By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In one of the biggest shocks of EuroBasket 2025, Serbia’s lost to Finland, which ended their campaign before the Quarterfinals.
After the tough defeat, the Serbian national team arrived in Belgrade, and head coach Svetislav Pesic addressed the media once again.
“I told them they should be proud of what has happened over these past two or three years. We are sad, of course we wanted a bit more than what we achieved. Playing for the Serbian national team is never easy, the expectations are huge, but at the same time that pressure pushes you to work harder, and representing your country should always be seen as a new challenge,” Pesic said.
The experienced coach also talked about his future with the Serbian national team.
“I never resign. Why would I resign? I came here to do what I’ve done, and when nobody else wanted to, I accepted it. After the Olympic Games, again nobody wanted to step in, and I took it because I felt a responsibility toward the players. Our agreement runs until the end of September. We’ll sit down, we’ll talk. I’m always here, ready to help in any way. Resignations… This isn’t football. In basketball, you don’t resign.”
He dismissed the notion that this is the end of one Serbian national team cycle.
“Nothing is over. First of all, these big expectations are nothing new in Serbia. They always come from outside our team. I said before how the system works – one single game decides your fate. Maybe that doesn’t matter much to you journalists, but look: Turkey barely advanced, France lost, and unfortunately, we lost. In one game, anything can happen. If you want to control your own destiny, you need to be healthy. We weren’t physically ready, we burned out against Turkey, we gave everything there, and then Finland punished us with an excellent performance. I don’t want to take anything away from their win.”
Once again, Pesic touched on the problems his team faced in Riga.
“I mentioned it along the way, not as an excuse. What I mean is that most of our players had injury problems, and then a virus spread. This morning, my colleague from the national team fell ill with the coronavirus, the hotel is full of cases. Some of our players caught it too. Since we didn’t manage to win, hopefully at least we’ll avoid more coronavirus cases,” Pesic concluded.