The editorial staff of "Croatians Online" has just awarded the award "Croat of the Month" for the month of September this year.
This certificate, with which we highlight individuals or groups who work dedicatedly and consistently to promote Croatia in the world, belonged to the basketball coaching legend - Neven Spahija.
In his rich career, Neven Spahija from Sibenik has visited many countries and won a number of trophies on the benches of numerous domestic and foreign clubs. In addition to his native Croatia, he also worked in Slovenia, Russia, Lithuania, Israel, Spain, Turkey, China and the USA, where he was an assistant coach for the NBA teams "Atlanta Hawks" and "Memphis Grizzlies" for four years. He is a former coach of the Croatian national basketball team, and since last year he has been the coach of the Italian "Reyer Venezia".
He took his first steps in basketball with his best friend, another Sibenik legend, the prematurely deceased basketball virtuoso Dražen Petrović, who would have celebrated his 60th birthday this year. In honor of Dražen and the 60th anniversary of his birth, the memorial match at the Zagreb Arena on September 5 brought to Croatia many of Dražen's teammates, basketball legends and current stars.
Neven Spahija told our listeners about his impressions of this spectacle in the "Croatians Online" program, specifically in the podcast "Where the heart is, there is home" Gordan Škugor. In the conversation with Gordana Škugor, he recalled his NBA adventure and growing up with his best friend Dražen, whom he says was cheerful and loved his friends and Croatia. You can listen to the entire conversation on our Spotify channel at LINK.
The successes of our athletes are the best promotion of Croatia in the world, and Neven Spahija, just like Dražen Petrović, wrote his name in golden letters in the history of Croatian and world basketball with his excellent sports results, which is why he deserved the award "Croat of the Month", for the month of September.
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