ACB threatens coaches Katsikaris and Repesa

Fotis Katsikaris

The Spanish ACB (Endesa league) made some strong statements in an interview with the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo Deportivo”. They commented on the recent news that the Greek coach of Club Bilbao, Fotis Katsikaris, became the new head coach of the Russian National Team until the Olympic games in 2016.

ACB rules forbid coaches to have a dual function. In other words, Katsikaris can’t be the coach of Club Bilbao and the Russian national team at the same time.

Katsikaris, Club Bilbao, and the Russian Basketball Federation had found a practical way to work around this obstacle. They would simply let the contract between Katsikaris and Club Bilbao expire at the end of this season, sign a contract with the Russian Federation, terminate that contract after the summer, and then sign a new deal with Club Bilbao. Technically, there would then be no overlapping contracts.

Jasmin Repesa, the Croatian head coach of Spanish ACB team Unicaja Malaga, announced that he would use the same construction in order to coach the Croatian national team at the European Championship next summer.

Jasmin Repesa

The ACB said that they will not accept these kinds of “tricks” and that both Katsikaris and Repesa will be denied a license to coach in the ACB during the 2013/2014 season if they coach the national teams of Russia and Croatia next summer.