By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The basketball world united in Belgrade to bid the last goodbye to the late Dusan Ivkovic on Tuesday morning. The Serbian coach passed away last Thursday, at the age of 77.
President of the Serbian Basketball Federation Predrag Danilovic, Partizan boss Zeljko Obradovic, former Ivkovic player Zarko Paspalj, former Sacramento Kings GM Vlade Divac, Jure Zdovc, and Hall of Famer Dino Radja were present at the funeral, serving as the pallbearers, in an emotional moment.
Among the attendees were former Ivkovic players Vassilis Spanoulis and Marko Keselj, as well as EuroLeague Legend Theodoros Papaloukas, his former assistant coach Milan Tomic and CSKA Moscow coach Dimitris Itoudis.
Olympiacos owners Panagiotis and Giorgos Aggelopoulos also made the trip to Belgrade for the funeral, honoring the memory of “the best coach ever of Olympiacos”, as they stated via a press release.
Ivkovic was born in Belgrade on October 29, 1943, and was one of the most successful European coaches of all time.
As a basketball player, he played as a guard, and as a coach, he led Partizan, Aris, Radnicki Belgrade, Sibenik, Vojvodina, PAOK, Panionios, Olympiacos, AEK, CSKA, Dinamo Moscow, and Anadolu Efes.
With the Yugoslavian and Serbian national team, he won three European gold and one silver medal, one world cup, silver at the Olympic Games, and gold at the Global University Games.
At the club level, he won the Euroleague (twice), the Radivoje Korac Cup, the Saporta Cup, the ULEB Cup and won championship titles in Yugoslavia, Greece, and Russia.