Which new coach will make the biggest impact in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers?

    3 min to read
    Rimas Kurtinaitis will look to bring Lithuania back to their glory days

    Four nations will enter the November window of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 with new head coaches. Who are they? Let's find out!

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    MUNICH (Germany) - The second qualifying window for the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 will be the start of new eras for four nations as world champions Germany, Olympic silver medalists France, three-time EuroBasket winners Lithuania and Estonia go into the games with new men in charge of their national teams.

    The four countries made the changes between June and October as they look ahead to next summer's EuroBasket and beyond.

    The new head coaches of Germany and France will have big shoes while Lithuania basketball officials hope a change can turn around a program that has struggled of late - and Estonia actually hope things continue to improve as they have been going.

    Which one of them will make the biggest impact?

    France: Fauthoux takes over from Collet

    France handed the reins to former national team point guard Freddy Fauthoux after the wildly successful Vincent Collet stepped down following the 2024 Olympics.

    The 51-year-old Fauthoux is head coach at JL Bourg-en-Bresse, whom he guided to a French Leaders Cup Final as well as two LNB Semi-Finals since 2022. As a player, Fauthoux appeared in 47 caps for France, including taking third place at the FIBA EuroBasket 2005. Fauthoux, who is the father of standout France women's national team guard Marine Fauthoux, already has coached France's two No. 1 picks in the NBA Draft - Victor Wembanyama as an assistant at ASVEL and Zaccharie Risacher as head coach at Bourg.

    Following this summer's Olympics, Collet walked away from the France national team he built into a world power, taking silver at the last two Olympics, third place at the FIBA Basketball World Cups in 2014 and 2019 as well as the title at the FIBA EuroBasket 2013, second-place finishes in 2011 and 2022 and third in 2015.

    France are 2-0 in Group E of EuroBasket qualifying and will take on Cyprus twice in the upcoming window.

    Germany: World champs call on Mumbru

    Another major basketball nation to make a change is reigning world champions Germany, who watched Gordon Herbert step down after the country's greatest run of results and put their faith in Spaniard Alex Mumbru.

    The 45-year-old Mumbru most recently coached Valencia in the Spanish ACB for two years before that spending 2018 to 2022 at the helm of Bilbao Basket. As a player, Mumbru was part of Spain's golden generation alongside the likes of Pau and Marc Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro and Jose Calderon. He helped the country take home numerous medals including the titles at the 2006 World Cup and 2009 EuroBasket as well as silver at the 2008 Olympics.

    Herbert leaves after a three-year stint which saw him guide Germany to bronze at the EuroBasket 2022, the country's first World Cup title in 2023 and then a best-ever fourth-place showing at the 2024 Olympics.

    Germany are in a four-way tie at 1-1 in Group D with a road loss to Bulgaria to their name as Mumbru's first games will be against Sweden.

    Lithuania: Kurtinaitis ready to steady the ship

    While France and Germany are enjoying success of late, Lithuania have not obtained desired results and the basketball leaders hope the appointment of new man Rimas Kurtinaitis can change the country's fortunes.

    The 64-year-old Kurtinaitis answered the call a few months after having taken over as head coach at Azerbaijani club Sabah BC. Kurtinaitis is no stranger to the Lithuanian national team, having served as an assistant coach under head coach Ramunas Butautas from 2007 to 2009. The Kaunas native has coached numerous clubs around Europe with multiple club competition titles to his name.

    Rimas Kurtinaitis has previously served as an assistant with the national team

    As a player, Kurtinaitis won gold at the 1988 Olympics and went on to represented Lithuania at the 1992 Olympics, where they took home the bronze medal.

    Kurtinaitis takes over from Kazys Maksvytis, who led the national team from 2021 to 2024. Lithuania crashed to 15th in EuroBasket 2022, the team's poorest finish in history. The country did take sixth place at the 2023 World Cup but then failed to reach the Olympics for the second straight time following a run of five consecutive appearances.

    Kurtinaitis faces a tough start to the job as Lithuania are 1-1 in Group H following a loss in Estonia. In the upcoming window, the Baltic nation will take on North Macedonia twice.

    Estonia: Former assistant Rannula the new boss

    The other country with a coaching change was Estonia, who announced that Heiko Rannula would be taking over from Jukka Toijala, which was a case of an assistant coach moving into the head coaching post. And the Baltic nation finds itself in one of the strongest positions in history.

    The 41-year-old Rannula coached Estonia's U18 and U20 national teams and has served as the Estonian national team assistant coach since 2018. At the club level, he won the Estonian championship with Parnu in 2022. And then after taking over as playcaller at BC Kalev/Cramo, the team reached the Semi-Finals of the FIBA Europe Cup in 2023 and won the national title in 2023 and 2024. Rannula won the Estonia league and cup double twice as a player with Tartu.

    Heiko Rannula coaching for BC Kalev - Cramo in the FIBA Europe Cup

    Toijala had coached the Estonians since October 2019 and guided the country to victories over Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia during his reign as well as qualifying for the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 after missing out on EuroBasket 2017. Toijala has moved to Japan to serve as an assistant coach under fellow Estonian Lassi Tuovi at Yokohama B-Corsairs.

    Estonia sit atop Group H with a 2-0 record after wins over North Macedonia and Lithuania in the first window - the latter being Estonia's first-ever victory against the Baltic rivals in an official setting. Rannula will start his head coaching job with two games against Poland.

    Full list of coaches in FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers

    NATIONAL TEAM

    COACH

    NATIONALITY

    APPOINTED

    Dario Gjergja

    CRO / BEL

    2018

    Azir Bekir

    TUR

    2022

    Rosen Barchovski

    BUL

    2019 (Also: 2004-07, 2010-12)

    Josip Sesar

    CRO

    2023

    Christophoros Livadiotis

    CYP

    2022

    Diego Ocampo

    ESP

    2023

    Allan Foss

    DEN

    2022 (Also: 2004-09)

    Heiko Rannula

    EST

    2024

    Lassi Tuovi

    FIN

    2022

    Frederic Fauthoux

    FRA

    2024

    Aleksandar Dzikic

    SRB

    2024

    Alex Mumbru

    ESP

    2024

    Marc Steutel

    GBR

    2023

    Vassilis Spanoulis

    GRE

    2023

    Gasper Okorn

    SLO

    2023

    Craig Pedersen

    CAN

    2014

    Ariel Beit-Halahmy

    ISR

    2023

    Gianmarco Pozzecco

    ITA

    2022

    Luca Banchi

    ITA

    2021

    Rimas Kurtinaitis

    LTU

    2024

    Bosko Radovic

    MNE

    2019

    Arik Shivek

    ISR

    2023

    Aleksandar Joncevski

    MKD

    2023

    Igor Milicic

    CRO / POL

    2021

    Mario Gomes

    POR

    2016

    Svetislav Pesic

    SRB / GER

    2021

    Aramis Naglic

    CRO

    2022

    Aleksander Sekulic

    SLO

    2020

    Sergio Scariolo

    ITA

    2015

    Ludwig Degernas

    SWE

    2021

    Ergin Ataman

    TUR

    2022 (Also: 2014-16)

    Vitaly Stepanovskyy

    UKR

    2023

    FIBA

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