ST. PETERSBURG, June 24. /TASS/. Slovenia’s Aleksander Sekulic has inked a contract with Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg basketball club to be the team’s next head coach, the club’s press office announced in a statement on Tuesday.

"Zenit Basketball Club has reached an agreement with Aleksander Sekulic," the statement reads. "The 47-year-old Slovenian specialist has been appointed head coach of the Blue-White-Sky Blues."

"His contract runs through the 2025/26 season, with an extension option under a "1+1" scheme," according to the statement.

Sekulic replaces Xavier Pascual, who parted ways with the club a week ago. Last season Zenit BC finished as the top seed in the Russian United League, reaching the finals in the playoffs where it lost to arch rival CSKA Moscow. Pascual, 52, had headed Zenit St. Petersburg since 2020. In his second year as coach, he led the club to its first-ever Russian championship.

In an interview with the club’s press office Sekulic said after signing a contract: "I knew before what to expect from this club and I was very happy and flattered that I got an offer from them."

Speaking about his predecessor Xavier ‘Xavi’ Pascual, the Slovenian coach said "He spent amazing five years here, he had great results. He brought also title and was very close to the historic Final four of EuroLeague. Many titles like Supercup, Cup."

"He put the standards really high, so it's gonna be very challenging to meet these standards basically stepping into the shoes of Xavi Pascual, who has already EuroLeague title, has great results behind him, so it's gonna be very challenging," Sekulic continued.

Asked to say something to Zenit fans, who are waiting for the new victories of the club, Sekulic said: "I just want to say hello to everybody, to try to continue the high standards that were set because with Zenit we want only the best results and hopefully they will support us the same way or even more in the next season."

Sekulic was the head coach of Russia’s Lokomotiv-Kuban basketball club between 2022 and 2024. In the Russian United League’s 2022/2023 season, he led the club to a finals appearance, losing to UNICS Kazan in the championship that year. Sekulic has also coached several clubs in Slovenia, also serving as the head coach of the Slovenian national basketball team since 2020.