Tomislav Ružić

Tomislav Ružić — Biography

Tomislav Ružić is a former basketball player, born in Zadar, of Croatian descent and also a Turkish citizen, who played power forward and centre; today he is described as a coach. He spent most of his career in Turkey and France, with two separate spells at Beşiktaş and three seasons at Tofaş.

He started basketball in his native Zadar; coming through the club's youth ranks he won the Croatian Cup in 1998 and 2000 and played in the EuroLeague in 2000-01 and 2001-02. With little time in the first team he moved to Cibona Zagreb, averaging 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in the Adriatic League. In 2003-04 he came to Beşiktaş for the first time (10.2 points, 6.7 rebounds), then spent two seasons with the French club ASVEL; in 2004-05 he averaged 10.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in the EuroLeague. In 2006-07 he played alongside his brother at Besançon. In 2007-08 at Kepez Belediyespor he reached 14.7 points and 9 rebounds in 36 minutes per game.

From 2008 to 2010 he returned to Zadar and played in the EuroCup. In 2010 he moved to Tofaş, took Turkish citizenship at the start of the 2011-12 season and played in the league as a domestic player. With Tofaş he played in the EuroChallenge in 2012-13, returned to Beşiktaş for a year in 2013-14, and in 2014 signed a two-year contract with Gaziantep Basketbol. He is married to the former Croatian international volleyball player Barbara Jelić.