Cedevita Olimpija and Slaven Rimac parted ways on mutual consent

Slaven Rimac is no longer head coach of Cedevita Olimpija. The club of Ljubljana and Croatian tactican have agreed on terminating their contract on mutual consent.

Slaven Rimac has an excellent career behind him as a player. After he decided to retire from the basketball courts, he continued his basketball path on the seats right at the bench. He made his first basketball steps in 1989 in Dubrava, and he finished it in 2012 in Pau-Orthez. He is the eight-time Croatian national champion, two-time Turkish national champion, and he also has two Croatian and Turkish Cups. Rimac was also the member of the Croatian national team in 1996 in the Olympic Games in Atlanta, and in 1997, he played in EuroBasket, which was held in Spain.

Rimac first became an assistant coach for Croatian national team and Cibona in 2013, and in the same year, he also became the head coach of the Wolves from Zagreb. In the 2013/14, he won the title of the ABA League champion with Cibona.

In 2017, he became an assistant coach to Jure Zdovc in Cedevita. He also started the 2018/19 season as an assistant coach to Sito Alonso in Cedevita, and he was the head coach of the Cedevita’s second senior team. After the Spanish coach left in the end of October, he took the place of the head coach, and led the team to the semifinals of the ABA League, finals of the Croatian domestic league, and the title of the Cup winner in Croatia.

In July 2019 after the merger of Petrol Olimpija and Cedevita Zagreb, Slaven Rimac became the first head coach of the merged club KK Cedevita Olimpija. Rimac took the team to the Final of the ABA Super Cup in Zagreb and the club finished its competition in the 7Days EuroCup after the first stage of the competition with four victories and six defeats. In the ABA League, Cedevita Olimpija started the season very well and afterwards suffered four consecutive defeats in the year 2020.

Sports Director Sani Bečirović told as the two sides have parted their ways: “Slaven Rimac has been put in a very delicate situation at the beginning of the joint story of Cedevita Olimpija. He started the preparations for the new season, where he was at the top of the ABA League standings, while the first stage of the 7Days EuroCup did not go in accordance with our plans. After four consecutive defeats at the beginning of the new year we have realized, that we would need a new head coach, so we decided to terminate our agreement on mutual consent. We wish Slaven all the best in his future career, which we have no doubt that it would be successful and thank him for everything that he has done for Cedevita Olimpija since the beginning of the story of the new club.”

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Cedevita Olimpija in Slaven Rimac sporazumno prekinila pogodbo

Košarkarski klub Cedevita Olimpija in trener Slaven Rimac sta se po nedeljskem porazu v 17. kolu Lige ABA dogovorila za sporazumno prekinitev pogodbe.

Slaven Rimac ni več glavni trener članskega moštva Košarkarskega kluba Cedevita Olimpija. Ljubljanski klub in hrvaški strokovnjak sta se po nedeljskem porazu v 17. kolu Lige ABA proti Koper Primorski dogovorila za sporazumno prekinitev pogodbe.

Za Slavenom Rimcem, hrvaškim košarkarskim strokovnjakom, je izredno bogata športna kariera. Svojo košarkarsko pot je začel leta 1989 v Dubravi, sklenil pa jo je leta 2012 v dresu francoskega Pau-Ortheza. V tem času je osemkrat postal hrvaški državni prvak, dvakrat turški državni prvak, osvojil pa je tudi po dva naslova hrvaškega in turškega pokalnega prvaka. Ostrostrelec iz Zagreba je bil leta 1996 član hrvaške članske reprezentance, ki je nastopila na poletnih olimpijskih igrah v Atlanti, leta 1997 pa je zaigral tudi na EuroBasketu, ki je potekal v Španiji.

Na trenerski stolček je Rimac prvič sedel leta 2013, ko je prevzel mesto pomočnika glavnega trenerja v hrvaški reprezentanci in zagrebški Ciboni. Prav pri slednji je leta 2013 tudi zasedel mesto glavnega trenerja, in v sezoni 2013/14 osvojil naslov prvaka Lige ABA. Leta 2017 se je kot pomočnik glavnega trenerja Jureta Zdovca preselil k Cedeviti. Tudi tekmovalno sezono 2018/19 je Rimac začel kot pomočnik španskega trenerja Sita Alonsa, poleg tega pa vodil tudi člansko B ekipo zagrebškega kluba, po Špančevem odhodu konec oktobra, pa je zasedel mesto glavnega trenerja in Cedevito popeljal do polfinala Lige ABA, finala hrvaškega državnega prvenstva ter naslova hrvaškega pokalnega prvaka.

V juliju 2019 je po združitvi KK Petrol Olimpija Ljubljana in KK Cedevita Zagreb, Slaven Rimac postal prvi glavni trener združenega kluba KK Cedevita Olimpija. Na Superpokalu Lige ABA, ki je konec septembra potekal v Zagrebu, je Rimac ekipo popeljal do finala, v 7Days EuroCupu pa je ljubljanski klub tekmovanje sklenil po prvem delu, s štirimi zmagami in šestimi porazi. V Ligi ABA je Cedevita Olimpija sezono začela zelo dobro, nato pa v koledarskem letu 2020 na štirih tekmah doživela štiri zaporedne poraze.

Ob prekinitvi sodelovanje je športni direktor Sani Bečirović dejal: »Slaven Rimac je bil na samem začetku zgodbe o Košarkarskem klubu Cedevita Olimpija postavljen v izredno zahtevno situacijo. Z ekipo, ki je bila tekom poletja na novo sestavljena, je začel priprave in novo tekmovalno sezono, v kateri je v Ligi ABA krojil vrh lestvice, v 7Days EuroCup pa se prvi del sezone ni izšel po naših pričakovanjih. Po štirih zaporednih porazih na začetku novega koledarskega leta, smo uvideli, da potrebujemo osvežitev na mestu glavnega trenerja, zato smo se odločili za sporazumno prekinitev pogodbe. Slavenu želimo vse najboljše v nadaljnji karieri, ki bo zagotovo zelo uspešna, saj gre za velikega strokovnjaka, hkrati pa se mu zahvaljujemo za vse, kar je od začetka zgodbe o novem klubu napravil za Cedevito Olimpijo.«