Sfairopoulos to leave Olympiacos after four years in Piraeus
Olympiacos BC are on the lookout for a new coach, as the Piraeus outfit opted not to extend Ioannis Sfairopoulos’ contract following a disappointing 2017/2018 campaign.
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As manager of Olympiacos between 2014 and 2018, 51-year old Sfairopoulos won two Basket League titles (2015, 2016), took the Thrylos to the Final Four of the EuroLeague twice (2015, 2017), but he paid the price for a poor season this year. Olympiacos failed to win a trophy, losing to AEK Athens in the Greek Cup final, falling at the quarter-final stage in the EuroLeague and dropping a second consecutive defeat to arch-rivals Panathinaikos in the domestic league. It’s now clear that Sfairopoulos won’t have his contract renewed and will leave Olympiacos.
On Monday evening, Sfairopoulos held a special dinner with Olympiacos’ technical staff and players, announcing his departure after four emotional years in Piraeus. According to reports from the media, the Greek coach is attracting interest from Maccabi Tel Aviv, the current Israeli champions.
At this moment in time, the favourite to replace Sfairopoulos appears to be 49-year old Italian manager Andrea Trinchieri, who was sacked from Bamberg in February. In a boost to his chances of receiving the Olympiacos role, Trinchieri previously coached the Greek national team from January 2013 to June 2014. Other candidates include Spaniard Joan Plaza and well-known American-Israeli coach David Blatt.
Keen to revamp the team, the Olympiacos administration are looking to give the squad a well-needed overhaul, while keeping the leading lights such as Vassilis Spanoulis, Konstantinos Papanikolaou and Ioannis Papapetrou. The three are expected to be given new contract offers in the coming days.
