China’s men’s basketball head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic has been dismissed, paying the price after the national team flopped at the World Cup and Asian Games and failed to reach the Paris Olympics.
The Chinese Basketball Association has launched the process of identifying its next boss after ending Djordjevic’s 18-month tenure on Thursday, with targets of qualifying for the 2027 World Cup as well as the next Olympics, in Los Angeles in 2028.
Guo Shiqiang, one of the four assistant coaches, will take on the head coach role temporarily.
Also head coach of Guangzhou Loong Lions in China’s top-tier league, Guo will first oversee a two-week training camp in Shanghai starting on Saturday, for which 26 players have been called up.
Djordjevic began his spell in charge of China in November 2022, but the Serb and his players were unable to deliver on any of the team’s primary objectives.
China put in a miserable showing at the Fiba World Cup last September, despite calling up naturalised player Kyle Anderson (also known by his Chinese name Li Kaier).
With only one win from five matches, their results represented the worst-ever results at the tournament for China. They also missed out to Japan in the race to claim a place at the Paris Olympics – their final chance to qualify – and their campaign culminated in a dismal defeat by host nation the Philippines.
They lost to the Philippines again in the semi-finals of the Asian Games on home soil in Hangzhou a month later.
China also suffered a first Fiba-level defeat at the hands of Japan in 88 years when they lost 76-73 in the Asia Cup qualifiers in February.
Djordjevic thanked China and wished the team luck on social media after his exit.
“My sincere gratitude towards [the] Chinese federation and to [the] beautiful people I’ve met and have worked with,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I wish all the best to [the] coaches, to Yao Ming and all his crew and of course to the team, to the players.
“Go Team China, your Serbian brother will be supporting! Xie xie, good luck!”
Star centre Zhou Qi was named in the 26-strong squad, with the likes of Yang Hansen, Zeng Fanbo, Hu Mingxuan, Kevin Zhang Zhenlin and Cheng Shuaipeng also on the list.
China reportedly will play back-to-back games against Macau Black Bears on June 26 and 27, before facing Australia twice in Melbourne in early July.