The Crotian, who led Lietuvos Rytas to two wins over Maccabi in the Euroleague last season, have signed for two seasons
Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club has officially announced this afternoon that Neven Spahija will be head coach of the team for the next two seasons. 43 years old Spahija, born in Sibenik, Ctoatia, was last season the head coach of Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius and led them to the Lithuanian Championship with a 4-0 win in the playoff finals with Zalgiris Kaunas. The team missed the Euroleague quarter finals only on goal diffrerence with TAU Vitoria. During the season Rytas beat Maccabi twice and became the only Euroleague team to win in the NOKIA Arena. Spahija led Cibona Zagreb to the League & Cup double in Croatia in 2000 & 2001. They also beat Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv in the Opening Tournament of the Euroleague in 2001. Later Spahija coached Novo Mesto (with Jamie Arnold) and won the Slovenian Championship in 2003. They also reached the ULEB Cup Final. Later he coached Saratov in Russia and 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 coached the Croatian National Team in the European Championship. After the loss to Spain in the quarter finals he and team captain Nikola Vujcic announced their retirement in protest of the refereeing. In the next few days Spahija will join Team Manager Mony Fanan in the USA where they will watch the NBA Summer League.
