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Dusan Alimpijevic is the 2025-26 BKT EuroCup Coach of the Year
Coach Alimpijevic wins the Coach of the Year award for the second time |
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Having led Besiktas GAIN Istanbul to the BKT EuroCup Finals for the first time with a 16-5 overall record, Dusan Alimpijevic has been named the 2025-26 EuroCup Coach of the Year by his own peers. This marks the second time that Coach Alimpijevic has won the award. He was previously chosen as the Coach of the Year in 2021-22, when he led Frutti Extra Bursaspor to the EuroCup Finals.
Besiktas has posted solid numbers at both ends of the court. It ranks third in scoring (92.5 PPG), leading the competition in two-point shooting (58.4% 2FG) and second in three-point shooting (39.4% 3FG), as well as being third in assists (21.8 APG). Defensively, it held opponents to really low shooting percentages inside the arc (49.9% 2FG). Alimpijevic made everybody feel important, too, with eight players averaging 7.0 points or better this season.
Coach Alimpijevic finished first overall in voting for the Coach of the Year award, followed by Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse's Frederic Fauthoux, Turk Telekom Ankara's Erdem Can and Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana’s Zvezdan Mitrovic in second, third and fourth, respectively.
The Coach of the Year award is among several trophies handed out to recognize the outstanding work achieved by EuroCup participants during the 2025-26 BKT EuroCup season. The Rising Star Trophy, also voted by the head coaches, was won by ratiopharm ulm guard Tobias Jensen. The All-EuroCup Teams and the 2025-26 MVP – for whom fans, head coaches, team captains, and media also voted– will be announced before the EuroCup Finals begin.
In his third season with Besiktas, Coach Alimpijevic made his team play at a high level right away despite an opening-round loss against Lietkabelis Penevezys. It won the next four games, thrashing Bourg at home 90-60 to improve to a 4-1 record. Another four-game winning streak followed with three home victories and an 84-83 road success against Turk Telekom Ankara behind 20 points from Devon Dotson.
Always led by the passion of Alimpijevic, Besiktas finished the regular season strong, winning five of its last six regular season games and beating Bourg at Ekinox, 99-103, behind 26 points from star center Ante Zizic. Besiktas's most critical moment came in the do-or-die quarterfinal game against Dolomiti Energia Trento. Coach Alimpijevic's team registered a 77-76 home win, as Besiktas managed to hold Trento's star DeVante’ Jones (18.6 PPG) to just four points.
Besiktas showed its best version in the semifinals against Bahcesehir College Istanbul with double-digit wins – 91-72 at home and 72-82 on the road. Besiktas is 11-0 at home so far this season and has home-court advantage in the best-of-three EuroCup Finals against Bourg. Alimpijevic reached the Finals with Bursaspor in 2022, losing against Virtus Bologna, and made it to the semifinals with Besiktas in 2024, losing against Bourg. He is looking for his first EuroCup title. Coach Alimpijevic, the Serbian national team head coach, will go up against Fauthoux, the French national team coach.
Born in Lazarevac, Serbia, on March 9, 1986, Alimpijevic made his head coaching debut with Vojvodina Novi Sad in the 2013-14 season. He has also coached Spartak Subotica and FMP Belgrade before making his EuroLeague debut with Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade in the 2017-18 season. He also coached Avtodor Saratov of Russia, was with Bursaspor for three years, and is currently his third season with Besiktas. He has a 60-47 EuroCup coaching record (56.1% wins).
Alimpijevic joins Aito Garcia Reneses (2015, 2019) and Pedro Martinez (2017, 2025) as the only coaches to have been named the EuroCup Coach of the Year on two occasions. The other previous winners of the award were Oktay Mahmuti of Benetton Treviso in 2009, Ilias Zouros of Panellinios in 2010, Aleksandar Petrovic of Cedevita Zagreb in 2011, Jure Zdovc of Spartak St. Petersburg in 2012, Fotis Katsikaris of Uxue Bilbao Basket in 2013, Andrea Trinchieri of UNICS Kazan in 2014, Maurizio Buscaglia of Dolomiti Energia Trento in 2016, Sasa Obradovic of Lokomotiv Kuban in 2018, Zvezdan Mitrovic of AS Monaco in 2021, Dusan Alimpijevic of Frutti Extra Bursaspor in 2022, Erdem Can of Turk Telekom Ankara in 2023, and Tuomas Iisalo of Paris Basketball in 2024.
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