Xavi Pascual (basketball)

Xavier Pascual i Vives, commonly known as Xavi Pascual,^[1] (born 9 September 1972) is a Spanish professional basketball coach who is the head coach for Zenit Saint Petersburg of the VTB United League. On 9 May 2010 he became the youngest head coach to win the EuroLeague championship (only counting the Euroleague Basketball Company era, since the year 2000), and soon after, he also won the EuroLeague Coach of the Year Award.^{[citation needed]}

Xavi Pascual

Pascual in 2024
Free agent
Position	Head coach
Personal information
Born	(1972-09-09) 9 September 1972 (age 52) L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
Coaching career	1990–present
Career history
As a coach:
1990–1991	CB Gavà
1995–1997	Cornellà (assistant)
1997–1999	CB Santfeliuenc
1999–2001	CB Olesa
2001–2004	CB Aracena
2004–2005	FC Barcelona B
2005–2008	FC Barcelona (assistant)
2008–2016	FC Barcelona
2016–2018	Panathinaikos
2020–2025	Zenit
Career highlights
As head coach: EuroLeague champion (2010) VTB United League champion (2022) 4× Liga ACB champion (2009, 2011, 2012, 2014) 2× Greek League champion (2017, 2018) 7× Catalan League champion (2009–2015) 3× Copa del Rey winner (2010, 2011, 2013) Greek Cup winner (2017) 4× Spanish Supercup winner (2009–2011, 2015) 2× VTB United League Supercup winner (2022, 2023) EuroLeague Coach of the Year (2010) 3× AEEB Spanish Coach of the Year (2009–2011) 4× Liga ACB Coach of the Year (2010–2012, 2016) 2× Greek League Coach of the Year (2017, 2018) VTB United League Coach of the Year (2021) Russian Basketball Cup (2024)

Coaching career

Early years

The first team Pascual coached was Gavà (1990–91). Other teams that he coached early in his career were: Cornellà, Santfeliuenc, Olesa, and Aracena.^{[citation needed]}

FC Barcelona

In the 2004–05 season, Pascual moved to FC Barcelona, where he became the head coach of FC Barcelona Bàsquet B, the club's Liga EBA (Spanish 4th Division) reserve team.^{[citation needed]}

In the following, 2005–06 season, he became the assistant head coach of the Spanish 1st Division team of FC Barcelona. After the team and then head coach Duško Ivanović parted ways in 2008, Pascual became the club's head coach. On 21 September 2012, Pascual extended his contract with Barcelona, until the end of 2014–15 season.^[2] On 3 February 2015, he extended his contract with Barcelona, until the end of the 2016–17 season.^[3]

After the 2015–16 season, in which Barcelona failed to win the Spanish ACB League, and was eliminated in the EuroLeague's quarterfinal playoffs, Pascual was fired.^[4]

Panathinaikos

On 22 October 2016, Pascual signed a three-year contract to be the head coach of the Greek Basket League team Panathinaikos.^[5][6] In domestic competition, Pascual led the Greens to back-to-back Greek League titles, in 2017 and 2018, and was named the league's best coach for both seasons. On 20 December 2018 Panathinaikos dismissed Pascual after he had spent two seasons with the club, bringing the Greens to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs in both, but failing to bring them back to the Final Four.^[5]

Coaching record

Legend
G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss %

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the team played during the season. He also coached in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

EuroLeague

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Result
FC Barcelona	2007–08	9	4	5	.444	Eliminated in Quarterfinal Playoffs
	2008–09	23	18	5	.783	Won in 3rd place game
	2009–10	22	20	2	.909	Won EuroLeague Championship
	2010–11	20	14	6	.700	Eliminated in Quarterfinal Playoffs
	2011–12	21	19	2	.905	Won in 3rd place game
	2012–13	31	25	6	.806	Lost in 3rd place game
	2013–14	29	23	6	.793	Won in 3rd place game
	2014–15	28	21	7	.750	Eliminated in Quarterfinal Playoffs
	2015–16	29	16	13	.552	Eliminated in Quarterfinal Playoffs
Panathinaikos	2016–17	30	19	11	.633	Eliminated in Quarterfinal Playoffs
	2017–18	34	20	14	.588	Eliminated in Quarterfinal Playoffs
	2018–19	13	6	7	.462	Fired
Zenit Saint Petersburg	2020–21	39	22	17	.564	Eliminated in Quarterfinal Playoffs
Career		330	229	101	.694

Honours

CB Aracena

• LEB 2 (Spanish 3rd Division) (1): 2002–03
• Lliga Catalana LEB (Catalan 2nd Division) (1): 2003–04

FC Barcelona

• Liga ACB (Spanish League) (4): 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14
• Spanish Cup (3): 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13
• EuroLeague (1): 2009–10
• Spanish Supercup (4): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015
• Lliga Catalana (Catalan League) (7): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Panathinaikos

• Greek League (2): 2016–17, 2017–18
• Greek Cup (1): 2016–17

Individual

• 4× Spanish League Coach of the Year: 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2015–16
• 3× AEEB Spanish Coach of the Year: 2009, 2010, 2011
• EuroLeague Coach of the Year: 2009–10
• 2× Greek League Best Coach: 2016–17, 2017-18

See also

• List of EuroLeague-winning head coaches