Tomislav Mijatović is the new coach of the Croatian men's basketball team, the Board of Directors of the Croatian Basketball Association (HKS) decided upon the proposal of sports director Krunoslav Simon, the HKS announced today.
Mijatović will replace Josip Sesar in this position, under whose leadership the Croatian basketball players failed to qualify for the European Championship for the first time, due to a convincing defeat in the qualifiers against the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team in Sarajevo, HINA reported.
Tomislav Mijatović began his 20-year coaching career in 2001 as an assistant coach at Cibona Zagreb, and he has also held the same role on several occasions with the Croatian national team.
From Cibona, he moved to Turkish Efes in 2010, where he started as an assistant to then-coach Velimir Perasović. Mijatović was one of the key people on Ergin Ataman's coaching staff, under whose leadership the Istanbul club won the EuroLeague in 2021 and 2022, and one of the key players at the time was the current HKS sports director Simon.
In February 2024, Mijatović was promoted to head coach of Efes, and in 2025, the club hired Luka Banki to the position, but also kept the Croatian coach on the coaching staff.
"I want to thank everyone at the Croatian Basketball Federation for the great trust they have shown. It is a great honor, but also a huge obligation, to be the coach of the Croatian basketball team. We know that we have a demanding path ahead of us, but also a path that opens big doors to the big stage," said Mijatović.
"We must remain humble, go step by step, we must deal with every action and treat every next game as a final. Only in this way, with unity, a great atmosphere and immense desire, will and demonstrated love for playing for the national team can we achieve results that will serve as an honor and pride for all of us," Mijatović added in an official statement.
Mijatović's first action in charge of the national team will be the World Cup qualifiers, scheduled for August. Croatia's rivals on the road to qualifying for the 2027 World Cup are Denmark and Norway.
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