The French basketball federation announced Friday that four-time NBA champion Tony Parker will take over as head coach of France’s under-17 men’s national team. The team has already qualified for next year’s FIBA U17 World Cup in Istanbul.
The job will be Parker’s first head-coaching position, and the former San Antonio Spurs guard said his move to the sideline was inspired by the memory of his father, Tony Parker Sr., who died last month. Parker told ESPN’s Andscape that while sorting through his father’s belongings, he found a list of goals that Parker Sr. had written for his three sons. Among Parker Sr.’s wishes was the desire that his son Tony become a coach for the French national team and the NBA.
“When I went through his notes after he passed away, one of his notes was top-10 goals for his kids,” Parker told Andscape. “And when it came to me, it was coaching in the NBA and coaching the national team. That’s what he put on goals for me. So, it gives me a great inspiration and great motivation to follow this dream.”
Friday’s announcement marks Parker’s first step toward fulfilling his father’s wish.
Tony Parker lance sa carrière de coach avec l’équipe de France U17 : « Pour moi, c’est tout un symbole »
➡️ https://t.co/P76F0FRzXm pic.twitter.com/cg0e2GSEpN
— L’Équipe (@lequipe) November 7, 2025
The 43-year-old Hall of Famer told Andscape that he had been considering becoming a coach for more than a year, and that he and Parker Sr. had discussed the possibility.
“It has been a year that we’ve been talking about (coaching),” Parker said, “and I told him that I was missing the court. And he’s the one who was like, ‘Let’s go. Let’s coach. Let’s go on the court, help those kids. And with all that knowledge that you have, let’s put it to use.’”
Parker told Andscape that the French federation called to offer the under-17 coaching position on his father’s birthday, Oct. 15.
The Hall of Famer will enter the coaching ranks with perhaps the most decorated playing resume in French basketball history. Across 18 NBA seasons — 17 with the San Antonio Spurs and one with the Charlotte Hornets — he averaged 15.5 points and 5.6 assists. The six-time All-Star helped lead the Spurs to championships in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014.
In 2007, he became the first European player to win NBA Finals MVP.
Internationally, Parker made 181 appearances for the French men’s national team, winning gold at EuroBasket 2013 and bronze at the 2006 FIBA World Cup. Long before that, he led France to a gold medal at the 2000 FIBA Under-18 European Championships.
Parker will have a chance to bring additional basketball glory to France in Turkey next summer, when the FIBA U17 World Cup tips off on June 27, 2026.
