Sfairopoulos and Galbiati join the list of Barça candidates to relieve Pascual

Xavi Pascual explained this Thursday in a press conference the reasons for his departure from Barça at the end of the season. The second stage of Gavà’s coach at the Barça club ends abruptly and opens a big question about the future of the first team bench.

There are several names of possible substitutes that have emerged in recent weeks. The first was that of Ibon Navarro, with whom Barça contacted through third parties despite the fact that he later publicly denied that there had been any meeting. The second was that of Vassilis Spanoulis, a legendary former player who in his first years as coach led AS Monaco to the Euroleague final in 2025. The Greek is free after leaving the Monegasque team a few months ago due to the financial crisis in which it is mired. Neither of the two seems like they will finally land at the Palau, the Basque because his name has been burned after Barça’s denial and the second because he has not quite convinced the club’s highest authorities.

Relieving Pascual, a coach with enormous influence over the fans, is not easy at all and the best candidate at the image level is none other than Zeljko Obradovic. The 66-year-old Serbian coach has been without a team since he left the troubled Partizan last November. Several big teams, including Panathinaikos and Hapoel Tel Aviv, have been interested in him but Cacak’s team has yet to decide if he wants to return to the bench. Winner of nine Euroleagues with five different teams, Obradovic is the most prestigious coach in European basketball and Barça knows that, in addition to his tactical mastery, his arrival would be the best antidote in the media and among the fans to stop the blow that Pascual’s departure represents.

But Obradovic is not the only coach that Barça considers to take care of its basketball team starting in the summer. Two other names are on the table with real options to take over from Pascual: the Greek Giannis Sfairopoulos and the Italian Paolo Galbiati.

Ignoring Obradovic, whose arrival would imply a large outlay by the club both for his signing and to build the team he would want, Sfairopoulos is the coach with the best reputation and track record of those on the market. He has reached two Euroleague finals at the head of Olympiacos and has played for other leading teams such as Maccabi Tel Aviv or Red Star, where he was until October 2025. After leaving the Belgrade team to be replaced by Sasa Obradovic, he is free. Vice president of the Euroleague coaches association (EHCB), he is a high-level coach, with experience, accustomed to dealing with stars and with an elegant and polite posture.

Paolo Galbiati is a quite different profile. He is far from the experience and prestige of Obradovic or Sfairopoulos but he has in his favor that he has been the personal bet for Baskonia of Xevi Pujol, already signed to become the new technical secretary of Barça basketball in place of Juan Carlos Navarro. In his first year in Vitoria he has led the team to the Copa del Rey title, a success that almost no one counted on. A good strategist, he conveys an image of closeness and stands out for his good relationship with the players and his connection with the fans. Against them is that, after the experiences of Roger Grimau and Joan Peñarroya and faced with the challenge of taking over from a great man like Pascual, it is difficult for Barça to take a risk on a coach with little pedigree and even unknown to the general public.