Dusan Ivkovic leaves Serbia role

Dusan Ivkovic has stepped down as head coach of the Serbian National Team today ending a five year second stint with the team. The legendary tactician is one of the greatest national and club coaches in European history and he revealed it was time to hand the reins to a younger coach. During a press conference in his native Belgrade Dusan Ivkovic said.

“It was time for a new, younger team coach to take over Serbia…I could do this with great pleasure and challenge in the future, but it would be better for a younger coach to do it,” said the 69-year old.

“I was doing this job as a volunteer and with pleasure and I will never regret doing it…I turned down club offers, one was of three million, but this was my greatest pleasure.”

Dusan Ivkovic is one of European Basketball´s great winners and boasts an enviable list of club honors as a head coach. He won two Euroleagues and two leagues with Olympiacos of Greece (1997 and 2012) and was a three time Russian League winner with CSKA Moscow. Ivkovic can also point to a Eurocup win with Dynamo Moscow in 2006 and various other cups and league titles in Greece and his native Serbia.

Despite his enormous club success, Dusan Ivkovic will be remembered in Serbia for bringing success to the national team. During his first stint on the bench for the then Yugoslavia he won gold at the Eurobasket tournaments in 1989, 1991, and 1995. During those years he also claimed silver for the country at the 1988 Olympics and gold at the 1990 FIBA World Championship.

Since 2008 Ivkovic has once again been in charge of the Serbian National Team, and while success was harder to come by this time, he did guide the team to the silver during Eurobasket 2009. Serbian federation vice-president Dejan Bodiroga said that the search for a new coach would begin shortly and that there are several young contenders for the position.