Xavi Pascual

Xavi Pascual won the EuroLeague with Barcelona in 2010, in his first full season in charge, and added a run of Spanish titles.

After Barcelona came Panathinaikos, Zenit, and a brief Barcelona return in 2025-26. In 2026 he left for Dubai, one of the most ambitious new projects in the league.

For nearly two decades, across three countries, he has been a fixture near the top. In a seven-game series he is the coach opponents least want to draw, purely because of how much he prepares.

He won the EuroLeague young and has stayed relevant for two decades, a rare thing in a job that chews coaches up. Dubai is the newest test of a career built on outlasting the pressure.

Pascual is cerebral and meticulous, and he has no interest in being the star of his own team. He controls the environment through preparation.

Players describe an enormous volume of offensive work. There is a stubbornness to him too: once he believes he has found the answer, he wants it executed exactly.

He is happiest in the film room. Colleagues talk about the sheer volume of material he prepares and how little he cares for the theatre around the game. The work is the point.

He is one of Europe's great offensive-system coaches. His teams run a huge variety of sets, counters and pick-and-roll variations, all designed to move the defense before attacking it.

At Barcelona he also built a sophisticated defense against the pick-and-roll. He wins by preparation: find your weaknesses, build several ways to hit them, then adjust when you respond. Less chaos, more a puzzle that keeps changing on you.

Defensively he was ahead of his time on the pick-and-roll, drilling coverages and rotations until they became reflex. His teams rarely give up easy points inside, because every action has a pre-agreed answer.