Instead of Latvian basketball coach Robert Štelmacher, the Lithuanian team Panevėžys “Lietkabelis” will be managed by Serbian Nenads Čanaks, the club announced on Friday.
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The contract with Stelmacher was concluded for one season with the possibility of extending it for another year.
Currently, “Lietkabelis” ranks fifth among 12 teams in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) with four wins in six games, while ULEB ranks eighth among ten teams in the Eurocup with one success in four matches.
Čanaks returns to Panevezys only after a break of a few months, working in the “Lietkabelis” unit from 2018 to 2023. He became the head coach of Ankara’s Turk Telekom this summer, but was fired on Tuesday.
Last season, Lietkabelis took fourth place in Group A under the leadership of Čanak in the Eurocup, losing in the quarterfinals, but won bronze medals in the Lithuanian championship.
Stelmacher’s previous job was the Czech team “Nymburk”, which he managed at the beginning of the previous season, but was released from his position in October. Stelmacher became the head coach of “Nymburk” in the summer of last year, although before that he had agreed on cooperation with the Dutch vice-champion “ZZ Leiden”.
Before that, Stelmacher managed the Estonian club “Kalev”/”Cramo” in Tallinn for three years. Under his leadership, the Tallinners won two Estonian championship titles and gold medals in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League.
Štelmacher started his coaching career in 2009, when he became the head coach of the Lithuanian club Vilnius “Perlas”, and in October of the following year, after the dismissal of the head coach, he managed the Lithuanian club Vilnius “Lietuvos rytas” for a short time. After that, Stelmacher returned to “Perlas”. In the summer of 2012, he moved to Ventspils, leading the team of this city to the throne of the Baltic Basketball League (BBL) in 2013 and to the title of the Latvian Basketball League (LBL) a year later.
After the 2014/2015 season, Štelmaher and “Ventpils” parted ways, and in 2016 he took over the reins of the “Valmiera”/ORDO team and led it to the first LBL championship title. In the following off-season, he became the head coach of the Polish basketball club “Energa Czarni” in Slupsk, leading this team to the semi-finals of the local championship. On the other hand, in 2017, Štelmahers returned to the “Ventspils” club, once again triumphing in the Latvian championship, which was followed by the championship title of the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League the following season.
Štelmahers has also managed the Latvian men’s basketball team.
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During his playing career, Štelmaher played for ASK, Rīga “Bonus”, ASK/”Brocēni/LMT”, Russian club “Avtodorožnik” from Saratov, Polish units “Zastal” from Zeļon Gura, “Šlask” from Wroclaw, as well as Turkish clubs “Pinar” from Karšijak, Istanbul “Ulker”, Slovenian team “Ljubljana” Olimpija, Latvian team “ASK Riga” and Italian club Veroli “Prima”. Also, from 2004 to 2008, Štelmacher represented the “Lietuvos rytas” team, with which he won the ULEB Cup tournament in 2005.
Štelmahers represented the Latvian national team in four European championships, playing more than 140 games in total.
