By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce Beko president Ali Koc said that he hopes coach Zeljko Obradovic will stay with the club despite the upcoming reduction of the team’s budget in comparison with the previous seasons. Obradovic traveled to Istanbul from Belgrade Monday (15/6) and will meet with Koc on Tuesday morning.
Apart from Koc and Obradovic, Fenerbahce vice president Semih Ozsoy and general manager Maurizio Gherardini are expected to be present in the meeting as well. Obradovic had a meeting with Gherardini and Ozsoy Monday (photo).
Here’s what Koc said in an interview with FB TV:
“Obradovic is now in a meeting with Semih Ozsoy and Maurizio Gherardini. We will talk and discuss tomorrow for next season. I have said this before and I am saying again. Obradovic can stay with us as long as he wants. But there is a fact. Our budget can’t be 30 million euros next year. If he wants to stay under these conditions, he can stay as long as he wants. We want to be under his leadership. Our coach told us that we built the best roster he had [on Fener]. Unfortunately, the results were not good for us. But, you can’t be perfect in every season. Our team and coach still has a lot of credit. I hope we meet halfway and continue to compete together next season.”
Regarding the team’s budget, Koc added the following:
“In EuroLeague, a win means 68,000 euros [in revenues]. It doesn’t even match our travel costs. The championship prize is 1 million euros. It doesn’t even match our championship bonuses. But the prestige of being the champions of Europe is enough.”