Aleksandar Trifunović ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Трифуновић; born 30 May 1967) is a Serbian 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 (appro ...

coach and former player who was most recently the head coach for Dinamo București of the Romanian Liga Națională.

Playing career

Trifunović began his pro career with

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

before moving to

KK Zadar Košarkaški klub Zadar (), commonly referred to as KK Zadar or simply Zadar, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, club based in Zadar, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the ABA League JTD, Adriatic Basketball A ...

where he played for 3 seasons under head coaches Dragan Šakota, Slavko Trninić, and

Krešimir Ćosić Krešimir "Krešo" Ćosić (; 26 November 1948 – 25 May 1995) was a Croatian professional basketball player and coach. He was a collegiate All-American at Brigham Young University. He revolutionized basketball in Yugoslavia and was the first ...

. He returned to Crvena zvezda in summer 1991, contributing greatly to the club's two back-to-back league titles.

Coaching career

Trifunović was the head coach of the

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 o ...

club

during the 2001–02 season. Trifunović was the head coach for the Serbian club Crvena zvezda during the 2002–03 season and during the month of December during the 2004-05 season. He firmly established his head coaching career in Lithuania with the Lithuanian League club

Lietuvos rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is ...

in the years 2006–2008. Rytas club reached the

ULEB Cup EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketbal ...

finals in the 2006–07 season and the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

Top 16 stage in the 2007–08 season. He also won the

Baltic League The Baltic League (officially known as the Triobet Baltic League) was a Baltic men's football club tournament held four times between the top club sides from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 2007 inspired by the now defunct Scandinavi ...

championship in 2007 for Rytas. In the 2008 off-season, he became the head coach of the Greek League club

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''), ...

. In 2009, he became the head coach of the

Russian Super League The Russian Superleague (, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was considered the second-best league in the world, after the Nation ...

club Spartak Saint Petersburg. He resigned from the club on 10 November 2009. On 27 December 2009, Trifa signed a new one-and-a-half-year contract with Crvena zvezda. In October 2010, Trifunovic returned to Lietuvos rytas. Despite a slow start, he led the team to the Euroleague Top16. However, a loss in the LKF cup and finishing only 3rd in the

led to Trifunovic parting ways with Rytas in April 2011. After starting the 2011–12 season without a team, Trifunović shocked everyone when he became the head coach of

BC Žalgiris Basketball Club Žalgiris () commonly known as BC Žalgiris, is a professional basketball club based in Kaunas, Lithuania. They compete domestically in the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, Lithuanian Basketball League (''Lietuvos krepšinio lyga'') and ...

, the archrival of Lietuvos Rytas. Trifunovic led

to the LKF cup, and also helped win the

and the Lithuanian League championships, beating Lietuvos rytas in the finals. In December 2013, Trifunović became the head coach of

BC Astana Astana Basketball Club (), commonly referred to as BC Astana, is a Kazakh professional basketball club that is based in Astana, Kazakhstan. Founded in 2011, it has competed in the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship and the VTB United League sinc ...

. In February 2015, he was released by the club. On 9 February 2016, Trifunović was named the head coach of Yeşilgiresun Belediye of the

Turkish Basketball Super League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

. On 11 August 2016 he re-signed with Yeşilgiresun for one more season. On 20 June 2017, Trifunović was named as the head coach of

Pınar Karşıyaka Pınar is a common feminine Turkish given name A Turkish name consists of an ''ad'' or an ''isim'' (given name; plural ''adlar'' and ''isimler'') and a ''soyadı'' or ''soyisim'' (surname). Turkish names exist in a "full name" format. While th ...

. In June 2019, he signed for Bosnian club Igokea. He left Igokea in October 2019 due to health issues. On 26 July 2022, Dinamo București signed Trifunović as their new head coach.

National team coaching career

In May 2022, the Azerbaijan Basketball Federation hired Trifunović as the new head coach for the Azerbaijan men's national basketball team.

Personal life

His son Uroš (born 2000) is a basketball player, currently playing for Partizan. On 16 September 2019, Trifunović suffered a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

References