The 1980–81 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 37th season of the

Yugoslav First Basketball League The First Federal Basketball League () was the highest tier level men's professional club basketball competition in SFR Yugoslavia. Founded in 1945 and folded in 1992 (1991-92 Winer Broker YUBA League), it was run by the Basketball Federation ...

, the highest professional basketball league in SFR Yugoslavia. The season ended with

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 ...

winning the league championship; despite finishing the season with an identical 19-3 record as Cibona, Partizan was better in their seasonal head-to-head, winning both of their contests during the season.

Notable events

Partizan vs. Cibona season series

The season was decided in two Partizan-Cibona games. First one was played in Zagreb during the first part of the season. The visiting team jumped out to an early 20+ point lead carried by

Dragan Kićanović Dragan Kićanović ( sr, Драган Кићановић; born 17 August 1953) is a Serbian and Yugoslav retired professional basketball player. A 1.92m (6 ft 3 in) tall shooting guard, Kićanović played in the 1970s and 1980s, and is cons ...

, Miško Marić, and

Boban Petrović Boban Petrović ( sr-cyr, Бобан Петровић; 19 July 1957 – 27 September 2021), was a Serbian professional basketball player. Playing career A forward, Petrović played 18 seasons in Yugoslavia, France, Spain, and Belgium from 197 ...

. However, in the second half, led by its center line — consisting of 32-year-old veteran

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 ...

who returned to Yugoslav League after two years in Italy and promising young prospect

Andro Knego Andrija "Andro" Knego (born 21 October 1956) is a Croatian former professional basketball player. Professional career During his club career, Knego was the FIBA Saporta Cup Finals Top Scorer, in 1982. Yugoslavian national team Knego played wi ...

— Cibona annulled Partizan's first half lead. Still, Partizan held their nerve at the end, winning the game 94-95. Kićanović led all scorers with 32 points while his teammates Marić and Petrović contributed with 25 and 22 points, respectively. On the other side, Cibona's veteran center Ćosić scored 28 points while Knego added 26. The second Partizan-Cibona game of the season was played during spring 1981 in Belgrade. It turned out to be almost a carbon copy of the first one. Cheered on by a large and boisterous home crowd, Partizan jumped out to an early lead of over 20 points again before Cibona again came back in the second half. Partizan again proved calmer in a tense finish with Boban Petrović making a clutch bank jump shot that won the game for the Belgrade club 91-87. Petrović and Kićanović led Partizan in this key contest with 26 points each while Arsenije Pešić added 14. In Cibona, Knego and

Željko Pavličević Željko Pavličević (born 26 March 1951) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as the head coach for ASEAN Basketball League Eastern Long Lions. Early life Pavličević began playing basketball in 19 ...

led the scoring with 27 and 24 points, respectively while its two best players Aco Petrović and Ćosić had a poor shooting night with only 7 and 4 points, respectively.

Classification

The winning roster of

: *

* Miško Marić * Arsenije Pešić *

Dragan Todorić Dragan Todorić ( sr, Драган Тодорић; born July 27, 1954), is a Serbian former professional basketball player and current adviser to the President of Partizan Belgrade. He is known for a rare achievement: taking part, as a player and l ...

Dušan Kerkez Dušan Kerkez (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Керкез; born 1 May 1976) is a Bosnian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the current professional football manager for Serbian SuperLiga club Čukarički. Clu ...

* Goran Despotović * Milan Medić * Milenko Savović * Dragan Milutinović * Nebojša Bukumirović *

Danko Cvjetićanin Danko Cvjetićanin (often credited as Cvjetičanin; born 16 October 1963) is a Croatian basketball scout and former player. Cvjetićanin won two silver medals at the Olympic Games, one with Yugoslavia (1988) and the other with Croatia ( 1992). Cv ...

* Dragan Kovačević Coach:

Borislav Ćorković Borislav "Reba" Ćorković ( sr-cyr, Борислав Ћорковић; 9 January 1933 – 26 January 2006) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. Playing career During the 1950s, Ćorković played basketball for Dinamo Pančevo ...

Scoring leaders

Branko Skroče Branko Skroče (born 17 May 1955 in Zadar) is a former Croatian basketball player who competed for Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југослави� ...

(Zadar) - ___ points (35.4ppg)

Qualification in 1981-82 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup *

(champions) FIBA Cup Winners' Cup * Cibona (Cup winners)

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

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 ser ...

(3rd) * Šibenka (4th) *

Crvena Zvezda 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 Association football, foot ...

(5th) * Iskra Olimpija (6th)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1980-81 Yugoslav First Basketball League Yugoslav First Basketball League seasons Yugoslav