
First season with the Club.
Arrives from Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, where he led the team to the Lithuanian League & Cup double.
In the Euroleague, Spahija became the only coach to beat Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv twice during the season.
Started his coaching career in the 1996/97season in Croatia with Gradine Pula. Later was Youth coach at Olimpija Ljubljana and later assistant coach at the club. In January 2000 he was appointed head coach at Cibona Zagreb and led them to two Croatian League & Cup doubles. In November 2001 Cibona won the Euroleague Opening Tournament beating Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv in the final.
In December 2001 he joined Krka Novo Mesto and led them to the 2003 Slovenian Championship and to the final of the ULEB Cup. In December 2002 Novo Mesto beat Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv 83-80 in the Goodyear Adriatic League with Jamie Arnold scoring 34 pts for the winners. In the 2003/04 & 2004/05 he coached Avtodor Saratov in Russia & Roseto in Italy.
Spahija coached the Croatian team that won the silver medal in the 2001 World Championship for teams under 22. Last summer he was the National Team coach in the European Championship in Belgrade where his captain was Nikola Vujcic.