Svetislav Pesic is no longer coach of the Serbian national team. The 74-year-old confirmed in an interview that he would not be returning to the bench. At the same time, “Kari” warned that Serbian basketball is not in as good a shape as it looks.
According to reports, Pesic’s contract with the Serbian association expired and was not renewed. “President Predag Danilovic has already resigned and, as I understand it, he did so so that his successor could find a new coach,” Pesic told Politka. “But I already said before the Olympics that, in my opinion, someone else should take over.”
At the same time, Pesic once again warned that despite the bronze medal at the Olympics, Serbian basketball needs to do a lot. Among other things, the 74-year-old criticized the fact that none of his predecessors had written any reports on past tournaments and therefore little was done for the development of the national team
Pesic: Serbian association must react
Pesic used similar words to those he used in an interview with the Croatian outlet Index: “I warn the people in Serbia that we will be like Croatia, who are in a valley right now. If we don’t change anything in Serbia, it will be the same here. We’ll be lucky if we even qualify for a European Championship or World Cup. We can then forget about the Olympic Games, but of course people don’t want to hear that.”
The former national coach left open the question of whether Pesic would return to the bench elsewhere. “I’m always there for Serbian basketball if people want my opinion. However, I will now devote myself to other projects that I haven’t had time for recently because I was previously looking after the Serbian national team 24 hours a day.”
The medal at the Olympics was another milestone for Pesic; the coach had previously become world champion with Yugoslavia in 2002 and at least finished second with Serbia in 2023. He also won two European Championship titles, one with Germany (1993) and another with Yugoslavia (2001).
