The Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall ( sr, Хала спортова Ранко Жеравица, Hala sportova Ranko Žeravica) is a multi-purpose

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

located in the

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

municipality of

New Belgrade New Belgrade ( sr, / , ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. It is a planned city, built since 1948 in a previously uninhabited area on the left bank of the Sava river, opposite old Belgrade. In recent years, it has become the central bu ...

. Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall, renamed in 2016 in honor of Serbian

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

Ranko Žeravica Ranko Žeravica ( sr-cyr, Ранко Жеравица; 17 November 1929 – 29 October 2015) was a Serbian professional basketball coach. With a career that spanned over 50 years, he is most noted for his work with the senior Yugoslav national t ...

, is widely known by its informal title Hala. It was built in 1968 and opened in December 1968. Since 1979 it functions as part of a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...

JP Sportski centar Novi Beograd. Nearby Sports and Recreation Center 11. April (''Sportsko-rekreativni centar 11. april'') is also included under its group. Hala seats up to 5,000 people for sporting events and up to 7,000 for musical events. In November 2010, the renovation of Hala was announced for 2011. The new-look renovated venue was presented in late of August 2011.

Sports

Hala sportova served as home floor for many Belgrade-based sports teams.

KK Partizan

The most prominent of them all was Partizan basketball club, which played its home games here from 1970 until 1990. During this time, famous Partizan players like

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 ...

Dražen Dalipagić Dražen "Praja" Dalipagić (; born 27 November 1951) is a Serbian former professional basketball player and head coach. He was selected the best athlete of Yugoslavia in the year 1978, and is one of the most decorated athletes in Yugoslavian his ...

Vlade Divac Vlade Divac ( sr-Cyrl, Владе Дивац, ; born February 3, 1968) is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento Kings ...

, Aleksandar ''Sasha'' Đorđević,

Predrag Danilović Predrag "Saša" Danilović ( sr-cyr, Предраг "Саша" Даниловић, ; born February 26, 1970), usually referred to in English as Sasha Danilović, is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player, considered one of ...

and

Žarko Paspalj Žarko Paspalj (Serbian Cyrillic: Жарко Паспаљ; born March 27, 1966) is a retired Serbian professional basketball player and sports administrator. The EuroLeague Final Four MVP in 1994, his sixteen and a half seasons career was mostly sp ...

graced Hala's floor. Popular commercial radio jingle promoting Partizan at the time was: Their finest Hala hour occurred on 22 March 1989 in the second leg of the 1988-89

Korać Cup Korać is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Dušan Korać (disambiguation), multiple people * Milorad Korać (born 1969), Serbian football player and manager * Radivoj Korać (1938–1969), Serbian basketball player * Vitomir Kor ...

final. Taking on the Italian club Pallacanestro Cantù (Wiwa Vismara), Partizan came back from the first leg with a 13-point deficit. However, a heroic performance on Hala floor saw them overturn the Italians' lead and win the Cup in high style with a splendid 19-point victory 101-82 behind Divac's 30 points with Paspalj adding 22 and Đorđević 21.Partizan-Pallacanestro Cantù (Wiwa Vismara) 101:82
/ref>

Other teams

Hala has also been home to basketball's

Novi Beograd New Belgrade ( sr, / , ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. It is a planned city, built since 1948 in a previously uninhabited area on the left bank of the Sava river, opposite old Belgrade. In recent years, it has become the central bu ...

, known throughout its history of sponsorships as IMT, Infos-RTM, Beopetrol, and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

. Another resident was Lavovi. Other former

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 ...

occupants included now defunct Beobanka (during the 1990s) and occasionally even nomadic

BKK Radnički Beogradski košarkaški klub Radnički ( sr-cyr, Београдски кошаркашки клуб Раднички), commonly referred to as Radnički Beograd, is a men's basketball club based in Belgrade, Serbia. The club plays in the 3rd-tie ...

, which at one time or another played its home games in just about every spot within Belgrade city limits that has two hoops and a roof. In addition to basketball, various

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 1 ...

, and

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

teams trained and hosted matches and events in Hala.

Concerts

Along with sports, Hala has played host to many shows by a variety of musical acts. They include:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sports Hall Ranko Zeravica Indoor arenas in Serbia Basketball venues in Serbia Buildings and structures in Belgrade Sports venues in Belgrade Buildings and structures completed in 1968 KK Crvena Zvezda home arenas KK Mega Basket home arenas New Belgrade

Sports

KK Partizan

Other teams

Concerts

See also

References