The 1967–68 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 24th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League. The season ended with KK Zadar winning the league championship, ahead of KK Olimpija. The season represents a milestone in the history of basketball in Yugoslavia as the beginning of a new era that saw the sport being played entirely indoors on

hardwood floor Wood flooring is any product manufactured from timber that is designed for use as flooring, either structural or aesthetic. Wood is a common choice as a flooring material and can come in various styles, colors, cuts, and species. Bamboo flooring ...

surfaces as opposed to outdoors on a variety of surfaces as had been the practice previously. The change enabled the league to switch to a seasonal schedule that begins during

autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...

and ends in

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

as opposed to the previous practice of playing within the same

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any o ...

, usually between April and October. Since most Yugoslav teams didn't yet possess basketball-specific indoor facilities of their own, they had to make do with hosting their home games in community-owned makeshift venues or in case of three clubs – playing outside of their city. The four Belgrade clubs –

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

, OKK, and Radnički – played their home games at the various

Belgrade Fair The Belgrade Fair ( sr, Београдски сајам, Beogradski sajam) is a large complex of three large domes and a dozen of smaller halls which is the location of the major trade fairs in Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia. It is located i ...

halls (including the biggest one: Hall 1), Zagreb's Lokomotiva played at the Zagreb Police's Fire Hall, while certain clubs had to play in entirely different cities: defending champion

KK Zadar Košarkaški klub Zadar ( en, Zadar Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Zadar or simply Zadar, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zadar, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Asso ...

played most of its home games of the season in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

, Čačak's Borac played their home games in

Zrenjanin Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; hu, Nagybecskerek; ro, Becicherecu Mare; sk, Zreňanin; german: Großbetschkerek) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous pro ...

, and Sarajevo's newly promoted Mlada Bosna played in

Zenica Zenica ( ; ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. Th ...

Notable events

Opening day

The season began on Saturday, 11 November 1967 – only six days after the previous season ended on 5 November 1967 – with the opening game in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

's Topniška Street Hall pitting the home team

KD Slovan Košarkarsko društvo Slovan, commonly referred to as KD Slovan or simply Slovan, is a basketball team from Ljubljana, Slovenia. History The origins of the club are dating back to 1951, when Stane Urek suggested a formation of a basketball club ...

versus the visiting

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

. Despite being the underdogs, the home team won 79–78.

Classification

Results

Source: The winning roster of

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

: * Miljenko Valčić * Đuro Stipčević * Milan Komazec * * Mile Marcelić *

Josip Đerđa Josip "Pino" Gjergja (also transliterated Đerđa, Djerdja or Giergia; born 24 November 1937), also credited as Giuseppe Giergia, is a retired Croatian basketball player and coach. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internatio ...

Krešimir Ćosić Krešimir "Krešo" Ćosić (; 26 November 1948 – 25 May 1995) was a Croatian-Yugoslavian professional basketball player and coach. He was a collegiate All-American at Brigham Young University. He revolutionized basketball in Yugoslavia and w ...

* Ratko Laura * Petar Anić * Jure Košta * Goran Brajković * Petar Jelić * Željko Troskot * Nikola Olujić Coach: Đorđo Zdrilić

Qualification in 1968–69 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup *

(champions) FIBA Cup Winner's Cup * Olimpija (2nd)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1967-68 Yugoslav First Basketball League Yugoslav First Basketball League seasons

Yugo The Yugo (), also marketed as the Zastava Koral (, sr-Cyrl, Застава Корал) and Yugo Koral, is a subcompact car, subcompact hatchback formerly manufactured by Zastava Automobiles, at the time a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav corporation. ...