Spanoulis marks Greece debut with win in front of sold-out crowd

PIRAEUS (Greece) - Vassilis Spanoulis celebrated his Greece coaching debut with a hard-fought 72-64 victory over Czechia in front of a sold-out crowd.

A total of 12,439 spectators flocked to the Peace and Friendship Stadium for the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers encounter, which Greece struggled to put away in the end.

"I'M VERY, VERY PROUD MY FIRST GAME [AS HEAD COACH] WAS IN SUCH AN ATMOSPHERE"- Vassilis Spanoulis

Konstantinos Mitoglou led the way with a game-high of 22 points with Thomas Walkup posting 16 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, while Kostas Papanikolaou also added 16 points.

"Congratulations to our national team and our players for the first win in this new beginning that we will make for the next two years," coach Spanoulis commented post-game. "I'm very happy and very proud of my players for our first win.

"I want to give a big thank to all of the fans that came to the arena today. Greece, when we are all together, we can make big things. I'm very, very proud because I'm Greek, and I'm very, very proud that I played my first game in such an atmosphere.

"In all our targets that we put for the game, especially defensively, we were incredibly correct. We played amazing defence for the whole game. We made 21 points on the fast break, and we should have made more. This is our philosophy and our style that we have to follow - this is what I like."

Spanoulis is no stranger to winning as he helped Greece win the FIBA EuroBasket 2005 title and also took second place at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2006.

It seemed only fitting that Spanoulis' coaching debut for Greece took place in the Peace and Friendship Stadium. In addition to hosting the FIBA EuroBasket 1987 - which they won the title - the arena in Piraeus is also the home of Olympiacos Piraeus, the Greek powerhouse for whom Spanoulis starred for over a decade.

'Kill Bill' helped Olympiacos to two EuroLeague titles, three Greek league trophies and also winning the EuroLeague MVP award in 2013.

Spanoulis retired in 2021 and then made his club coaching debut last season with Greek club Peristeri, where the 41-year-old is currently coaching in the Basketball Champions League. 

He was officially named as Greece's new playcaller in October 2023, and will be looking to improve to 2-0 when they travel to face the Netherlands on Monday.

 FIBA