“Top 10” strategists working in European local leagues: a big change in Lithuania and cosmopolitan Germans

Lithuanian basketball coaches in high-level foreign clubs still remain a rarity and more the exception than the rule, but this year more specialists from abroad came to work in our country’s highest league than ever before.

Krepsinis.net looked at the list of the 10 strongest foreign specialists coaching the clubs of the Old Continent leagues and we meet three of ours in it – Šarūnas Jasikevičius is at the helm of Fenerbahçe Istanbul, Mantas Česnauskis coaches the Energa Czarni club in Slupsk, and Virginijus Sirvydis took over Zelionas Guros during the season CEO of Enea Stelmet Zastal coach’s chair. It is true that Mr. Česnauskis has adopted Polish citizenship, but he was born and raised in Lithuania.

The list of “Top 10” leagues does not include Romania, where Tomas Rinkevičius, who coaches the Sibiu CSU team, or Dainius Adomaitis, who works in Japan, work. Also, Rimas Kurtinaitis has been coaching Baku “Sabah” in Azerbaijan for several months, while Ramūnas Cvirka is at the helm of Almaty “Irbis”, the leaders of the Kazakhstan championship.

The leaders are Germany and Lithuania

A big change took place during the year in the Lithuanian Basketball League (“Betsafe-LKL”), where at the same time last year 11 out of 12 strategists were Lithuanian – only “7bet-Lietkabel” from Panevėžys was coached by Nenad Čanakas, who is from Serbia. Now we count as many as five out of 11 possible foreigners, which means that as much as 45 percent. LKL coaches have come from other countries.

However, the largest delegation is in Germany, where even 15 out of 18 clubs employ strategists from abroad, which is 83 percent.

6 foreign coaches out of 16 (37.5%) work in Poland, if we treat M. Česnauskis as Lithuanian, the situation is similar in Italy. Meanwhile, in Turkey – 4 out of 16 (25%), in Spain – 4 out of 18 (22%), in the Adriatic League – 3 out of 14 (21%). True, only Ioannis Sfairopoulos is a strategist who works in the league from outside the Balkans. In Greece, foreigners occupy the 2nd place. coaching positions out of 12 possible (16.7%). There are only 3 specialists from abroad in France, which is 16.7 percent. There are 2 foreign coaches working in Israel among the 13 clubs (15.3%).

In Israel, there is a rule – a foreigner who wants to work as a manager of a club in this league. coach, must have international experience in the previous season. This means that he should have coached a team in the EuroLeague, European Cup, FIBA ​​Champions League or FIBA ​​European Cup, where experience also includes participation in the qualifying tournament. In France, too, foreigners have to go a long way to get at least an assistant position, where they have to present various certificates and still need to have experience at the highest level.

Serbs are the most widely scattered in the strongest leagues – as many as seven are working in six different countries. Two (N.Čanakas and Oliveris Kostičius) are in Lithuania. There are six Spaniards abroad, but even four are working in Germany, Croatia and Greece each have five coaches abroad.

Coaches of Euroleague clubs are already included in the lists of local leagues, but for a general understanding, it can be said that 9 out of 18 teams are coached by local specialists.

If all local leagues are added together, it can be said that 67.2 percent. all teams are staffed by local specialists. In general, even 31 percent. of all strategists working abroad are coaching German clubs. It is clear that the rise in the level of this basketball is clearly related to the fact that coaches are invited based on qualifications, not a German passport. Germany has never been known for good strategists, so they decided to rely more on foreigners.

The opposite is the case with the French, who also often curse their local coaches, and Vincent Collet, who is at the helm of the national team, is not a coach of the highest caliber, but the French Basketball Federation really wants local coaches to improve, which makes it much more difficult for foreigners to get a job.

Coaches working abroad:

Serbs: 7 (Turkey, Poland, Lithuania 2, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, France)

Spaniards: 6 (Poland, Germany 4, Greece)

Croats: 5 (Turkey, Spain, Poland 2, Italy)

Greeks: 5 (Spain, Lithuania, Serbia, Italy, Israel)

Lithuanians: 3 (Poland 2, Turkey)

Slovenians: 3 (Spain, Serbia, Germany)

Americans: 3 (Italy, Germany 2)

Finns: 3 (France, Germany 2)

Italians: 2 (Lithuania, France)

Bosnians: 2 (Italy, Germany)

Belgians 2 (Germany)

Montenegrins: 2 (Turkey, Spain)

Macedonians: 1 (Lithuania)

Argentinians: 1 (Germany)

Slovaks: 1 (Germany)

Israelis: 1 (Germany)

Turks: 1 (Greece)

The long break: Waterman’s value, Jack’s Republic, the Vovor effect, the battles for 3rd and 6th place and which LKL clubs will be satisfied with the season