Andrea Trinchieri is back in the Euroleague. The former FC Bayern Basketball coach has signed with Zalgiris Kaunas
As the Lithuanian top club announced on Saturday, Trinchieri has been given a contract until the summer of 2025, but will only lead the first training session “in the near future”, according to the club. The team will still be coached by an interim solution for the cup match against Vilnius on Saturday evening.
Trinchieri succeeds Kazys Maksvytis. The previous coach, who is also the national coach of Lithuania, has been criticized for some time. After six defeats in a row, he has now parted ways by mutual agreement. “The decision was not easy, but both sides made it,” said Zalgiris sports director Paulius Jankunas.
Under Maksvytis, Zalgiris made it to the Euroleague play-offs last season, but missed out on the Final Four in its own arena (0:3 against Barça). Nevertheless, the season was a great success – which Trinchieri is now hoping to build on. However, Kaunas are currently only in 16th place, far from the play-off places
The new coach comes “with fiery eyes “
Trinchieri, who was repeatedly linked with top European clubs after his departure from Munich (contract expired), arrives with plenty of advance praise. The 55-year-old is traveling to Lithuania “with fiery eyes”, according to the club’s press release – probably also because Trinchieri has repeatedly praised the atmosphere in the Zalgiris Arena, one of the loudest in the Euroleague, in the past.
Trinchieri brings a lot of experience to his new club. In addition to his three years at FCBB, he shaped the extremely successful era in Bamberg in Germany between 2014 and 2018 – he also competed in the Euroleague with the club from Upper Franconia.
So far, the Italian has won a title at each of his stops – including in Munich (two cup wins). However, the three years in the Bavarian capital, which were dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, were not crowned with the success that both sides had imagined
