EuroLeague coaches with most wins all-time: where Obradovic, Messina rank / News - Basketnews.com

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EuroLeague is the coaches' league, which saw a lot of great basketball masterminds. But who are the most dominant ones and which nationality takes over the coaching challenge? BasketNews presents the analyzed data since the modern EuroLeague started in 2000.

1604 games. That's how many times Serbian head coaches have guided various teams in the EuroLeague. It's the most among all nationalities.

This Balcanic country served such greats as Zeljko Obradovic, Dusan Ivkovic, Svetislav Pesic, Bozidar Maljkovic ... you name it.

No wonder Serbians have coached (and won) the most games in the EuroLeague.

Second among all? Well, interessante – Italian coaches, with 1476 games. Spain specialists rank third, having 1415 contests in their disposition.

The Greeks are the fourth on this all-time list, however, they are the ones with the best winning percentage. Out of 1071 duels, Greek masterminds managed to navigate their squads to 619 victories (57.8%).

Most games coached by nationality (February 7, 2022):

Nationality Games Wins Losses Win % Serbia 1604 851 753 53.1% Italy 1476 776 700 52.6% Spain 1415 806 609 57% Greece 1071 619 452 57.8% Croatia 844 388 456 46% Lithuania 704 307 397 43.6% Turkey 682 330 352 48.4% Montenegro 565 279 286 49.4% USA 398 199 199 50% France 386 114 272 29.5% Slovenia 259 98 161 37.8% Israel 257 147 110 57.2% Russia 159 78 81 49.1% Germany 94 21 73 22.3% Poland 72 24 48 33.3%

Now let's dive into the most successful coaches by wins total in the EuroLeague.

Legendary Zeljko Obradovic captures first place there with 313 wins, taking in mind all of his superb achievements. Nine EuroLeague titles speak for themselves.

Basketball professor from Italy, Ettore Messina, is the second one (278 wins), being a four-time strongest continental league champion.

Arguably best tactician Xavi Pascual is lurking behind the mentioned two with 241 victories. The Spanish specialist is a EuroLeague champion as well, getting the accolade in 2010.

After Pablo Laso (230 wins), Dimitris Itoudis close the Top 5. CSKA Moscow head coach and two-time EuroLeague champ has 191 victorious efforts on his resume. On top of that, his winning percentage is the best of all (75.2%).

Dusko Ivanovic is 6th on the all-time list with 185 wins, and he has won the most games without winning the trophy. He coached Baskonia to EuroLeague finals in 2001 and 2005 but lost both times.

At 7th with most wins in the EuroLeague, we find Ergin Ataman, current champion with Anadolu Efes Istanbul.

Ataman, however, has lost more games (170) than won (167) and he is the only coach with a negative balance in the Top 10 coaches by Ws.

Most wins by coach (February 7, 2022):

Coach Nationality Games Wins Losses Win % Zeljko Obradovic Serbia 454 313 141 68.9% Ettore Messina Italy 391 278 113 71.1% Xavi Pascual Spain 355 241 114 67.9% Pablo Laso Spain 326 230 96 70.6% Dimitris Itoudis Greece 254 191 63 75.2% Dusko Ivanovic Montenegro 333 185 148 55.6% Ergin Ataman Turkey 337 167 170 49.6% David Blatt USA 265 152 113 57.4% Georgios Bartzokas Greece 256 139 117 54.3% Dusan Ivkovic Serbia 202 134 68 66.3% Ioannis Sfairopoulos Greece 227 131 96 57.7% Velimir Perasovic Croatia 234 121 113 51.7% Oktay Mahmuti Turkey 204 113 91 55.4% Sarunas Jasikevicus Lithuania 204 113 91 55.4% Jasmin Repesa Croatia 227 109 118 48.0% Sergio Scariolo Italy 202 107 95 53.0% Svetislav Pesic Serbia 173 102 71 59.0% Simone Pianigiani Italy 180 101 79 56.1% Joan Plaza Spain 190 90 100 47.4% Pini Gershon Israel 138 90 48 65.2% Subscribe to BN+ and get access to exclusive content.