Memi Bečirovič

Mehmed "Memi" Bečirovič (born 1 March 1961) is a Slovenian professional basketball coach. He most recently serves as the head coach for the Nanjing Monkey Kings of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He coached over ten teams in Slovenia, Italy, Ukraine, Belgium, and China in his coaching career.^[1] As the head coach of the Iran national team, Bečirovič led the team to its first and second FIBA Asia Cup championship in the fourth and fifth edition of the tournament in Tokyo and Wuhan in 2012 and 2014. He also led Iran to their third title in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship and qualified for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. He then led Iran to the silver medal at the 2014 Asian Games.

He was the head coach of the Slovenia national team from December 2009 until December 2010, when he was replaced by Božidar Maljković.^[2][3] He coached the national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey. This was his first position as head of a senior international team, after previously coaching the Slovenian junior team at various age levels between 1997 and 2003. Bečirovič's son, Sani, was a professional basketball player himself, and currently works as a sporting director. Having worked for Cedevita Olimpija and Panathinaikos, he currently works for Zenit Saint Petersburg.