By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Ilias Zouros is the new head coach of AEK Betsson.
Zouros, 57, signed a contract for the remainder of the 2023-24 season, the team announced on Friday.
After officially parting ways with Joan Plaza on Thursday evening, AEK hired the Greek play-caller. The new boss meets the Athens outfit at 0-1 in Group L of the Basketball Champions League Round of 16 and 6-9 in Greece’s Stoiximan Basket League. The next games show a domestic visit to Karditsa Iaponiki on Saturday and a continental meeting with Hapoel Holon in Hungary on Tuesday.
The most recent stop in a lengthy coaching career for Zouros was guiding the senior national team of Georgia between 2016 and 2023. His efforts included the Crusaders playing in the FIBA World Cup for the first time last summer and qualifying for this summer’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. He was also behind competing in the 2017 and 2022 editions of EuroBasket. A few weeks ago, Aleksandar Dzikic was announced as his successor by the Georgian Basketball Federation.
His first job as head coach was with Olympiacos in 2000. After leading Sagesse to winning the FIBA Asia Champions Cup and the Lebanese Basketball League, he returned to Europe, specifically his home country Greece. Abroad experience sent him to Turkiye, Lithuania, France, and Montenegro, to take over Efes, Zalgiris, Paris, and Buducnost VOLI. At the international level, he emerged as the head coach of Greece in 2011, besides the long and successful spell with Georgia.