Saša Kosović ( sr-cyr, Saša Kosović; born July 18, 1979) is a Serbian–Bosnian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former player. He was an assistant coach for Crvena zvezda between 2011 and 2022.

Early life

Kosović was born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina,

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

to a Bosnian-Serb family. He started to train basketball at age 7 for his hometown team Bosna. He was born in the same year that Bosnia won the European Champions Cup. He trained there until 1992 when he had to move because of the war. Kosović played for Mladost from

Gacko Gacko ( sr-cyrl, Гацко) is a town and municipality located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the region of East Herzegovina. As of 2013, the town has a population of 5,784 inhabitants, while the m ...

and Leotar Trebinje. After two seasons playing in the

First League of Republika Srpska The First League of the Republika Srpska ( sh, Prva liga Republike Srpske / ) is a second level football competition in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The league champion is promoted to the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Relegated teams, dep ...

, he decided to retire as a player. In 1999, he moved to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

to start his professional education. Kosović earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from the University of Belgrade in 2006. In 2014, he graduated from a program for a

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 ...

Coaching career

Early career

Kosović began his coaching career in 2002. In the first years, he worked for Belgrade-based teams; Cerak and Beoas. In 2007, he went back to Trebinje where he became an assistant coach for his former team Leotar of the Basketball Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After three seasons he returns to Belgrade, Serbia. In the 2010–11 season, Kosović was an assistant coach for the FMP of the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia ( sr, Кошаркашка лига Србије, Košarkaška liga Srbije; abbr. КЛС or KLS), is a top-tier men's professional basketball league in Serbia. Founded in 2006, it is run by the Basketball Federatio ...

. The FMP's head coaches were

Boško Đokić Boško Đokić ( sr-cyr, Бошко Ђокић; 26 October 1953 – 26 January 2019) was a Serbian professional basketball coach and journalist. Coaching career Đokić coached teams in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Russia. Between ...

and Aleksandar Petrović. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Kosović was a coach at the Bodiroga Basketball Camp in Trebinje.

Crvena zvezda assistant (2011–2022)

On the start of the 2011–12 season, Crvena zvezda has added Kosović to their coaching staff as an assistant coach. Since then he has been a part of coaching staffs of the Zvezda head coaches, as follows Svetislav Pešić,

Milivoje Lazić Milivoje Lazić ( sr-Cyrl, Миливоје Лазић; born 13 May 1978) is a Slovenian-born Serbian professional basketball coach. Early life Lazić was born in Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia). He played basketball for Smel ...

Vlada Vukoičić Vladimir "Vlada" Vukoičić ( sr, Влада Вукоичић; born 2 June 1973) is a Serbian basketball coach for the Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association. Coaching career Vukoičić was 19 years old in 1994 when he began workin ...

, Dejan Radonjić, Dušan Alimpijević, Milenko Topić,

Milan Tomić Milan Tomić ( sr, Милaн Томић, Greek: Μίλαν Τόμιτς (Milan Tomits); born July 24, 1973) is a Serbian-Greek professional basketball coach and former player. Tomić has spent almost all of his professional playing and coaching c ...

Andrija Gavrilović Andrija Gavrilović ( sr-cyr, Андрија Гавриловић; born 13 January 1965) is a Serbian-Italian professional basketball coach who was lastly an assistant coach for Virtus Bologna of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). Coaching c ...

Dragan Šakota Dragan Šakota (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Шакота, Greek: Ντράγκαν Σάκοτα; born June 16, 1952) is a Serbian professional basketball coach, currently with LBa basketball club, Pallacanestro Reggiana. Playing career Šakota ...

, and Saša Obradović. Over eleven seasons with the Zvezda, he won 20 national and Adriatic titles.

National team coaching career

In August 2022, Kosović was named an assistant coach for the Serbia national team under Svetislav Pešić. He was a staff member at

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

Career achievements

;As assistant coach *

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer of ...

champion: 7 (with Crvena zvezda: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22) *

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

champion: 6 (with Crvena zvezda: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19,

, 2021–22) *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup ...

winner: 6 (with Crvena zvezda:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17,

, 2021–22) * Adriatic SuperCup winner: 1 (with Crvena zvezda:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

)

References

External links

Profile
at eurobasket.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kosovic, Sasa 1979 births Living people Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate basketball people in Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina men's basketball players Bosnia and Herzegovina basketball coaches KK Crvena zvezda assistant coaches KK Leotar players Serbian men's basketball coaches Basketball players from Sarajevo Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina University of Belgrade Faculty of Sport and Physical Education alumni Yugoslav Wars refugees