A grave mourning has rocked European basketball. Dusan Ivkovic passed away at the age of 78, legendary Serbian coach, one of the greatest coaches in the history of basketball on the Old Continent. Ivkovic had had some heart problems and in the last few weeks he had been hospitalized in intensive care in Belgrade for a lung infection, before the death reported by the news agency novosti.rs.
The Euroleague, but all European basketball lose one of the “gurus” of the bench, one of the greatest and most successful coaches, capable of obtaining trophies in the largest Serbian, Greek, Turkish and Russian teams. Ivkovic was called the “wise man of European basketball” and has always been considered a source of inspiration for many coaches.
An exceptional career that began in 1978 on the bench of Partizan Belgrade, then continued in the national team with the triumphs of Yugoslavia, with which he won silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and above all the world title in Argentina in 1990 and those at the European Championships in 1989, 1991 and 1995.
With the clubs he has won everything (3 Greek championships, 4 Russian championships, cups in Turkey), but above all the two Eurolegas with Olympiacos in 1997 and 2012. In 2017 he was inducted into the Fiba Hall of Fame, a recognition for his legendary and unforgettable career.
Credit Ciamillo
