The Slovenian way to rebuild Barça

BarcelonaAleksander Sekulic's tenure at Can Barça began this Wednesday. The blue and white club and Sekulic have reached an agreement for the incorporation of the coach as the new head of the culé bench. The 48-year-old coach will sign a contract until June 30, 2028, and will become the first Slovenian coach in the history of Barça basketball.

Sekulic's appointment generates consensus both at the Palau Blaugrana and on the board of directors. The initial idea was to sign Paolo Galbiati, but Baskonia rejected Barça's proposal and demanded an unattainable compensation. Despite considering other coaches such as Ergin Ataman, Sergio Scariolo, and Velimir Perasovic, the club has finalized Sekulic's incorporation. The Slovenian comes from coaching Dubai Basketball, which is precisely the EuroLeague club where Xavi Pascual, Íñigo Zorzano, and Òscar Orellana will go. Furthermore, Albert Oliver will also not remain in the coaching staff. One of Sekulic's assistants will be Marc Estany, who until now was at Kids&Us Manresa.

Sekulic began his coaching career at various clubs in his home country, with extensive experience combining assistant coach and head coach roles. In the 2021-22 season, he took the reins of Era Nymburk in the Czech Republic, with whom he became league champion. In 2022, he moved to Russia, where he coached Lokomotiv Kuban for two seasons (2022-24). In the 2025-26 season, he took charge of Zenit Saint Petersburg, until he packed his bags to move to Dubai in April. The new blue and white coach is the current coach of Slovenia, a position he has held since 2020. At the helm of the national team, Sekulic secured qualification for the Olympic Games for the first time in the country's history and finished his journey in Tokyo in the semifinals and in a meritorious fourth place in the summer of 2021. Previously, as an assistant coach for his country, he also became champion of the EuroBasket in 2017.

New team model

Barça, who will increase the salary investment from 28.6 to 35 million euros, wants to rejuvenate the project and bet on a generational change. After announcing the signings of Olivier Nkamhoua, Justin Robinson, Agustín Ubal, Josh Nebo, Umoja Gibson and Stanley Umude, the basketball section has a verbal agreement with Tyrese Martin. The ‘blaugrana’ club expects to announce Xevi Pujol as technical secretary in the first week of August. The Catalan communicated his departure to Baskonia with two months' notice, but his incorporation will end in litigation, as the Basque entity wants greater financial compensation.