\n\tDUBAI: Dubai Basketball have appointed one of Europe\u2019s most accomplished coaches, Xavi Pascual, to head the team on a three-year contract through to 2029.<\/p>\n
\n\tPascual joins the club after leading FC Barcelona to the 2025-26 Liga ACB Finals, bringing more than two decades of experience at the highest level of European basketball.<\/p>\n
\n\tHis appointment follows Dubai Basketball\u2019s ABA League championship and historic debut EuroLeague season, reinforcing the team\u2019s ambition to establish itself among Europe\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
\n\tPascual has led some of the continent\u2019s best clubs, including FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos Athens and Zenit Saint Petersburg. His achievements include the EuroLeague title, seven domestic league championships and one of the highest winning percentages in EuroLeague history.<\/p>\n
\n\tPascual said in a recent release: \u201cJoining Dubai Basketball is a challenge that really motivates me. This is a club with huge ambition and a clear vision for the future.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m excited to start working with the players, help the team continue its growth, and build a winning culture. We know the expectations are high, and we will do everything we can to fight for titles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tPascual began his head-coaching career at FC Barcelona in 2008, where he spent eight-and-a-half seasons and became one of the most successful coaches in the club\u2019s history. He led Barcelona to the 2009-10 EuroLeague title, four Spanish League championships and numerous domestic honors.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe later coached Panathinaikos Athens before taking charge of Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2020. During five seasons in Russia, he guided Zenit to its first-ever EuroLeague Playoff appearance, further strengthening his reputation in Europe.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn November 2025, Pascual returned to FC Barcelona, guiding the club to the Liga ACB Finals before accepting the opportunity to lead Dubai Basketball.<\/p>\n
\n\tPascual has coached 385 EuroLeague games, winning 256 and recording a 66.5 percent winning percentage, the third highest in EuroLeague history among coaches with more than 100 games.<\/p>\n
\n\tHis honors include the Coach of the Year title once in EuroLeague, and seven times in domestic championships across Spain, Greece and Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI: Dubai Basketball have appointed one of Europe\u2019s most accomplished coaches, Xavi Pascual, to head the team on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-801604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}