He won numerous titles with national teams and clubs. Most recently, basketball coach Svetislav Pesic returned to Bayern. In a hotel bed, he has now made a decision about his future.
Coaching legend Svetislav Pesic wants to retire for good after the season. “I know people won’t believe me when I say I’m quitting. But after this season, I’ve really had enough,” said the 76-year-old in an interview with Die Zeit. The Serbian is currently in charge of FC Bayern and wants to become German champions once again with the team from Munich. Bayern missed out on the play-offs in the Euroleague.
Pesic is one of the most successful and high-profile coaches in basketball history. His achievements include winning the European Championship title with the German national team in 1993. In 2001 and 2002, he won gold with Yugoslavia at the European and World Championships. In 2024, he won the bronze medal with the Serbian team against Germany at the Olympics – the year before he had lost the World Cup final against the German team. As a club coach, he triumphed with Alba Berlin in the Korac Cup in 1995 and with FC Barcelona in the Euroleague in 2003.
Career encore only for FC Bayern
After leaving the Serbian team following the European Championships last fall, he actually did not want to coach for another season. But then Bayern parted ways with Gordon Herbert and Pesic returned to Munich at the request of club president Herbert Hainer. He had already won the championship with Bayern in 2014.
“I wouldn’t have said yes to any other club,” he made clear, “but I identify 100 percent with FC Bayern. This is the club close to my heart.” Until a few months ago, his son Marko Pesic had been managing director of Bayern.
Realization in the hotel bed: “Enough with basketball, finally stop!”Pesic senior then decided to end his career a few weeks ago, as he told Die Zeit: “I was lying in my hotel bed before a EuroLeague game at the beginning of January and suddenly I asked myself: What are you doing here, are you crazy? You’ll soon be 77 years old and you’re still a coach. You’ll still make it to 90, that’s another 13 years. That’s when I said to myself: ‘Enough with basketball, stop it already!”
Pesic announced that he would remain involved in the sport and would give courses, for example. “But at the end of my life, I can no longer be head coach.” This Wednesday, an autobiography by the former champion (“Immer weiter”) will hit the bookstores.