The agency LETA has already reported that the “Barcelona” team represented by Schmidt will not continue cooperation with the head coach Svetislav Pešič.
The portal “Sportando” reported on Thursday morning, citing several unnamed sources, that the Lithuanian will soon take over the management of the Catalan club. However, less than two hours later, the gossip was officially confirmed by the organizers of the Euroleague tournament and also by the Spanish club itself.
The Lithuanian in Barcelona has previously been able to take the team to two Spanish championship titles as a player, as well as once celebrated victory in the ULEB Euroleague.
With Kaunas “Žalgiris” Jasikēvičs has won the Lithuanian championship five times, but in 2018 the team also managed to reach the Euroleague “Final Four”.
It was previously known that the Turkish club Istanbul “Fenerbahce” is also showing interest in Lithuania.
Schmidt signed a five-year contract with Barcelona in 2018, but at the end of this season, the Latvian played a small role in the field.
70-year-old Pešičs returned to the helm of “Barcelona” last February, when the team was represented by another Latvian, Rodions Kurucs. Neither Kurucam that season nor Schmidt managed to gain much coach confidence in the next two.
In the second period, with Peščis behind the wheel, the Barcelona team won twice in the Spanish Cup, but lost the last two ACB finals, including in the title match with 67:69 on Tuesday, recognizing the superiority of Vitoria “Baskonia”. Last year, he was named the best coach of the ACB season.
The team represented by Schmidt stopped in the quarterfinals last year in the Euroleague and this season was one of the leading units when the tournament was stopped.
In the first term, the Catalan club led by Pešič became the Spanish champion in 2003 and 2004, triumphed in the Euroleague in 2003 and won the national cup in the same season. Pešičs has led the “Barcelona” team in 322 games, in which he won 235 victories.
His previous job before returning to Barcelona was the German club Bayern Munich. During his career, he has also led teams in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Russia and Serbia, as well as being the co-pilot of the German national team and the Serbia and Montenegro national team.
At the club level, Pešičs has taken the teams to the German championship five times, as well as won the FIBA Korach Cup, the FIBA Eurocup and the Yugoslav Championship. He took Serbia and Montenegro to the European Championships in 2001 and a year later to the World Cup. Also under Pešič, the Yugoslav national team won the 1993 European Championships.
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