Željko Šakić (born April 14, 1988) is a Croatian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player currently playing for UNICS of the

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus an ...

. Standing at , he plays the

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

positions.

Playing history

Šakić started playing basketball in the

Cibona Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and competes ...

youth systems but never got an opportunity to play for the senior squad. After he almost quit basketball, in 2007 he got an offer from another club from

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Dubrava where he spent the next 3 seasons. After that he spent 3 seasons in the Bosnian League and then moved to Sutor Montegranaro of the

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

. He spent the 2014–15 season in

Manresa Manresa () is the capital of the Comarca of Bages, located in the geographical centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa are ...

of the Spanish League earning the 4th week Player of the Week award. In August 2015 he moved to the Bulgarian champion

Lukoil Academic BC Academic Metropol Region ( bg, БК "Академик" Метропол-Рийджън) is a reestablished Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. In April 2022, Academic has been reborn and rebranded by the new ow ...

. On June 29, 2016, Šakić signed with Cibona. After a season spent playing in the

Romanian League The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

for

U BT Cluj-Napoca CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca is a Romanian professional basketball club based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The club, for sponsorship reason under the name U-Banca Transilvania Cluj-Napoca, competes in the Liga Națională (men's basketball), Liga Na� ...

, in September 2018 he moved to the Polish side Stelmet Zielona Góra. On June 25, 2020, he has signed with

Avtodor BC Avtodor (russian: БК «Автодор» Саратов), commonly known as simply Avtodor and internationally as Avtodor Saratov, is a Russian professional basketball club based in Saratov. It plays in the FIBA Europe Cup and in the VTB Uni ...

of the

. In March, 2022, Šakić signed with UNICS for the rest of the season.

Croatian national team

Šakić was part of the Croatian national team youth selections. He was one of the leading Croatian players at the 2006 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship and the 2008 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, but to play with the senior team he had to wait for the

2015 EuroBasket EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 S ...

preparation games. At the age of 27, he was the oldest debutant in the history of the Croatian national basketball team.

References

External links

Željko Šakić
at aba-liga.com
Željko Šakić
at acb.com

at fiba.com
Željko Šakić
at realgm.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakic, Zeljko Living people 1988 births ABA League players Basket Zielona Góra players Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Bàsquet Manresa players BC Avtodor Saratov players BC Lietkabelis players BC UNICS players Croatian expatriate basketball people in Italy Croatian expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Croatian expatriate basketball people in Russia Croatian expatriate basketball people in Spain Croatian expatriate basketball people in Bulgaria Croatian men's basketball players CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca (men's basketball) players Forwards (basketball) HKK Široki players KK Cibona players KK Dubrava players Liga ACB players Olympic basketball players of Croatia PBC Academic players Sutor Basket Montegranaro players