Ioannis Sfairopoulos (alternate spellings: Giannis, Yiannis, Yannis, Sferopoulos) (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Γιάννης Σφαιρόπουλος; born March 21, 1967) is a Greek professional

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

who is ex head coach for

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

of the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia (), commonly abbreviated as KLS, is a Serbian basketball league system, top-tier men's professional basketball Sports league, league in Serbia. Founded in 2006. It is currently not run by the Basketball Federation o ...

(KLS), the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

and the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

Playing career

Sfairopoulos began playing basketball in the youth system of Apollon Kalamarias at the age of 12. After playing 2 years in the Greek 2nd Division, with the senior men's team of

Apollon Kalamarias Apollon Kalamarias (Greek: Απόλλων Καλαμαριάς) is a Greek sports club from Kalamaria, a suburb of Thessaloniki. It was founded in 1926. The club is named after Apollo, the mythical Greek god. Its colors are red and black. Histor ...

, as a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

, he retired from playing club basketball, at the age of 21, to become to a full-time

Coaching career

Clubs

After Sfairopoulos retired from playing club basketball, at the age of 21, he immediately began his basketball coaching career, within the same Apollon Kalamarias club system in which he was a player. He worked as a coach with the club, from 1986 to 1997. He coached in the club's cadets, juniors, and senior men's teams. He coached the Apollon Kalamarias senior men's team, which he took over in 1994, in both the Greek 4th Division, and the Greek 3rd Division. He was then an assistant coach with the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

club

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

, from 1997 to 2005, and also was PAOK's

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

during the 2000–01 season. He then worked as an assistant head coach with

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

, from 2005 to 2008, under head coaches Pini Gershon and

Panagiotis Giannakis Panagiotis "Notis" Giannakis (, ; born January 1, 1959), alternatively spelled Panayiotis Yiannakis or Yannakis, is a former Greek professional basketball player and coach. He is considered to be one of the greatest sportspeople of Greece. He st ...

. In 2006, he worked as an assistant coach with the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

club

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

team. From 2008 to 2011, he was the head coach of Kolossos. In 2011, he became an assistant coach with the Russian League club

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

, under head coach Jonas Kazlauskas. He then worked briefly as an assistant coach of the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

. He became the head coach of the Greek EuroCup team

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

in 2012. He became the head coach of the Greek

team

in 2014. In 2015, he extended his contract with Olympiacos, through the 2017–18 season. After Olympiacos lost to Panathinaikos in the 2018 Greek League Finals, 3 games to 2, Olympiacos announced that Sfairopoulos and the club would separate ways. On November 18, 2018, Sfairopoulos was hired as

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

's new head coach, as he signed a -year deal with the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

team. On June 13, 2019, Sfairopoulos led Maccabi to their 53rd Israeli League title after defeating Maccabi Rishon LeZion 89–75 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. He was subsequently named Israeli League Coach of the Year. On December 15, 2019, Sfairopoulos signed a three-year contract extension with Maccabi. On February 15, 2022, Sfairopoulos was sacked from the head coach position, after a loss in the Israeli Cup semifinals, which led to public discontent, as well as a disappointing EuroLeague campaign. On October 22, 2023, he became the new head coach of

and signed a two-year contract with this club.

Greece national team

Sfairopoulos was an assistant coach with the Greece men's national basketball team from 2001 to 2004, under

es Kostas Petropoulos,

Giannis Ioannidis Giannis Ioannidis (alternate spellings: Ioannis, Yiannis, Yannis) (Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; 26 February 1945 – 4 October 2023) was a Greek basketball player, professional basketball coach, and Greece New Democracy (ND) politic ...

, and

. He was an assistant coach on the Greece national team that competed at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. He also worked as assistant coach for the Greece national team from 2009 to 2010, under head coach Jonas Kazlauskas. He was an assistant coach with Greece at the

EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

, and the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the List of men's national basketball teams, men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 Septem ...

Coaching record

EuroLeague

, - , align="left",

, align="left", 2014–15 , 26 , , 18 , , 8 , , , , align="center", Lost in the final game , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2015–16 , 24 , , 14 , , 10 , , , , align="center", Eliminated in the Top 16 stage , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2016–17 , 37 , , 23 , , 14 , , , , align="center", Lost in the final game , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2017–18 , 34 , , 20 , , 14 , , , , align="center", Eliminated in the quarterfinals , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2018–19 , 23 , , 13 , , 10 , , , , align="center" , Eliminated in the regular season , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2019–20 , 28 , , 19 , , 9 , , , , align="center" , Cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2020–21 , 34 , , 14 , , 20 , , , , align="center" , Eliminated in the regular season , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2021–22 , 23 , , 11 , , 12 , , , , align="center" , Sacked , - , align="left",

Crvena Zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

, align="left", 2023–24 , 30 , , 21 , , 9 , , , , align="center" , Eliminated in the regular season , - , align="left",

, align="left", 2024–25 , 65 , , 38 , , 27 , , , , align="center" , Eliminated in the play-in tournament , - , -class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan=2, Career, , 229, , 143, , 86, , , ,

Awards and accomplishments

As Assistant coach

Greece national team

Pro clubs

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

Winner: (1999) *

VTB United League The VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2009. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian ...

Champion: (2012) * Russian Championship Champion: (2012)

As Head coach

Pro clubs

* 2×

Runner-up: (2015, 2017) * 2× Greek League Champion: (2015, 2016) * 1× Greek League Best Coach: (2015) * 3× Israeli League Champion: (2019, 2020, 2021) * 1× Israeli Cup Winner: (2021) * 2× Israeli League Best Coach: (2019, 2020) * 2×

Israeli Basketball League Cup The Israeli Basketball League Cup is a pre-season professional basketball tournament that is contested between sports clubs, clubs. It has been held in Israel since 2006. It is held during the week before the start of the Israeli Basketball Premie ...

(2020, 2021) * 1×

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

Champion (

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

) * 1×

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer o ...

Champion (2024) * 2×

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

Winner (2024, 2025)

Personal life

Sfairopoulos is married and is the father of two sons.

References

External links

Ioannis Sfairopoulos
at euroleague.net
Ioannis Sfairopoulos, Olympiacos: 'Above all, I love basketball!'
at euroleague.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Sfairopoulos, Ioannis 1967 births Living people Apollon Kalamarias B.C. coaches Apollon Kalamarias B.C. players Basketball players from Thessaloniki Greek basketball coaches Greek expatriate basketball people in Israel Greek expatriate basketball people in Serbia Greek men's basketball players KK Crvena zvezda head coaches Kolossos Rodou B.C. coaches Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. coaches Olympiacos B.C. coaches Panionios B.C. coaches P.A.O.K. BC coaches Point guards 20th-century Greek sportsmen