The Greek takes the reins after Ivanovic leaves
He Red Star Meridianbet Belgrade has quickly filled his vacant coaching position with Ioannis Sfairopoulos, whose Turkish Airlines EuroLeague pedigree. Sfairopoulos, 56, signed a two-year contract replacing Dusko Ivanovic, whom Zvezda fired after a 1-3 start in the EuroLeague.
Sfairopoulos arrives with eight seasons on the EuroLeague bench under his belt, divided evenly between his first four with the Olympiacos and his last four with him maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. He will debut in the Euroleague with Zvezda in the Belgrade derby next Thursday against the Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade.
Welcome, coach @GSfairopoulos 🔴⚪️#kkcz #WeAreTheTeam pic.twitter.com/JetcyaawBm
— KK Crvena zvezda Meridianbet (@kkcrvenazvezda) October 22, 2023
His career record in the EuroLeague is 132-96, which breaks down to 76-46 with Olympiacos and 56-50 with Maccabi. His win rate 57.9% in his career places him in the ninth place among head coaches with at least 100 EuroLeague games.
As Sfairopoulos himself noted in a tweet after the announcement, his first EuroLeague game was a 57-72 victory for Olympiacos over Zvezda before 20,000 fans in Belgrade.
Sfairopoulos led the Olympiacos to a couple of runners-up in the Euroleague. In their first season in the competition, the Reds reached the 2015 championship match, but lost to Real Madrid. Similarly, they reached the 2018 final together but lost to Fenerbahce in Istanbul.