The new Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion, CSKA Moscow, took a major first step towards keeping its momentum going into the future by signing head coach Dimitris Itoudis to a new two-year deal, the club announced on Tuesday.
Itoudis, 49, arrived to Moscow in 2014-15 and has not missed a Final Four in his five seasons on CSKA’s bench. He led the Russian giant to its first EuroLeague title of the current decade — and his first as a head coach — in 2016.
They returned to the winner’s circle and lifting their second trophy together last month in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. Itoudis is the first Greek head coach and the 15th overall to win two continental crowns.
He won the EuroLeague title five more times as the first assistant coach to the all-time leader, Zeljko Obradovic, while they coached together at Panathinaikos Athens between 2000 and 2012. Both men now share the EuroLeague record for most consecutive Final Four appearances by a head coach, with five each – and counting.
