Velimir Perasović (; born 9 February 1965) is a Croatian 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. He is serving as the head coach for the Russian team

UNICS Kazan BC UNICS () is a professional basketball club in Kazan, Russia, that plays in the VTB United League, and formerly played in the EuroLeague. On February 28, 2022, EuroLeague Basketball suspended the team because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukr ...

of the

VTB United League The VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2009. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian ...

Early life

Perasović was born in Stobreč, at that time in the

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, to parents Gašpar and Vica Perasović. He started playing basketball at age 14. Perasović was member of the junior men's Yugoslavia national team which won the silver medal at the

1982 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 1982 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international basketball competition held in Bulgaria in 1982. Final ranking # # # # # # # # # # # # Awards External linksFIBA Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:FIBA 1982 Events ...

in Bulgaria, and the bronze medal at the

1984 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 1984 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international basketball competition held in Sweden in 1984. Final ranking # # # # # # # # # # # # Awards External linksFIBA Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:FIBA 1984 Events ...

in Sweden.

Professional career

Perasović's club,

KK Split Košarkaški klub Split (), commonly referred to as KK Split or simply Split, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, Croatia. The club competes in the ABA League and the HT Premijer liga, Croatian Leag ...

, went on to win three

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 ...

championships, in 1989 and 1990 as "Jugoplastika", and in 1991 as "Pop 84". In 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991, they also won the Yugoslav League championship. In 1990 and 1991, they also won the

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 in 1992, the

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup *Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup The Croatian Water Polo C ...

. In 1992 Perasović moved to the Spanish club

Breogán Breogán (also spelt Breoghan, Bregon or Breachdan) is a character in the ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'', a medieval Christian history of Ireland and the Irish (or Gaels). He is supposedly the son of Brath, and is described as an ancestor of the Gae ...

, and spent one season there, before moving to Taugrés, in 1993. He won the 1995 Spanish King's Cup, and in 1996, he won the

Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

. In 1997 he moved to the Spanish club

Fuenlabrada Fuenlabrada () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,586, making it the region's fourth most populated municipality. Placename The etymology of ''Fuenlabrada'' comes from the contra ...

, where he played until 2002. He then moved to the Spanish club

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

, and retired from his basketball playing career in 2003. During his playing career in Spain, he won the Spanish ACB League Top Scorer award five times. He was also once the best scorer of the

Radivoj Korać Cup The Radivoj Korać Cup ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Куп Радивоја Кораћа, Kup Radivoja Koraća) is the men's national basketball cup of Serbia. It is run by the Basketball Federation of Serbia and is named after Serbian basketball legend and ...

, and he participated in Liga ACB All Star games.

National team career

Perasović was also a part of the senior men's national team of Yugoslavia, that won the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at t ...

in Argentina, and EuroBasket 1991 in Italy. He then played with the Croatia national team when they won the silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics, the bronze medal at the

1994 FIBA World Championship The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the 12th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Canada from August 4 to 14, 1994. The tournament was held at SkyDome ...

in Canada, and the bronze medal at

EuroBasket 1993 The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

in Germany, and

EuroBasket 1995 The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to e ...

in Greece.

Coaching career

Perasović became the head coach of Split CO, before moving back to Spain, to become the head coach of

Tau Cerámica Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, S.A.D commonly known as Saski Baskonia () and also simply as Baskonia, is a professional basketball team based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. History 1959–1969 ...

. He led the team to the

EuroLeague Final Four The EuroLeague Final Four is the final four format championship of the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague professional club basketball competition. The Euroleague Basketball Company used the final four format for the first time in 2002, fo ...

. In the 2007–08 season, Perasović was appointed the head coach for Estudiantes, filling in for Mariano de Pablos, who had been fired due to negative results. He then moved to Zagreb, to become the head coach for

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 compete ...

. In 2009 he led the team to the

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

final, winning the award for the best coach in the Adriatic League in that season, and won the

and Croatian League championship, respectively. He again took Cibona to the Adriatic League and Croatian Cup finals in 2010. He also won the Croatian League championship. In January 2012, he came back to Spain to coach

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 ...

. Perasović won the 2013–14 EuroCup, and left the club in January 2015. In March 2015, Perasović took over the senior Croatian men's national team. After a disappointing

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

tournament, in which Croatia was defeated in the round of 16, Perasović and Croatia parted ways. In June 2015, he came back to Spain to coach Laboral Kutxa, while in February 2016, he extended his contract with Baskonia through the 2016–17 season. After being a semifinalist of the three competitions Baskonia played (

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

, and

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

), Perasović left the club and went back to coach Anadolu Efes. On 16 December 2017, Anadolu Efes parted ways with him. On 16 November 2018, he came back to Spain to the third time to coach Kirolbet Baskonia until the end of 2019–20 season to replace

Pedro Martínez Pedro Jaime Martínez (born October 25, 1971) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to , for five teams—most notably the Boston Red Sox from to . As of 2023, M ...

. On 20 December 2019, following a loss to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, Perasović was fired from Baskonia. On June 29, 2021, he has signed with

of the

Coaching record

EuroLeague

, - , align="left" rowspan=2, Baskonia , align="left", 2005–06 , 21, , 15, , 6, , , , align="center", Won in 3rd place game , - , align="left", 2006–07 , 24, , 20, , 4, , , , align="center", Lost in 3rd place game , - , align="left" rowspan=2,

, align="left", 2008–09 , 17, , 8, , 9, , , , align="center", Eliminated in Top 16 stage , - , align="left", 2009–10 , 16, , 4, , 12, , , , align="center", Eliminated in Top 16 stage , - , align="left", Efes , align="left",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 16, , 7, , 9, , , , align="center", Eliminated in Top 16 stage , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2014–15 , 10, , 3, , 7, , , , align="center" , Eliminated in group stage , - , align="left", Baskonia , align="left", 2015–16 , 29, , 18, , 11, , , , align="center" , Lost in 3rd place game , - , align="left" rowspan=2,

Anadolu Efes Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü, commonly referred to as Anadolu Efes or simply Efes, is a Turkish professional basketball team based in Istanbul. Founded in 1976, the club was formerly known as Efes Pilsen until 2011. Efes is the 2021–22 EuroLeagu ...

, align="left", 2016–17 , 35, , 19, , 16, , , , align="center" , Eliminated in quarterfinals , - , align="left", 2017–18 , 12, , 3, , 9, , , , align="center" , ''Fired'' , - , align="left" rowspan=1, Baskonia , align="left", 2018–19 , 30, , 16, , 18, , , , align="center" , Eliminated in quarterfinals , -class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan=2, Career, , 214, , 113, , 101, , , ,

Personal life

Perasović married his wife Dubravka in 1991, and the couple have two sons: Vicko and Ivan. His younger son Ivan is also a professional basketball player currently plays with BC Labas Gas, who won the gold medal as a part of the Croatia national under-16 team at the 2018 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in Serbia.

References

External links

Velimir Perasović
at acb.com
Velimir Perasović
at euroleague.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Perasovic, Velimir 1965 births Living people 1990 FIBA World Championship players Anadolu Efes S.K. coaches Baloncesto Fuenlabrada players Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Split, Croatia Basketbol Süper Ligi head coaches CB Breogán players CB Estudiantes coaches CB Lucentum Alicante players Croatian basketball coaches Croatian expatriate basketball people in Spain Croatian expatriate basketball people in Turkey Croatian men's basketball players FIBA EuroBasket–winning players FIBA World Championship–winning players KK Cibona coaches KK Split players Liga ACB head coaches Liga ACB players Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Croatia in basketball Saski Baskonia coaches Saski Baskonia players Shooting guards Summer World University Games medalists in basketball FISU World University Games silver medalists for Yugoslavia Valencia Basket coaches Croatian expatriate basketball people in Russia Yugoslav men's basketball players Goodwill Games medalists in basketball Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Goodwill Games gold medalists Real Betis Baloncesto coaches