By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Zeljko Obradovic and David Blatt are among the 29 nominated coaches for the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2022, a list that also includes a plethora of elite players that defined the sport in the past decades.
Current Partizan boss Obradovic finally earns his nomination after over 30 years active with numerous titles, while Blatt earns his own two years after he stepped down from professional basketball.
The 61-years old Obradovic has won a record number of nine EuroLeague titles, plus two Saporta Cups and numerous domestic league titles with Partizan, Panathinaikos, Joventut Badalona, Real Madrid, Benetton Treviso, and Fenerbahce.
Blatt has won the EuroLeague once with Maccabi Tel Aviv but also left his mark in FIBA basketball by winning Eurobasket gold and a bronze Olympic medal with the Russian national team. He has also coached LeBron James and the Cavs in the NBA finals.
“It is a tremendous honor for me to be included on this list, along with Names are so wonderful”, Blatt said to Walla’s Arale Weisberg.
Among the many names of the legendary players who have been proposed as candidates, those of Magic Johnson and Jerry West are the standouts.
The list of coaches further includes:
Tayeb ABDELHADI (Algeria)
Rizk Waheed AL-MASRI (Jordan)
Olgerts ALTBERGS (Latvia)
Valdemars BAUMANIS (Latvia)
Valerio BIANCHINI (Italy)
Kaddour BILEKDAR (Algeria)
David BLATT (USA & Israel)
Fawzi Asker DAWOOD (Iraq)
Ivan GALABOV (Bulgaria)
Alessandro GAMBA (Italy)
Vydas GEDVILAS (Lithuania)
Joë JAUNAY † (France)
Raimonds KARNITIS (Latvia)
Semen KHALIPSKI (Belarus)
Bozidar MALJKOVIC’ (Serbia)
Ludwik MIETTA (Poland)
Dimitar MITEV (Bulgaria)
Nikolaos NISIOTIS (Greece)
Zelimir OBRADOVIC’ (Serbia)
Daniel Lowell PETERSON (USA)
Najeeb RATEB AL SHEIKH (Syria)
Zmago SAGADIN (Slovenia)
Mheran SHAHINTAB (Iran)
Ghazi TALIB (Iraq)
Mohamed Adel TLATLI (Tunisia)
Julio TORO (Puerto Rico)
Milan VASOJEVIC † (Serbia)
Witold ZAGORSKI (Poland)
Tayeb ZENATI (Algeria)
The list of nominated players:
Edio José ALVES (Brazil)
Laís Helena ARANHA DA SILVA (Brazil)
Jacques BACHAYANI (Syria)
Marlene José BENTO (Brazil)
Adriana BIERMAIER BILIK (Austria)
Edson BISPO DOS SANTOS (Brazil)
Helena BITNERE-HEHTA (Latvia)
Waldemar BLATSKAUSKAS (Brazil)
Liliana Mabel BOCCHI (Italy)
Dejan BODIROGA (Serbia)
Manute BOL † (Sudan)
Francisco BUSCATÓ (Spain)
Maria Helena CAMPOS (Brazil)
Maria Helena CARDOSO (Brazil)
Elisabeth CEBRIÁN (Spain)
Pedro CHAPPE (Cuba)
Theofanis CHRISTODOULOU (Greece)
Richard DACOURY (France)
Raymond DALMAU PÉREZ (Puerto Rico)
Predrag DANILOVIC’ (Serbia)
Zenny DE AZEVEDA – ALGODÃO (Brazil)
Afonso DE AZEVEDO ÉVORA (Brazil)
Ruy DE FREITAS (Brazil)
Marcel DE SOUZA (Brazil)
Carmo DE SOUZA – ROSA BRANCA (Brazil)
Aleksandar DJORDJEVIC’ (Serbia)
Carlos DOMINGOS MASSONI – MOSQUITO (Brazil)
Delcy ELLENDER MARQUES (Brazil)
Mara FULLIN (Italy)
Ahmed Abdul (Let.Gen) GHAFOUR AL-SAMARRAI (Iraq)
Alain GILLES (France)
Janos GREMINGER (Hungary)
Dzindra GRUNDMANE (Latvia)
Arturo GUERRERO MORENO (Mexico)
Lauren JACKSON (Australia)
Magic JOHNSON (USA)
Sergejus JOVAISA (Lithuania)
Rudolfs JURCINS (Latvia)
Juris KALNINS (Latvia)
Arturas KARNISOVAS (Lithuania)
Lenke KISS (Hungary)
Giorgos KOLOKYTHAS (Greece)
Boris KRISTANCIC † (Slovenia)
Janis KRUMINS (Latvia)
Bob KURLAND (USA)
Rimas KURTINAITIS (Lithuania)
Nicolas LAPENTTI (Ecuador)
Pranas LUBINAS † (Lithuania)
Arvydas MACIJAUSKAS (Lithuania)
Robyn MAHER (Australia)
Wlamir MARQUES (Brazil)
Katrina MCCLAIN (USA)
Awwad MFADI HADDAD (Jordan)
Iliya MIRCHEV † (Bulgaria)
Nilza MONTE GARCIA (Brazil)
Robert (Bob) MORSE (USA)
Ivan MRAZEK (Czech Republic)
Valdis MUIZNIEKS (Latvia)
Aidin NIKKHAH BAHRAMI † (Iran)
Lamjed NJAH (Tunisia)
Tatiana OVECHKINA (Russia)
Ed PALUBINSKAS (Australia)
Zarko PASPALJ (Serbia)
Norma PINTO DE OLIVEIRA (Brazil)
Catarina POLLINI (Italy)
Nina POZNANSKAYA (Russia)
Dino RADJA (Croatia)
Leo RAUTINS (Canada)
Silvija RAVDONE-KRODERE (Latvia)
Alfredo RODRIGUES DA MOTTA (Brazil)
Angele RUPSIENE (Lithuania)
Maija SALENIECE-SILINA (Latvia)
Zuhair Mohammad SALIH (Iraq)
Jatyr Eduardo SCHALL (Brazil)
Gunars SILINS † (Latvia)
Skaidrite SMILDZINA-BUDOVSKA (Latvia)
Rik SMITS (Netherlands)
Olga SOUKHARNOVA (Russia)
Yannick SOUVRE (France)
Saulius STOMBERGAS (Lithuania)
Jurgita STREIMIKYTE-VIRBICKIENE (Lithuania)
Antonio Salvador SUCAR (Brazil)
Vida SULSKYTE-BESELIENE (Lithuania)
Koutrach TARIF (Syria)
Konstantin TOTEV † (Bulgaria)
Dzidra UZTUPE-KARAMISEVA (Latvia)
Maigonis VALDMANIS (Latvia)
Marija VEGER-DEMSAR (Serbia)
Juan “Pachín” VICENS (Puerto Rico)
Peter VILFAN (Slovenia)
Gennady VOLNOV † (Russia)
Jerry WEST (USA)
Lynette WOODARD (USA)
Liu YUMIN (CHINA)
Aljoša ZORGA (Slovenia)
Per FIBA Hall of Fame Regulations, nominations for candidates may be submitted by FIBA National Member Federations, FIBA Regional Offices, FIBA Central Board members and the FIBA Screening Committee.