After winning the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague title in his first season with Olympiacos Piraeus back in 2013, Georgios Bartzokas is hoping to crown his second spell with the Reds by gaining another continental crown.
Final Four head coach: Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos
Final Four
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Beating CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid at the 2013 Final Four in London saw Olympiacos retain the trophy that had been won 12 months previously by his predecessor, the late Dusan Ivkovic. That rare EuroLeague title defense also saw Bartzokas honored with the Alexander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year award after concluding his first season in charge of the Reds in the best possible manner.
His first stint with Olympiacos ended in 2014, but more success soon followed as Bartzokas took the helm at Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and led an exciting team – featuring the talents of Malcolm Delaney, Chris Singleton and Anthony Randolph – to the 2016 Final Four.
A tough season during a transitional spell at FC Barcelona followed, but Bartzokas regained momentum with a successful return to Russia, taking Khimki Moscow Region to the playoffs for the first time in club history in 2018.
Since re-joining Olympiacos in January 2019, Bartzokas has already achieved the notable triumph of guiding one of European basketball's best-known clubs into a new era.
With the legendary Vassilis Spanoulis having already left the stage and Georgios Printezis nearing retirement at age 37, Bartzokas faced the difficult task of leading a new generation of players to the same great heights reached by that duo of club icons.
He has made that happen by relying on a club culture of non-stop effort that led the Reds to their glories of the past decade, but also by instilling a desire to play offensive basketball at a high tempo to make his team a potent force at both ends of the floor.
By guiding the Reds back to the Final Four after a five-year absence, Georgios Bartzokas's chapter in the Olympiacos history books is being expanded with each new victory.