Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul has appointed Dimitris Itoudis, one of the most successful Turkish Airlines EuroLeague coaches of the 21st century, to lead the team forward with a three-year deal announced on Sunday.
Fenerbahce brings Itoudis to the bench
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Itoudis, 51, spent the last eight years as the head coach of CSKA Moscow, which he guided to a pair of EuroLeague crowns (2016, 2019) among six consecutive Final Four appearances, a record for coaches. When winning his first EuroLeague title, CSKA and Itoudis defeated Fenerbahce after overtime in the 2016 championship game in Berlin. Itoudis had a 192-65 EuroLeague record with CSKA, the competition's best record since the 2014-15 season. In addition to his EuroLeague success, Itoudis guided CSKA to six VTB United League titles.
Itoudis was awarded the Alexander Gomelskiy Trophy as the EuroLeague Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2019. He is one of five coaches to win the award multiple times, along with Zeljko Obradovic, Pablo Laso, Ettore Messina and Georgios Bartzokas. He also won the EuroLeague title five more times as the top assistant coach to Obradovic while they worked together at Panathinaikos Athens between 1999 and 2012. They also won 11 Greek League and seven Greek Cup trophies in that span.
In addition to having been a long-time assistant coach, Itoudis was previously a head coach for PAOK, Philippos Thessaloniki, and MENT in his native Greece in the 1990s and he coached Banvit Bandirma of Turkey in the 2013-14 campaign. He also currently serves as the Greek national team coach.