By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
If you need to explain to anyone how successful is coach Obradovic, remind him of one simple fact. Going into the 2018 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague final, a single man has the chance to have more EuroLeague titles than any club – not just person – in Europe.
Real Madrid has won nine EuroLeague titles since the 1960s, CSKA Moscow has seven titles, also from the 1960s, Maccabi FOX Teli Aviv has six titles starting from the 1970s and Panathinaikos Superfoods has also six titles from 1990s.
Obradovic, since winning the EuroLeague back in 1992 in his first season as a coach, has won nine trophies with the last one being last season’s triumph in Istanbul with Fenerbahce Dogus.
Aside from Obradovic, four other coaches have won four EuroLeague titles. Those are Italian Ettore Messina, Serb Bozidar Maljkovic, Spaniard Pedro Ferrandiz and Russian Alexander Gomelsky.
The back to back challenge
What’s also interesting to note is that despite Obradovic’s dominance, especially during the first decade of this century with Greek club Panathinaikos, he has never won back to back titles with the same club.
However, as a person, he has already done that when he led Joventut Badalona to the 1994 EuroLeague title and then winning the 1995 title with his rival of 2018, Real Madrid.
What’s really scary about Obradovic is that he was born in 1960 and he became a coach overnight in 1992. In his 58 years of age, he is still pretty young for a coach and there’s no indication that he intends to leave the benches anytime soon.
No matter what happens in the final, Obradovic remains on a league of his own. Still being on the top of any list of EuroLeague winners compared not only with other coaches but even with clubs is a unique feat not just in basketball, but in any sport.