Vlade Đurović ( sr-cyr, Владе Ђуровић; born 16 May 1948) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player.

Early life

Born in 1948 to Bosnian Serb parents Danilo Đurović from

Sokolac Sokolac ( sr-Cyrl, Соколац) is a municipality of the city of Istočno Sarajevo located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 12,021 inhabitants, while the town of Sokolac has a populat ...

and Mileva Cerović from Rogatica—both active World War II

Partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

resistance participants who had met during their time fighting the guerrilla war, then following the war moved to the Yugoslav capital Belgrade, got married and started a family—young Vlade grew up in the Belgrade neighborhood of

Cerak Cerak is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Characteristics The name of the neighborhood, Cerak, in Serbian means ''Turkey oak forest''. Main traffic street is Jabla ...

. His father Danilo fought the war in a unit headed by the well-known communist commander , and, by the time the conflict ended, rose to the rank of major in the Yugoslav secret police,

UDBA The State Security Service ( hr, Služba državne sigurnosti, sr, Служба државне безбедности; mk, Служба за државна безбедност; sl, Služba državne varnosti), also known by its original name ...

, all of which facilitated his relocation to Belgrade where the new, communist, authorities provided him with an apartment unit in a newly-built housing complex as the country transformed from a pre-war monarchy into a

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

people's republic. Growing up in Cerak, across the road from Belgrade Fair grounds, the athletic youngster excelled in various sports, including

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, basketball, and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

. Among the neighbourhood friends adolescent Đurović played

street football The terms street football and street soccer (American and Canadian English) encompass a number of informal varieties of association football. These informal pick up games do not necessarily follow the requirements of a formal game of footbal ...

with,

Blagoje Paunović Blagoje Paunović (Serbian Cyrillic: Благоје Пауновић; 4 June 1947 – 9 December 2014) was a Serbian football defender and manager. Playing career Born in Pusto Šilovo, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he started his ...

—residing in the same apartment building as Đurović—would later go on to a professional football career. At one point during the late 1950s, young Đurović himself pursued football in a more structured environment, registering for a tryout at Red Star Belgrade's youth categories run by the up-and-coming young coach

Miljan Miljanić Miljan Miljanić ( sr-Cyrl, Миљан Миљанић; 4 May 1930 – 13 January 2012) was a Yugoslav and Serbian football player, coach and administrator, who played as a defender. Born in Bitola, Vardar Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, to a ...

. However, due to not having an ID card on him that day, pre-teen Đurović's height and strong physique (compared to that of his age group peers) made Miljanić suspicious about the youngster's stated age. As a result, Miljanić sent the young applicant back, telling him to return with an ID card, which young Đurović, somewhat put off by the experience, never did. Instead, on suggestion from schoolmate Marijan "Šilja" Novović who had already been playing basketball in the OKK Beograd youth system, fifteen-year-old high school (gymnasium) first-year student Đurović went over to OKK where, following a single practice session, he was immediately given a spot in the OKK junior team's starting five by the youth team coach Glišić. After two years of playing the power forward position in the club's juniors, seventeen-year-old Đurović was attached to the full squad by its head coach Bora Stanković. Two more junior team players, Novović and Vladimir Cvetić, were attached to the full squad on the same occasion.

Playing career

Joining OKK Beograd, Yugoslav league champions—a squad laden with exceptional players and Yugoslav national team members Radivoj Korać, Sija Nikolić, Rica Gordić, and Trajko Rajković— Đurović's debut season,

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

, was mostly spent on the bench. He ended up playing until 1973.

Coaching career

By the end of his playing career, he wanted to stay at OKK Beograd, he finished a coaching school and became the first professional in the history of the "OKK Belgrade." In the "OKK Belgrade" has worked with juniors and cadets. For his coaching career thankful to his godbrother Bogdan Tanjević, who persuaded him to train Sloboda Dita from Tuzla, and thus begins his rich coaching career (1978). In 1982 Đurović, became head coach of Šibenka and he had the extraordinary luck to train young Dražen Petrović. In 1983 he won the championship title with Šibenka but only for sixteen hours, as the Board of Directors of the Basketball Association of Yugoslavia, to an urgently convened session, decided to cancel the game and ordered a rematch in Novi Sad. Šibenka decided to boycott it, and the title was awarded to Bosna. In the same year reached with Šibenka, the final of FIBA Korać Cup but was defeated for the second consecutive time by the same team, the French

Limoges CSP Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, commonly referred to as Limoges CSP or CSP, is a French professional basketball club based in the city of Limoges. History The club was founded in 1929, but its peak was during the 1980s and 1990s, when they became t ...

of Richard Dacoury and Ed Murphy. After a one-year passage from Titograd and Budućnost, the summer of 1985 he joined Zadar. He stayed there just one year and led the team to the league title against back-to-back European Champions

Cibona Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and competes ...

although Zadar struggled to the playoff finals with handicap seat. The 1986-87 season he was found to train the team of Crvena zvezda and despite the fourth place in the regular season ranking, his team overcame the obstacle of Cibona in the semifinal and had the opportunity to claim the title towards super talented and young team of

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

. Eventually, the title was lost with 0-2 defeats. In his second year in Zvezda, incidentally that was the last of Yugoslavia over the next 14 years, he didn't manage something important in the domestic competitions, while in the Korać Cup reached the semifinals were eliminated rather easily by subsequent winner of institutional,

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. In 1988 he went to Greece to coaching

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'') ...

which these days was the third great power in the Greek League behind the eternal enemies of Thessaloniki, Aris and PAOK. Τhere depending on the competition, which began gradually to grow, succeed maintaining Panionios in the first four league positions and some march to their quarterfinals of Korac Cup in 1990 and 1993. His greatest success, however, was the victory in the final of Greek Cup towards the recently European Cup Champions PAOK of his old player in Zvezda, Branislav Prelević. In 1993, Vlade Đurović leaves Panionios although the team that year had a roster capable of great things both in Greece and in the Korać Cup. The next two years had a pass from Aris and

AEK A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

without accomplishing something great. On 17 April 1996 Đurović got a job in

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

until the end of the season with a view to lead the team in winning the French Cup and the second position for participation in playoffs. From now he began to decline his coaching career after he was found to train clubs beyond the high European level in Cyprus and Belgium. In December 2011 Vlade returned after 23 years at home in OKK Belgrade.

Post-coaching career

Đurović became the president of the Board for OKK Beograd on 7 October 2017. He left the position in September 2019. He is a frequent pundit on

Radio Television of Serbia Radio Television of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Радио-телевизија Србије, sr-Lat, Radio-televizija Srbije, italics=yes; abbr. RTS/PTC) is Serbia's public broadcaster. It broadcasts and produces news, drama, and sports programming thro ...

and

Arena Sport Arena Sport is a regional pay television sports network. It consists of ten television channels and is coverage area includes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia. Localised feeds Serbia Are ...

basketball broadcasts.

Career achievements

* Yugoslav League champion: 1 (with Zadar: 1985–86) * Greek Cup winner: 1 (with

: 1990–91) * Belgian Cup winner: 1 (with Oostende: 1997–98) *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

winner: 1 (with Achilleas Kaimakli: 1999–2000) * Serbian and Montenegrin Cup winner: 1 (with FMP: 2002–03) * Serbian League Cup winner: 1 (with Metalac: 2008–09)

Notes

References

External links