Aleksandar "Aco" Petrović ( sr-cyr, Александар Петровић; 14 October 1959 – 1 December 2014) was a Serbian

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 (appro ...

coach.

Career

Petrović started his coaching career in Radnički Belgrade, where he spent four years. After that, he was assistant coach of the Crvena zvezda and won the 1997–98 Yugoslavia championship. He also led the FMP Železnik and Hemofarm Vršac from domestic clubs. The first foreign engagement was in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in the team Lokomotiv Rostov, and with them he came to the final of 2005 FIBA Europe Conference North. Also, Petrović has led more than foreign clubs UNICS, Žalgiris and Azovmash.

National team

Petrović was an assistant coach of

Svetislav Pešić Svetislav "Kari" Pešić ( sr-Cyrl, Светислав "Кари" Пешић; born 28 August 1949) is a Serbian professional basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Serbia men's national team. Playing career During his club ...

in the national team of Yugoslavia, with whom he won gold at the 2001 European Championships in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and, a year later, at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. He also has a silver medal from the 2009 European Championships in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

when he was in the coaching staff of Dušan Ivković.

Illness and death

During his work at the club UNICS it was detected the disease

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...

, and Petović stopped coaching after that. Last UNICS game led by him was against his former club Crvena zvezda in the 2012–13 Eurocup. He died on 1 December 2014 at the age of 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrovic, Aco 1959 births 2014 deaths Deaths from motor neuron disease BC UNICS coaches BC Žalgiris coaches KK Crvena zvezda head coaches KK Crvena zvezda assistant coaches KK FMP (1991–2011) coaches KK Beovuk 72 coaches BKK Radnički coaches Serbian expatriate basketball people in Russia Serbian expatriate basketball people in Ukraine Serbian expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Serbian men's basketball coaches PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban coaches People from Požega, Serbia