Natália Hejková with the EuroLeague Women championship trophy. (source: FIBA)
By the time confetti fell and chants of “MVP, MVP” (Most Valuable Player) echoed around the arena, Natália Hejková had already done something no one in women’s basketball ever has – she had just won her sixth EuroLeague title and maintained a perfect record in finals.
The 71-year-old Slovak, whose nearly four-decade career is littered with accolades, finished her last European campaign in storybook fashion. Her ZVVZ USK Praha side defeated Turkish upstart CBK Mersin 66-53 in the EuroLeague Women final on Sunday, 13 April. It was the Czech club’s second-ever title – both under Hejková’s guidance, a decade apart.
“I didn’t feel like this was my last game, I just felt like we’d won – and that was amazing,” Hejková said, as quoted by Sportnet. “If a bit of confetti hadn’t landed in my eye during the ceremony, I might not even have cried.”
A team that wasn’t supposed to
USK Praha were not among the favourites. They had to battle through a restructured Final Six format, starting with a narrow quarter-final win over Italy’s Schio (79-72), before stunning Turkey’s Fenerbahce – unbeaten in 15 months – 91-71 in the semi-final. Turkey’s Mersin, buoyed by hefty municipal funding, awaited in the final.
“It was a very difficult journey,” Hejková admitted to TASR. “We had injuries, players missing early in the season, and we lost twice to Valencia. But that match against Schio gave us belief. Against Fenerbahce, we didn’t go in thinking they were the big favourites – we played two good games against them during the season and lost both. This time, we had our moment.”
Six players scored in double digits against the Turkish juggernaut. “They didn’t know who to focus on,” she said. “Everyone was dangerous. To beat Fenerbahce by 20 points – that was a dream.”
Natália Hejková on the sidelines during the semi-final against Fenerbahce Istanbul. (source: Sportnet)
‘Like any other week’
In the final, USK got off to a flying 10-0 start, led by 13 at halftime, but stumbled in the third quarter, going scoreless for eight minutes. Mersin pulled level before the Czech club regained composure to secure the title with steely defence and collective poise.
“Mersin turned up the physicality and we couldn’t respond at first,” Hejková told Sportnet. “But we recovered. Holding them to 53 points shows how well we defended.”
Throughout the week in Zaragoza, Spain, Hejková tried to treat it like any other tournament. “Professionally, I approached it like a normal week,” she said. But FIBA had other plans. A special ceremony honoured her lifetime contribution with a framed collage of her coaching milestones. After the final, they handed her a commemorative ball – this one updated with all six titles.
“It felt like a fairytale,” she said to TASR, “and it had a happy ending.”
The perfect final record
In 17 appearances at the EuroLeague’s final tournament, Hejková’s teams lifted the trophy six times – with Slovakia’s SCP Ružomberok (1999, 2000), Spartak Moscow Region (2007, 2008), and USK Praha (2015, 2025). Her EuroLeague record: 315 wins in 490 games. She never lost a final.
“I never pushed too hard,” she said. “But when I saw FIBA’s stats – how many games, how many victories – I felt proud. I’m thinking of making an A-to-Z list of all the players I’ve coached. It was about choosing the right players – and then letting them win it.”
Hejková never planned this life. A lawyer by education, she got her first taste of coaching in Ružomberok. “I was asked to help for two or three months,” she recalled. “And it turned into almost 40 years.”
Natália Hejková with the commemorative plaque and ball presented by FIBA after leading ZVVZ USK Praha to the EuroLeague Women title. (source: FIBA)
What now?
She has already confirmed she will leave USK Praha at the end of the domestic season. But the emotion of the farewell was not lost on her players.
“These games – we wanted to win them for her,” said Brionna Jones, USK’s star forward and MVP of the final tournament, as quoted by Sportnet. “It was an honour to play for her these past five years.”
As for whether she will miss basketball?
“I don’t know,” she said with a grin. “Ask me in six months.”
