Dušan Ivković | Legendary coach who created a legendary team

On this day, 80 years ago, one of the greatest basketball coaches was born. His name is Dušan Ivković and this is his story.

Dušan Ivković (1943-2021) was born in Belgrade. He’s been in love in basketball since he was a child and even in his early age he would spend much time in his local club Radnički Belgrade for which his older brother Slobodan Ivković used to play.

Radnički Belgrade is the club where everything started for Dušan Ivković. He had spent his entire player's career in this club (1958-1968), while after that he joined a youth system of Radnički Belgrade as their junior head coach. And he did not need much time to show his natural talent for being a basketball coach as already in his third season, 1973/74, he led the junior team to the Yugoslav Championship title.

Ivković's talent was quickly noticed by another legendary basketball coach Ranko Žeravica who invited Ivković to be his assistant in Partizan in 1977. After just one year, Ivković got promoted as the Partizan's head coach and during his two-year stint with the black-and-whites (1978-1980) he won the first trophies in his career. In the 1978/79 season, he won the triple crown with Partizan (Yugoslav Championship, Yugoslav Cup, FIBA Korać Cup).

In 1980, Dušan Ivković left Partizan to join Greek side Aris where he stayed for two seasons (1980-1982), while he then returned to his childhood club Radnički Belgrade for two more years (1982-1984). After that, Ivković coached Šibenka from 1984 to 1987 and then Vojvodina Novi Sad from 1987 to 1990.

Here, we will make a short pause in writing about the clubs Ivković used to coach as the 80s are the most important years in his entire career. It was in this decade that Dušan Ivković became a true legend of basketball.

Ivković has been involved in youth system of Yugoslavia national team since 1976 as he worked as an assistant in the junior team, but his first big national team action came in the summer of 1983 when, acting as the first team head coach, he led the Yugoslavia university team toward a silver medal.

Just three years later, Ivković became an assistant of Yugoslavia national team head coach Krešimir Ćosić and he acted as the Yugoslavia national team assistant coach at the 1986 FIBA World Championship and at the 1987 FIBA EuroBasket.

In 1987, Dušan Ivković once again got to coach the Yugoslavia university team and this time, his team won the gold in dominant fashion. Also in 1987, Dušan Ivković succeeded Krešimir Ćosić as head coach of the senior Yugoslavian national basketball team and that is the moment that changed the history of the regional basketball.

Dušan Ivković coached the senior Yugoslavian national basketball team from 1987 to 1991 and during that period he created one of the most powerful teams that this world has ever seen. This team won the silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, while in the following three years Ivković’s boys won three major tournaments as the Yugoslavian national team won gold medals at the 1989 FIBA EuroBasket and at the 1991 FIBA EuroBasket as well as the gold medal at the 1990 FIBA World Championship.

Due to the breakup of Yugoslavia his team never got a chance to play against the USA Dream team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but the legend of a golden team that was dominating the basketbal world for couple of years will remain forever.

Ivković then assumed the head coaching position of the senior FR Yugoslavia. He guided the team to a gold medal at EuroBasket 1995, in the country's first official appearance since 1991. After that, he stepped down from the position of head coach, but he remained part of the coaching staff, once again helping the team win silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, gold medals at the 1997 FIBA Eurobasket and 1998 FIBA World Championship and bronze at the 1999 FIBA Eurobasket.

Ivković left the national team in 2000, but he returned to the position of Serbian national team head coach in 2008 and led the team toward the bronze medal at the 2009 FIBA EuroBasket.

Here we can continue writing about remarkable results that Dušan Ivković has achieved during his club's career. 

After the breakup of his legendary Yugoslavian team in 1991, Ivković left country and returned to Greece to coach PAOK from 1991 to 1993, helping this team win their last championship title in 1992. His journey then led him to Panionios (1994-1996), while the most successfull part of his club's career came in the period between 1996 and 1999 when Ivković coached Olympiacos Piraeus. Ivković guided the red-and-whites toward the triple crown in 1997, winning 1996/1997 FIBA EuroLeague, 1996/1997 Greek Championship and 1996/1997 Greek Cup.

Dušan Ivković then took over another team from the Greek capital AEK Athens where he stayed for two years (1999-2001) and helped the team win 2000 FIBA Saporta Cup and two Greek Cups (1999/2000 and 2000/2001).

He then moved to Russia where he coached CSKA Moscow from 2002 to 2005 and won three consecutive Russian Championships and one Russian Cup (2005), while after that he worked in Dinamo Moscow from 2005 to 2007, helping this team win ULEB Cup in the 2005/06 season.

After a three year break from the club’s basketball, Dušan Ivković returned to Olympiacos Piraeus in 2010. In his first season he won the 2011 Greek Cup, while in his second season he once again became the European champion with the red-and-whites as Olympiacos won the 2012 EuroLeague title. On top of that, Ivković won the 2012 Greek Championship, which was the 1^st national title for Olympiacos since 1997.

The last club in Ivković coaching career was Turkish giant Anadolu Efes where he worked from 2014 to 2016, leading the team toward 2015 Turkish Cup and 2016 Turkish President’s Cup.  

Dušan Ivković died on September 16, 2021 in Belgrade, but he will never be forgotten in the basketball world.