Pedro Martinez’s greatness: coach of the year in 3 different European competitions
Pedro Martinez was named the Coach of the Year for the 2025-26 EuroLeague season after leading Valencia to a 25-13 record in the regular season that allowed the Spanish team to finish 2nd in the standings, just one win behind Olympiacos.
For a team that last season played in the EuroCup and that doesn’t have an enormous budget compared to the top spending teams, finishing in 2nd place is an amazing performance. Before the season started, most people predicted Valencia to finish outside the playoffs, but the ‘’taronja’’ played great basketball all throughout the season, and they deserve the spot they finished in (Zalgiris Kaunas was the other positive surprise, and their coach Tomas Masiulis finished second in the Coach of the Year voting).
The architect of Valencia’s results is Pedro Martinez, who is in his second stint as Valencia coach and after leading them to their first Spanish ACB title in 2017, he is making history again for the team. Previously, Pedro Martinez won a Korac Cup title in 1990 with Joventut Badalona, when he was only 28 years old, and he still holds the record for the youngest coach to ever win a trophy in the European club competitions. He was also named EuroCup coach of the year twice, in 2017 and 2025. In 2017, Valencia played in the final but lost against Unicaja Malaga, while last year they lost to Hapoel Tel Aviv in the semifinals.
In the EuroLeague, Martinez previously coached only a total of 41 games when he took Baskonia to the playoffs in the 2017-18 season, but was replaced in the first part of the next season (he also coached a few games in the 2005-06 season in the EuroLeague, also with Baskonia).
He also won two Spanish Super Cup titles in 2005 and 2025, but beyond the trophies, Martinez is known for doing a good job with underdogs. Just like with Valencia, he did a good job with Manresa, a team with a low budget, he took the Basketball Champions League final in 2022, and won the BCL Coach of the Year title that same year.
Gratian Cormos
Photo: Valencia Basket
