Želimir “Željko” Obradović (Serbian Cyrillic: Желимир Жељко Обрадовић) (born March 9, 1960, in Čačak, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and a former professional basketball player. He is currently the head coach of Panathinaikos Athens and is generally considered one of the best European coaches ever, having won eight Euroleague (only Real Madrid has won 8 Euroleague titles) titles with four different clubs. In addition to his success at the club level, he has won major trophies as Serbian national basketball team head coach, such as the 1997 FIBA European Championship and the 1998 FIBA World Championship.
Contents |
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for Yugoslavia | ||
| Men's Basketball | ||
| Silver | 1988 Seoul | National Team |
| FIBA World Championship | ||
| Gold | 1990 Argentina | National Team |
Obradović started his career as a basketball player with Borac Čačak where he ended up playing 4 senior seasons from 1980 until 1984 as a point guard. Over the summer of 1984, he joined KK Partizan at the age of 24. His first coach in KK Partizan was legendary player of Yugoslav national team Zoran Slavnić (1984-1985).
In Obradović's third season with the team, the team won the 1986-87 Yugoslavian Championship. The next season they reached the 1988 European Champions Cup Final Four. Finally, they won the Yugoslavian Cup and the Korać Cup in 1989. During this period of time, he established himself as one the best and reliable point guards in Yugoslavia.
He was also a member of the Yugoslavian national basketball team that won the silver medal at the 1988 Olympics Basketball Tournament and the gold medal at the 1990 FIBA World Championship.
His playing career was put to a halt when he was sentenced to years in prison after causing the death of a pedestrian in a car accident. After serving his prison sentence, Obradović returned to the court as a player, and already in his latter days as a player he coached Partizan's youth team. He retired from playing basketball in 1991 and immediately signed as the head coach of the senior team of the club.
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for Yugoslavia | ||
| Men's Basketball (Coach) | ||
| Silver | 1996 Atlanta | National Team |
| FIBA World Championship | ||
| Gold | 1998 Greece | National Team |
| FIBA European Championship | ||
| Gold | 1997 Spain | National Team |
| Bronze | 1999 France | National Team |
Obradović's greatness as a basketball head coach is fully confirmed by the great collection of titles he has acquired in his seventeen-year career as a coach: a record eight pro sports club European Champions Cups (with four different teams), two Saporta Cups, numerous domestic league championships and cups, the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics Basketball Tournament, the gold medal at the 1997 FIBA European Championship, the gold medal at the 1998 FIBA World Championship, and the bronze medal at the 1999 FIBA European Championship while coaching the FR Yugoslavian national basketball team, where he was the head coach from 1996-00. He was also the head coach of the Serbia and Montenegro national basketball team in 2004-05.[1]
He has been the head coach of Panathinaikos Athens since the summer of 1999, and he has led the team to become the top club in European club basketball during that time, while simultaneously maintaining the club at the top position in the HEBA A1 Greek national championship. In total, Obradović has won 11 Greek Championships, 6 Greek Cups and 5 Euroleague titles (2000, 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011) with the "Greens". In 2007, he achieved winning the highly coveted Triple Crown championship for the second time as a head coach (the first was in 1992 with Partizan) and won the Euroleague Coach of the Year award. Also in 2009, he managed for third time this achievement in Berlin as a head coach. In 2011 he won his 8th Euroleague trophy with Panathinaikos. His list of titles is unmatched by any other current European coach.
As a player:
As head coach:
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Don Nelson |
FIBA World Championship Winning Coach 1998 |
Succeeded by Svetislav Pešić |
| Preceded by Dušan Ivković |
EuroBasket Winning Coach 1997 |
Succeeded by Bogdan Tanjević |
| Preceded by Željko Pavličević Božidar Maljković Jonas Kazlauskas Ettore Messina Ettore Messina Xavier Pascual |
Euroleague Winning Coach 1992 1994, 1995 2000 2002 2007 2009 2011 |
Succeeded by Božidar Maljković Božidar Maljković Pini Gershon Svetislav Pešić Ettore Messina Xavier Pascual Incumbent |