1 Biography
2 Clubs
3 Titles
- 3.1 International
- 3.2 National
4 Awards
5 References

[edit] Biography

Having ended his playing career prematurely, at only 19 years of age, he started coaching immediately in a small basketball club Ušće in Belgrade, where he worked from 1971 to 1979. He then moved to KK Radnički, initially as an assistant to Bratislav Đorđević but took over as head coach the next season. Next stop was at Red Star Belgrade as an assistant to Ranko Žeravica from 1981 to 1986.

Maljković's big coaching break came at Jugoplastika Split where he arrived in 1986, taking over a talented youthful side.

After having won two Champions Cup titles and three Yugoslavian championships and national cups each, he took over BC Barcelona 1991, where he won Copa del Rey in the same season, and 1992 Limoges CSP, where he scored another Euroleague title, then Panathinaikos, Unicaja and Real Madrid.

After leaving Real Madrid, a lot of speculation appeared about his next coaching job. In an interview with Sportski žurnal he said that he has been offered the role of head coach of Lithuanian club BC Žalgiris but would only take the job in the summer afer the season has finished. He also said that he received several other offers, but refused to disclose which clubs they were from. Finally on March 9, 2007 he was unveiled as the new coach of TAU Cerámica, replacing Velimir Perasović who abruptly stepped down mid-season due to health reasons. Incidentally, Maljković coached Perasović for four years at Jugoplastika. [1]