Athanasios "Thanasis" Skourtopoulos (alternate spelling: Thanassis) ( Greek: Αθανάσιος "Θανάσης" Σκουρτόπουλος; born May 23, 1965) is a Greek professional

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

and a former professional basketball player. He is the current head coach for

Astoria Bydgoszcz Astoria Bydgoszcz, also known as simply Astoria, is a Polish multi-sports club most known for the professional men's basketball team, based in Bydgoszcz. Playing in the Polish Basketball League and in the past in the FIBA Korać Cup. History In ...

of the Polish Basketball League (PLK).

Club playing career

Skourtopoulos played professional basketball with the Greek clubs Dafni Dafniou,

Pagrati Pangrati or Pagrati ( el, Παγκράτι) is a neighborhood in Central Athens, Greece, having an estimated population of 35,173 residents. Named after the ancient sanctuary of Hercules Pancrates ("All Powerful"), its frontage runs from Vasil ...

, and AEK Athens. He was a member of the AEK Athens team that made it to the Greek Cup Finals, in 1988.

Club coaching career

Some of the clubs Skourtopoulos has been the head coach of include:

Aigaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. Ge ...

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek language, Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 139,981 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the seventh-largest municipali ...

Panellinios Panellinios G.S. (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γ.Σ.), full name, Panellinios Gymnastikos Syllogos (Greek (language), Greek: Πανελλήνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος), is a Greece, Greek sports club, mult ...

, Ikaros Kallitheas,

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

, and Keravnos. In 2014, he became the head coach of Rethymno. In 2016, he became the head coach of

Apollon Patras :''The first version of this article has been based in the text of :el:Α.Σ. Απόλλων of the Greek Wikipedia published under the GFDL.'' A.S. Apollon Patras (Greek:''A.Σ. Απόλλων Πατρών'') is a multi-sports club that is ba ...

. In 2017, he became the head coach of GSL Faros. On July 1, 2018, Skourtopoulits returned to Panionios. However, he later quit without coaching the team in any games. On February 4, 2023, he signed with

of the Polish Basketball League (PLK).

National team coaching career

Skourtopoulos worked as an assistant coach of the senior men's Greek national basketball team at the following tournaments: the

2014 FIBA World Cup The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the tournament previously known as the FIBA World Championship. Hosted by Spain, it was the last tournament to be held on the then-current four-year cycle ...

, the EuroBasket 2015, the 2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, and the EuroBasket 2017. He became the head coach of Greece's senior men's national team in October 2017. He first coached Greece at the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers. He also coached Greece at the actual

2019 FIBA World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first since 1967 that did no ...

. After the 2019 FIBA World Cup, the Hellenic Basketball Federation announced that Rick Pitino would be Greece's head coach at the 2020 FIBA Victoria Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, should Greece qualify, while Skourtopoulos would remain as Greece's head coach for the

2021 EuroBasket qualification The EuroBasket 2022 qualification was a basketball competition that was played from November 2017 to February 2021, to determine the 20 FIBA Europe nations who would join the automatically qualified co-hosts Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, and G ...

tournament.

Personal life

Skourtopoulos failed to lead the senior Greek national basketball team to the results at the

, in China, that many analysts, and sports media had predicted. Some major US sports media criticized his use of the MVP of the 2018–19 NBA season,

Giannis Antetokounmpo Giannis Sina Ugo Antetokounmpo (born Adetokunbo; December 6, 1994) is a Greek-Nigerian professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Antetokounmpo's country of origin, in addition to his s ...

at the tournament.Greece’s coach, Skourtopoulos responds to US media criticism.
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Awards and accomplishments

Assistant coach

* Greek Cup Winner: (2001) * Greek League Champion: (2002)

References

External links

EuroCup Coaching ProfileAll4Basketball.com ProfileHellenic Federation Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skourtopoulos, Athanasios 1965 births Living people AEK B.C. players Aigaleo B.C. coaches Apollon Patras B.C. coaches Basketball players from Athens Greek basketball coaches Greek men's basketball players Greece national basketball team coaches Gymnastikos S. Larissas B.C. coaches Ikaros B.C. coaches Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. coaches Keravnos B.C. coaches Pagrati B.C. players Panellinios B.C. coaches Panionios B.C. coaches Peristeri B.C. coaches Rethymno B.C. coaches