The team is currently in third place in Group A with a 5-3 record
Hapoel appoints two-time EuroLeague champ Dimitris Itoudis as head coach
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Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv has announced the appointment of Dimitris Itoudis – a two-time Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion and two-time EuroLeague Coach of the Year – as its new head coach.
The Greek tactician has penned a three-year deal with the Israeli side that includes an option to extend his contract 'for additional seasons'.
Itoudis had been without a club since being let go by Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in December 2023, and he is now entrusted with guiding an ambitious Hapoel team to the BKT EuroCup and Israeli League championships.
The 54-year-old certainly has plenty of pedigree after leading CSKA Moscow to the EuroLeague title in 2016 and 2019, while he was an assistant to Zeljko Obradovic at Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens as the Greens won five EuroLeague trophies in 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011.
In the EuroLeague this century, Itoudis has accrued the seventh most wins (218) of any coach; 191 came with CSKA and 27 were with Fenerbahce. Overall, he has a 218-89 record in 307 EuroLeague games.
This will be the second time that Itoudis has been in charge of a EuroCup club after leading Banvit Bandirma to an 8-8 record in the 2013-14 campaign. That was his first season as a head coach after leaving Panathinaikos.
Between 2014 and 2022, the Greek play-caller was the head coach at CSKA and achieved great success with the Russian club, then he moved to Fenerbahce and guided the Turkish side back to the EuroLeague Playoffs.
Stefanos Dedas, who has led Hapoel this season and was previously Itoudis’s No. 2 at CSKA (2022) and Fenerbahce (2022-23), will remain at the club as an assistant coach.