BOWING DOWN TO THE LEGENDS: Jurij Zdovc

One of the most successful Slovenian and European basketball players, who was also successful on the sidelines, Jurij “Jure” Zdovc, will turn 54 on Sunday.

Jure Zdovc, a former player and head coach of Cedevita Olimpija, is hard to describe in just a few words. Zdovc’s contribution to the history of the Ljubljana’s club, whether we are talking about the time, when he played for then Smelt Olimpija, or later Union Olimpija, or when he was the head coach of Union Olimpija, that led the team to the TOP 16 in EuroLeague. And not only as a player or a coach – Jure Zdovc was the sports director of the club from Ljubljana in the 2006/07 season.

Zdovc had plenty of success with a team from Stožice – as a player, he was a two time National Champion, three time Slovenian Cup Champion, and in 2002, he won the title of the ABA League Champion, while becoming the MVP of the final tournament of the ABA League. While coaching Olimpija, Zdovc won one title of the National Champion and three titles of the Slovenian Cup Champion, from 2009 to 2011.

Zdovc left his mark also in the jersey of the Yugoslavian and Slovenian National teams. While he played 83 games for the national squad of the former joined country, and won the title of the World Champion (1990), Olympic Vice-Champion (1988), and two titles of the European Champion (1989, 1991), he also played 57 games for Slovenia, and played at the first four major competition for the Slovenian National team.

It is also worth mentioning, that in 1993, Zdovc, as a member of the French team Limoges, won the title of the EuroLeague champion. He was a member of the ideal five of the final tournament, while scoring nine points with three assists in the finals game with Benneton.

Zdovc started his coaching career as an assistant coach at the bench of Krka from Novo mesto in 2003, and he became the head coach of Split from Croatia in the same season, while also winning the title of the Croatian Cup Champion in his first season in Dalmatia. He coached plenty of teams, and was also the head coach of the Slovenian National Team in two different eras. In EuroBasket 2009, Zdovc lead Slovenia to a fourth place, which was Slovenian’s national team greatest success until winning the title of the European Champion in 2017.

As a head coach, Zdovc’s final season in Slovenia was in Ljubljana with then Petrol Olimpija in 2018/19 season, as he lead the Dragons to the finals of the domestic league. In a season before that, he was the head coach of then Cedevita Zagreb, and he became Croatian national and cup champion this past season. At the moment, Zdovc is the head coach of Metropolitans 92 from Paris, and they have already secured their spot in the TOP 16 in 7DAYS EuroCup.