Xavi Pascual (basketball)


Xavier "Xavi" Pascual i Vives, commonly known as Xavi Pascual, is a Spanish professional basketball coach who is the head coach for Zenit Saint Petersburg of the VTB United League and EuroLeague. On 9 May 2010 he became the youngest head coach to manage to win the EuroLeague championship, and soon after, he also won the EuroLeague Coach of the Year Award.

Coaching career

Early years

The first team Pascual coached was Gavà. Other teams that he coached early in his career were: Cornellà, Santfeliuenc, Olesa, and Aracena.

FC Barcelona

In the 2004–05 season, Pascual moved to FC Barcelona, where he became the head coach of FC Barcelona Bàsquet B, the club's Liga EBA reserve team.
In the following, 2005–06 season, he became the assistant head coach of the Spanish 1st Division team of FC Barcelona. After the team and then head coach Duško Ivanović parted ways in 2008, Pascual became the club's head coach. On 21 September 2012, Pascual extended his contract with Barcelona, until the end of 2014–15 season. On 3 February 2015, he extended his contract with Barcelona, until the end of the 2016–17 season.
After the 2015–16 season, in which Barcelona failed to win the Spanish ACB League, and was eliminated in the EuroLeague's quarterfinal playoffs, Pascual was fired.

Panathinaikos

On 22 October 2016, Pascual signed a three-year contract to be the head coach of the Greek Basket League team Panathinaikos. In domestic competition, Pascual led the Greens to back-to-back Greek League titles, in 2017 and 2018, and was named the league's best coach for both seasons. On 20 December 2018 Panathinaikos dismissed Pascual after he had spent two seasons with the club, bringing the Greens to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs in both, but failing to bring them back to the Final Four.

Coaching record

EuroLeague

Honours

CB Aracena