Aleksandar Petrović (basketball)

Aleksandar " Aco " Petrović ( born February 16, 1959 in Šibenik, SR Croatia) is a Croatian basketball coach and former Yugoslavian player. Petrović, elder brother of in his home particularly revered Dražen Petrović, won with KK Cibona Zagreb twice the European Champions Cup and the Yugoslav national team bronze at the Olympics in 1984 and at the World Championships in 1982 and 1986. As a coach Petrovic won at the European Championships 1995 the Croatian national team again a bronze medal and was named coach of the year in the second most important European club competition Eurocup 2010/11. Since the beginning of 2012 he is a Senior trainer of choice Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Playing career

Petrović played or jointly with Kresimir Cosic, the first time he was in the club's history of Yugoslav champion in 1982 in his playing days at KK Cibona Zagreb. At the same time we won again as the two years before the Yugoslav Cup and made the winning the European Cup Winners' Cup, the Triple perfect. While Cibona the Yugoslav Cup in 1983 defended and won for the fourth time in a row, one was in 1984 again Yugoslav champion. 1982 and 1984, Petrović was also with the Yugoslav national bronze medalist at the respective World Championships and Olympic Games. In 1985, at the same time his brother Dražen to Cibona and you got a triple, this time in conjunction with the European Champions Cup after a final win in Athens. The title success in European competition, the two brothers with Cibona in the following year, 1986 could repeat next to a renewed national cup titles and the 1986 World Cup they came together for Yugoslavia the bronze medal. 1987, they have won by another title win in the European Cup Winners' Cup with Cibona together with the national team a bronze medal in Athens after being inferior to the hosts and defending champions Greece in the semifinals.

The two brothers left in the wake Cibona and the club had to even give to the aspiring club KK Split, from 1989 to even three times in a row, the national champion European Cup and at the same time four times the Yugoslav championship his leadership role not only in Yugoslavia but also in Croatia won. Aleksandar was incorporated in 1987 initially for the defeated opponent in the final and won the European Cup with Scavolini Pesaro 1988, the Italian championship. While Dražen went to Spain to Real Madrid, Aleksandar returned in 1988 to Cibona back. A year later he moved to local rivals and Erstligaaufsteiger Novi Zagreb.

Coaching career

Already in the season 1991/92 Petrović was again with Cibona, this time as a coach. With the club he was from 1992 to 1995, while in Yugoslavia raged four consecutive Croatian champion the independence wars. In 1995, he was also coach of the national team and won the European Championship finals in Athens, where he had already won his first national champion European Cup and his last national medal as a player, again a bronze medal after the national team to Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Arijan Komazec and Stojan Vranković had beaten the only team Lithuania in the semifinals. After two years with the Spanish basketball club from Seville, in 1997, he returned back to Cibona in 1998 and again Croatian champion. He then worked again as coach of the Croatian national team, which had not qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games. In the European Championship finals in 2001 they eliminated in the quarter-final against the hosts and eventual silver medalist Turkey out of the medals and eventually missed the seventh place qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.

In December 2001, Petrović became coach of the Polish Association Anwil Wloclawek, but he left after the end of the season. The same was repeated two years later with the Spanish club from Lleida. Only a few months he was coach in 2006, initially for the Italian second division Fabriano Basket in the first half and the first division Movers Scafati Basket in the second half. In March 2007, he took with KK Zadar one of the most traditional Croatian associations in which Kresimir Cosic with Stojan Vranković, Arijan Komazec and the Serb Dejan Bodiroga many important players began their careers at senior level. After the Cup win in 2007, he won in 2008 with Zadar, the Croatian championship, only the second time in club history. In December 2008, the paths and parted Petrović took over only in April 2010, again a team. When started in 1991 KK Cedevita he reached in the 2010/11 season in first place in the regular season, but missed the championship by a series of defeats in the play-off final against KK Zagreb, formerly Novi Zagreb. In Eurocup 2010/11 they reached the somewhat surprising Final Four tournament. After a semi-final defeat to eventual winners UNICS Kazan we won third place in the small final against host Benetton Treviso. Petrović was awarded the Eurocup season 2010/11 coach of the year.

At the beginning of 2012 took Petrović the fortunes of the national team of Bosnia - Herzegovina. At the end of the year he was the successor to the surprisingly resigned as manager of Bozidar Maljković KK Cedevita that he had been trained by 2011.