FC Barcelona fired last month their Basket manager, Joan Peñarroya, after a series of disappointing results in the domestic and european leagues. Since then, his replacement Xavi Pascual has noticeably improved their results, and are now fifth in Liga ACB and second in EuroLeague.
Peñarroya, who had signed a two-year contract with FC Barcelona on June 2024, was fired and has now found a new destiny: the Serbian club Partizan from Belgrade. Đoan Penjaroja, as it's translated from cyrillic, replaces Željko Obradović.
Partizan is currently 17th in the EuroLeague, a competition they last won in 1992. The last time they reached the final four was in 2010. Only two months ago, Peñarroya's Barcelona defeated Partizan in the EuroLeague. They are set to meet again, with Peñarroya actually returning to the Palau Blaugrana on January 9, this time as a visitor: it will be interesting to see how the fans greet him.
It is the first time form Peñarroya coaching outside of Spain (with the exception of Andorra, who plays in the Spanish Liga ACB). He has formerly coached Baskona and Valencia, and won FIBA Champions League with Burgoas in 2020 and 2021.