According to Basket-Spot, Pinhas “Pini” Gershon is no longer the head coach of the Bulgaria national team.

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The controversial Israeli stepped down due to differences with the Bulgarian federation regarding the composition of his assistant coaching staff.

Gershon wanted to bring a top level assistant coach to the national team, but one of the names proposed, Sharon Drucker, declined the invitation, and the other, Oded Kattash, was not approved by the federation, due to his inexperience.

Therefore the Maccabi Tel Aviv coach was forced to leave the Bulgarian bench, albeit in good relationship with the federation directors.

Gershon led Bulgaria for two years, managing the qualification for Eurobasket last year, where the national side failed to win any of the preliminary round games, finishing last in the tournament.

Bulgaria will now look for another coach to start preparing in February for Eurobasket 2011 qualifiers.