Euroleague Basketball mourns Javier Imbroda

Euroleague Basketball joins the Spanish and European basketball family in mourning Javier Imbroda, who died at age 61.

Imbroda had a long, fruitful coaching career, taking two different teams, Unicaja Malaga and Caja San Fernando, to the EuroLeague. He began his coaching career with Maristas Malaga, which he guided to promotion to the Spanish elite. Once Maristas merged with the other Malaga-based team, Caja de Ronda, Unicaja was born and he was chosen to guide the team. Imbroda led Unicaja to the 1995 Spanish League finals, opening the doors to its EuroLeague debut in the 1995-96 campaign.

Imbroda went on to coach Caja San Fernando to the Spanish League finals and the Spanish Copa del Rey championship game in 1999. Imbroda also coached the Seville-based team in the 1999-00 EuroLeague. He coached Real Madrid in the 2002-03 EuroLeague campaign and also spent time as the head of bench with Valladolid and Menorca. Imbroda was a Lithuanian national team's assistant coach in 1992, helping it win its first-ever Olympic bronze medal in 1992. He coached the Spanish national team to a bronze medal at EuroBasket 2001 and a fifth-place finish at the 2002 World Cup. More recently, Imbroda worked for the Andalusian regional government as Head of Sports and Education.

May he rest in peace.