The coach with deep club roots returns to Panionios to aid in midseason turnaround
Nenad Markovic makes coaching comeback to Panionios
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Panionios Cosmorama Travel Athens announced on Tuesday evening that Nenad Markovic is returning to the club as its new head coach. The move marks his third stint at the club, bringing a wealth of experience and a deep connection to the team.
Markovic, 57, has a storied history with Panionios. He stared for the team as a player for two seasons and later spent two seasons on the sidelines for Panionios early in his coaching career. He guided the club to a third-place finish in the 2007–08 Greek League and returned for another run in 2009–10.
His coaching resume includes spells periods across Europe—with time at KAOD in Greece; Trabzonspor, Pınar Karşıyaka, Gaziantep, and Bursaspor in Turkiye, JDA Dijon in France, Dinamo Sassari in Italy and Tenerife in Spain. He guided Tenerife to the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 2017.
Before that, Markovic enjoyed a standout playing career as a point guard in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Italy, Spain, Israel, Switzerland, France and Greece.
Markovic returns to Panionios amid a challenging season, currently bottom of Group B of the EuroCup at 1–11 and struggling in domestic play with the same record. He will be the fifth coach to lead Panionios this season. Luka Pavicevic served as head coach for the team's first three EuroCup games and Chris Chougkaz was the interim head coach in Round 4 before Ilias Zouros took the reins. Zouros resigned over the weekend and Nikos Karagiannis, the head coach of the Panionios basketball academy, served as interim head coach.
Markovic's immediate task is steer the historic club back to stability and recapture past glories.