Svetislav "Kari" Pešić ( sr-Cyrl, Светислав "Кари" Пешић; born 28 August 1949) 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 who is currently the head coach of the Serbia men's national team.

Playing career

During his club playing career, Pešić played with Pirot (1964–1967), Partizan (1967–1971), and Bosna (1971–1979). As a member of Bosna, he won a

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

and a Yugoslav League championship, in 1978. Also, he won the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) championship in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

with Bosna.

Coaching career

Club coaching career

On the club level, Pešić won the triple crown in 2003, while he was the head coach of

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. On 16 November 2010, he was named the head coach of Power Electronics Valencia, for the rest of the 2010–11 season. In November 2012, Pešić was named the head coach of the German team Bayern Munich. On 28 February 2015, he extended his contract with the club until 2017. On 24 July 2016, he left Bayern at his own request, for health reasons. On 9 February 2018, he returned to

as the team's head coach, until the end of the season.

National team coaching career

Pešić led the Yugoslavian junior national team, that featured future international stars Vlade Divac, Saša Đorđević, Toni Kukoč, and

Dino Rađa Dino Rađa (alternatively Radja, ; born 24 April 1967) is a Croatian former professional basketball player. He was a member of the Jugoplastika team of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which he helped to win two FIBA European Champions Cup champ ...

, to a gold medal at the 1987 FIBA World Junior Championship (which was later split into separate under-19 and under-21 events), by defeating the Team USA twice during the tournament. As the head coach of the senior German national basketball team, he won the gold medal at the EuroBasket 1993 (organized by Germany). With the FR Yugoslavian senior side, Pešić won gold medals at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, which was held in

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 ...

, and the EuroBasket 2001 (organized by Turkey). He stepped down from the position on 1 December 2002. On 28 September 2021, the Basketball Federation of Serbia hired him as the new head coach for the Serbia men's national team. Pešić led Serbia to silver medal at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the bronze medal at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Coaching record

EuroLeague

, - , align="left" rowspan=3,

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, - ! style="background:#FDE910;" , align="left" , 2002–03 , 21, , 17, , 4, , , , Won EuroLeague Championship , - , align="left" , 2003–04 , 20, , 14, , 6, , , , align="center" , Eliminated at Top 16 Stage , - , align="left" ,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, align="left" , 2010–11 , 20, , 11, , 9, , , , align="center" , Eliminated in quarterfinals , - , align="left" rowspan=3, Bayern , align="left" , 2013–14 , 24, , 9, , 15, , , , align="center" , Eliminated at Top 16 stage , - , align="left" , 2014–15 , 10, , 2, , 8, , , , align="center" , Eliminated at the group stage , - , align="left" , 2015–16 , 10, , 4, , 6, , , , align="center" , Eliminated at the group stage , - , align="left" rowspan=3,

, align="left", 2017–18 , 8, , 4, , 4, , , , align="center" , Eliminated in regular season , - , align="left" , 2018–19 , 35, , 20, , 15, , , , align="center" , Eliminated in quarterfinals , - , align="left" , 2019–20 , 28, , 22, , 6, , , , align="center" , ''Season cancelled'' , - , -class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan=2, Career, , 176, , 103, , 73, , , ,

Personal life

Along with Serbian, Pešić also holds German citizenship. His son, Marko (born 1976), is a former professional basketball player, who represented the Germany national team in four major tournaments. Former German basketball player Jan Jagla, is his son-in-law, due to his marriage with Pešić's daughter, Ivana.

References

External links

Svetislav Pešić
at euroleague.net
Svetislav Pešić
at acb.com
Svetislav Pešić
at beko-bbl.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Pesic, Svetislav 1949 births Living people Shooting guards EuroLeague–winning coaches FIBA EuroBasket–winning coaches FIBA Hall of Fame inductees German basketball coaches German men's basketball players German expatriate basketball people in Serbia German people of Serbian descent KK Bosna Royal players KK Partizan players KK Pirot players KK Bosna Royal coaches KK Crvena zvezda head coaches FC Barcelona Bàsquet coaches RheinStars Köln coaches FC Bayern Munich basketball coaches Alba Berlin basketball coaches BC Dynamo Moscow coaches Liga ACB head coaches Pallacanestro Virtus Roma coaches Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin Serbia national basketball team coaches Serbia and Montenegro national basketball team coaches Sportspeople from Pirot Naturalized citizens of Germany Serbian expatriate basketball people in Germany Serbian expatriate basketball people in Italy Serbian expatriate basketball people in Russia Serbian expatriate basketball people in Spain Serbian men's basketball coaches Valencia Basket coaches Yugoslav basketball coaches Yugoslav emigrants to Germany Yugoslav men's basketball players Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics 20th-century German sportsmen