Ilias Kantzouris was appointed as Hapoel's coach
The Greek coach, who has 20 years of experience, joins Hapoel on a contract until the end of the season with an option for next season. "It's a great honor to be part of such a great club," he said after the signing
10/01/2024
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?Hapoel "Bank Yahav" Jerusalem is happy to announce the signing of Ilias Kantzouris to the position of head coach. The 50-year-old coach joins Hapoel until the end of this season, plus an option for next season.
With more than 20 years of experience, Kantzouris began his coaching career in 2000 and until 2020, served as an assistant at some of the leading clubs in Europe, including three Euroleague clubs - Zalgiris, Unics Kazan and Bamberg. Kantzouris is considered a protégé of Andrea Trinchieri, who chose him as an assistant coach for five years - one season in Kazan and four seasons at Bamberg. Later, he also served as Luca Banchi's assistant at AEK, a club that later gave him the keys to the position of head coach, and last season he reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League with AEK. He started the current season as the coach of Limoges, and he is still serving as assistant to Vassilis Spanoulis in the Greek national team.
Kantzouris said: ״It Is a great honor and privilege for me to be a part of such a big club. I am coming to a team that is very well coached and prepared, and all together we need to move towards the main course of the season that is coming very soon. We want to fulfill the great expectations of our fans, The rest is inside the four lines. I am waiting for our fans to fill our arena and give us a big push with their unique way in every game״.
Hapoel's GM, Yonatan Alon, said: "Since we parted ways with coach Dzikic, we started the process of finding the next coach. Out of eight candidates, three finalists reached the finish line. With the need to find the balance between potential as a professional and compatibility with the existing staff and the basketball system, we decided that Ilias Kantzouris is the best candidate to lead the team. Ilias has an impressive resume and extensive knowledge of basketball. He is highly respected as a professional and as a person by the players, coaches, and managers who worked with him. We are confident that Ilias is the right coach to lead us, as we aim to compete for all the titles.
We would like to thank the Israeli Basketball Association and the Ministry of Sports for their logistical help and positive attitude. It is good to know that there is someone who cares about Israeli basketball in these times״.
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