Dejan Bodiroga signs with Barcelona

Barcelona, SPAIN, July 12 - Dejan Bodiroga, captain of the Yugoslav basketball national team, left Panathinaikos after 4 successful years and signed three-year contract with Barcelona, announced today in the Catalan capital.

Bodiroga will join Svetislav Pesic, coach of the Yugoslav national team, who was hired last month by Barcelona. Bodiroga, 29, reached a career peak in May when he led Panathinaikos to the Euroleague crown with victories over Maccabi Tel Aviv and host Kinder Virtus Bologna at the Final Four in Italy. Bodiroga was voted MVP based on his averages of 23.5 points, 8 rebounds and 2.5 assists. It was Bodiroga's second continental title with Panathinaikos. With Yugoslavia, he earned one gold medal at the world championships, three gold and one bronze at European championships and one silver medal at the Olympics.

CAREER: PROLETER Zrenjanin (YUGOSLAVIA), 1990/91 - 1991/92 KK ZADAR (CROATIA), 1992/93 - 1993/94 STEFANEL Trieste (ITALY), 1994/95 - 1995/96 OLIMPIA Milano (ITALY), 1996/97 and 1997/98 REAL Madrid (SPAIN), 1998/99 - 2001/02 PANATHINAIKOS Athens (GREECE).