Loquillo said it the day he took to the stage at the Roig Arena to fill the new venue with rock: “You have the best coach in Europe.” The singer’s wink was a premonitory anecdote: Pedro Martínez has been chosen as the winner of the Alexander Gomelsky 2025/26 award for the best EuroLeague coach. The Barcelona-born coach, two months shy of his 65th birthday, receives this award after a spectacular season in which Valencia Basket completed the best EuroLeague in its history, with 25 victories (and 13 defeats) that led them to finish the regular season in second position, only behind Olympiacos.
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First ever to claim both EuroLeague & EuroCup COTY ✅
Second-place regular season finish (25-13) ✅
First @valenciabasket playoffs secured since 2011 ✅Congratulations to the 25-26 Coach of the Year – Pedro Martínez! 👏#EveryGameMatters pic.twitter.com/BO0qBb2ltH
— EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) April 21, 2026
His team has not only achieved great results. Valencia Basket has dazzled in Europe with its effervescent, fast, and deadly play. A team that has aroused the admiration of the entire EuroLeague and has attracted more than 12,000 spectators to the Roig Arena (the average is 12,298 people) for midweek continental competition matches. A style of basketball that has elevated them in the most demanding EuroLeague, with 38 regular season games, and a competition in which they compete against coaches of the stature of Zeljko Obradovic, Ergin Ataman, Dimitrios Itoudis, Xavi Pascual, Sergio Scariolo, and Ettore Messina. The Barcelona coach surpassed Tomas Masiulis (Zalgiris Kaunas), Georgios Bartzokas (Olympiacos, regular season leader), and Sarunas Jasikevicius (Fenerbahçe), the last winner of the trophy, in the voting.
Since Pini Gershon won the first trophy in 2005, three Spaniards have claimed this award: Xavi Pascual (2010), Pablo Laso (2015 and 2018), and Chus Mateo (2024). Now it’s the turn of Pedro Martínez, a coach who has been showered with praise, something he dislikes and tries to shake off immediately, as if it would weaken him, to say that they were exaggerations and that his merits are always shared with his coaching staff, made up of Voro Maroto, Xavi Albert, and the Hungarian Adrian Kovacs.
But a true reference like Kenny Atkinson, coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, already left a very striking phrase that speaks of the prestige of the Valencia Basket leader. “All NBA coaches learn from him. I see him, his teams are always innovative, he has had a great influence on global basketball. A great, great coach, I still watch his teams play, I just have a lot of respect for him as a coach,” Atkinson commented.
A few days ago, after losing in Valencia, Ergin Ataman said he had not found a more complex opponent all season. “In my opinion, Valencia is the best playing team in the EuroLeague. That’s why I congratulate them. We did our best, but with this level of play, Valencia could even beat the Los Angeles Lakers. We have played many difficult games this season in the EuroLeague, but in my opinion, this was the toughest,” said the Panathinaikos coach after losing 102-84. All roads converge on Pedro Martínez, the best coach of the EuroLeague 2025-2026, and recently renewed until 2028.
