One of the best coaches of the EuroLeague: who is Dimitris Itoudis?

Fenerbahçe Beko, one of the leading teams in Turkish basketball, has not been able to achieve stability in the last two seasons after the departure of legendary coach Zeljko Obradovic. After the mediocre season with Igor Kokoškov, who was appointed as the head of the team the previous season, the sudden decision of the Serbian coach to leave while planning the new season tied the hands of the yellow-dark-blue team. After this decision, which was taken shortly before the start of the matches, Fenerbahçe Beko, having difficulties in finding a suitable coach in the market, entrusted the team to Aleksandar Djordjevic, who won the championship with Bologna in Italy. Although the yellow-dark-blue team had a relatively successful season under the management of Djordjevic and won the Basketball Super League championship, they parted ways with the Serbian coach after the season ended.

Aiming for the top of the EuroLeague as it was during the Obradovic administration, Fenerbahçe Beko put forward its claim by bringing the best coach in the market to the head of the team with the arrival of Dimitris Itoudis. Let's take a look at the career of the successful coach who left CSKA Moscow after the Russia-Ukraine war.

Dimitris Itoudis, who first started his coaching career in the Zagreb U-18 team in Yugoslavia at the age of 20 in 1990, continued this duty until 1992. Itoudis, who was promoted to the position of assistant coach of the Zagreb A team in 1992, continued there until he was transferred to the PAOK team of Greece in 1995. Itoudis, who also served as the head coach of PAOK for a short time in 1996, worked as an assistant coach for another Greek team, Panionios, in the 1996-1997 season. Itoudis, who served as the head coach of Philippos Thessaloniki and MENT teams between 1997-1999, took the turning point in his career in the summer of 1999 and became the assistant of the legendary coach Zeljko Obradovic in the Panathinaikos team.

Itoudis, who had five EuroLeague championships in Panathinaikos, where he worked for 13 years with Zeljko Obradovic, and achieved numerous successes, left Panathinaikos in 2012 with Obradovic. Itoudis had his first serious coaching experience in 2013, again in Turkey, at Banvit.

Despite finishing the regular season in first place with 28 victories in his only season at Banvit (2013-2014), he was eliminated by Galatasaray in the semi-finals and ended the season. The experienced coach, who left Banvit in the summer of 2014 and became the head coach of EuroLeague giant CSKA Moscow, has become one of the best coaches of the EuroLeague with the success he has achieved here.

Dimitris Itoudis has won two EuroLeague, six VTB, and six Russian League titles in his eight seasons with CSKA Moscow. He also won the "Alexander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year" award in 2016 and 2019, when he won the EuroLeague championships. In March 2022, the experienced coach, who was also appointed as the head coach of the Greek National Team, will fight for the success of Fenerbahçe Beko for the next three years.

June 2023

Fenerbahce Beko's head coach Dimitris Itoudis, who was eliminated by Anadolu Efes in the semi-finals of the Turkish Basketball Super League, made a statement after the match. Itoudis said, "We are a new team. We tried to be together with the management and our fans. I thank everyone. I am sorry that we could not reach the final. We will come back stronger."