POL - Poland consider Sasa Obradovic for coaching post

WARSAW (Polski Zwiazek Koszykówki) - Poland have confirmed that Sasa Obradovic is one of the men they are targeting to possibly the coach the national side at the FIBA Europe Championship in 2009.

Obradovic, 39, a European gold medalist and world champion for Yugoslavia as a player, has excelled in coaching as well, leading Koln to the German title in 2006 when he also served as an assistant to Dragan Sakota with Serbia's national side at the FIBA World Championship.

"We are still in the process of negotiations with a few potential candidates," said Polish Basketball Federation president Roman Ludwiczuk in an interview with Basketball World News that was published on fibaeurope.com.

"Mr. Obradovic is one of the most talented and already successful coaches of a new generation in Europe," he added.

"As I said before, we are speaking to a few candidates and Mr. Obradovic is one of them. We know what he has achieved both as a player and as a coach and have a lot of respect for him."

Poland played at last year's FIBA Europe Championship in Spain under coach Andrej Urlap but lost all of their games against France, Italy and Slovenia.

As hosts of the EuroBasket in 2009, it will be a pivotal year for the sport in the country.

 "We know that European Championships for basketball, with the glamour of basketball stars being around, will make a lot of young kids start to become keen on basketball," Ludwiczuk said.

"We want the Polish national team to be successful as it is a key factor and we know we can achieve it.

"We believe that good cooperation between FIBA Europe, the Polish Basketball Federation and all seven EuroBasket hosting cities will benefit us with a major growth in basketball popularity. Without any doubt, it is one of the biggest events in Europe and we are looking forward to organizing it. "

As for Obradovic, he has had a lot happening the past several days.

His club side, Koln, admitted defeat earlier this week in their bid to find a new major sponsor and it appeared the club was dead and would no longer play games after an announcement by the German BBL that their license had been revoked.

But the outfit did find new financial backers which will allow them to finish the campaign.

FIBA