The Brazilian Confederation of Basketball (CBB) announced this Thursday the return of the Croatian Alexander Petrovic as coach of the men’s team that will seek qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Latvian Olympic Qualifiers next July.
Petrovicwho in Spain coached Caja San Fernando and Lleida Basquet, will replace the Brazilian Gustavo De Contiwho led the men’s team for two and a half years and whose contract was terminated on Wednesday by mutual consent.
The 65-year-old former Croatian international – brother of the legendary Drazen Petrovic, who died in a tragic car accident in 1993 – and who was Brazilian coach between October 2017 and October 2021, is back with the initial mission of taking place in Paris within Pre-Olympic to be discussed in Riga (Latvia) between July 2 and 7 and where Brazil was paired with the group of Cameroon and Montenegro.
“He is a coach who is respected around the world and he knows the challenges we will face in the Pre-Olympic. He has full confidence,” said the CBB president, Guy Peixoto Jr.mentioned in a statement from the entity.
According to the record, the technical team of the new coach includes the remaining former Brazilian basketball players such as Tiago Splitter (former NBA Houston Rockets player), Helinho Garcia (SESI Franca), Bruno Savignani (Betis-ESP) and Demétrius Ferracciu (Paulistano).
In his previous time as a coach, Petrovic able to sort Brazil in the Cup World of China 2019 and advanced to the final of Pre-Olympic of Dividewhere he was defeated by Germany.
Under Croatian command, Brazil He achieved 26 victories in 33 games, including some of the famous rivals such as Argentina, Montenegro, Croatia, Greece, New Zealand and Poland.
Croatian is responsible for promoting Brazilian basketball players like Yago, Gui saints and Didn’twhich now stands out in leagues such as the Euroleague, Eurocup and NBA, and has known almost all those called up for the national team in recent years, according to the Confederation.
“I am happy to return to the command of the Brazilian team. Now we have to focus on the Latvian Olympic Qualifiers and find a place for Paris,” he said. Petrovic mentioned in the statement.
Under De Conti’s command, Brazil was eliminated from the qualifying phase in world from Budapest, so now it depends on Pre-Olympicwhere 24 countries will compete for the final four spots in the City of Light.
Source: La Verdad
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