Ratko Varda ( sr-cyr, Ратко Варда; born May 6, 1979) is a Serbian-Bosnian 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 ...

player who played professionally for 22 years. Standing at , he played the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position. He first represented FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro junior national team, and later represented

Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national basketball team ( Bosnian: ''Košarkaška reprezentacija Bosne i Hercegovine'' / Кошаркашка репрезентација Босне и Херцеговине) represents Bosnia and Herzegovina ...

internationally.

Professional career

Varda came up through

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 ...

's youth system and made his debut during the 1995–96 season, before making himself eligible for the 2001 NBA draft. He ended up not getting selected but still found himself on the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

roster to the start of the 2001–02 season. Varda ended up spending two seasons in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

on the rosters of the Pistons and the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

. However, he was officially featured in only 1 game. Varda's first and last NBA game was on February 12th, 2002 in a 71 - 99 loss to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

where he played for 5 and half minutes and record 5 points and 1 rebound. In January 2003, he returned to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and signed with

Union Olimpija Košarkarski klub Olimpija ( en, Olimpija Basketball Club) was a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They ...

until the end of the 2002–03 season. In the 2003–04 season he played in the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

with

Apollon Patras :''The first version of this article has been based in the text of :el:Α.Σ. Απόλλων of the Greek Wikipedia published under the GFDL.'' A.S. Apollon Patras (Greek:''A.Σ. Απόλλων Πατρών'') is a multi-sports club that is ba ...

. In the 2004–05 season, he played with

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

of the

Turkish Basketball League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

. In the 2006–07 season, he played in the Spanish

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, but he could not finish the season due to an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

in his left knee. On October 29, 2007, he signed for the entire season of the Spanish championship with ViveMenorca, having recovered from his knee injury. On August 21, 2008, he signed a two-year contract with the Lithuanian champions

BC Žalgiris Basketball Club Žalgiris ( lt, Krepšinio klubas Žalgiris) is a professional basketball team that is based in Kaunas, Lithuania, and competes domestically in the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL, Lithuanian Basketball League). Founded in 1944, i ...

from

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

. Because of the financial problems of the club, he left Žalgiris in late November. The details of his financial arrangements at the bankrupt club became publicly known when he wrote an open letter to the public discussing the issue. On January 26, 2009, he signed with the Russian club

BC Khimki BC Khimki (russian: БК Химки) is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Khimki, Moscow Oblast. The club's senior men's first team participates in the Russian Basketball Super League 1. The club's full official name is BC ...

. On the last day of 2009, Varda signed a one-month contract with

Asseco Prokom Gdynia Arka Gdynia is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from the company Asseco. Historically the team is one of the most successful in Poland, mainly because of t ...

of Poland. In 2010, Varda extend his contract with Prokom until the end of the 2010–11 season. In August 2011, he returned to his former club

, signing a one-year contract. However, he left the team in December because of the club's financial difficulties and signed with BC Azovmash from

Mariupol Mariupol (, ; uk, Маріу́поль ; russian: Мариу́поль) is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Prior to the 2022 Russian i ...

. He left the team in March by mutual agreement. On September 29, 2012, he signed a one-month deal with Iranian club Mahram Tehran. On November 5, 2012, he signed with Radnički Kragujevac. In January 2013, he got injured and missed the rest of the season. On July 31, 2013, he signed a one-year deal with Mega Vizura. In 2012 and 2013, he captained the Republika Srpska team in friendlies against Serbia. On February 2, 2015 he signed with United Byblos Amchit of the

Lebanese Basketball League The Lebanese Basketball League is the top-tier professional men's basketball league in Lebanon. It is organized annually as a national championship with playoffs and a national cup by the Lebanese Basketball Federation (FLB). Currently, the leagu ...

. On October 1, 2015, Varda signed with

KK Kožuv KK Kožuv ( mk, КК Кожув) is a basketball club based in Gevgelija, North Macedonia. They currently play in the Macedonian First League. History The club was founded in 1955. Kozhuv's biggest success came in 2013, they made the Macedonian ...

of the

Macedonian First League The Macedonian First Football League ( mk, Прва македонска фудбалска лига, ''Prva Мakedonska Fudbalska Liga''), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competiti ...

. On November 4, 2015, he parted ways with Kožuv after appearing in four league games and two BIBL games. On December 30, 2015, he signed with the Montenegrin club Sutjeska for the rest of the season. On February 3, 2016, he left Sutjeska and signed with

Hekmeh Hikma ( ar, حكمة), or other romanisations such as Hikmah and Hekme, may refer to: Education *Al-Hikmah University, a private university in Ilorin, Nigeria *Al-Hikma University (Baghdad), a former university in Baghdad, Iraq *Dar Al-Hekma Univ ...

of the

for the rest of the 2016 season. On November 7, 2016, he re-signed with Hekmeh. On March 7, 2017, Varda announced his retirement. However, in October 2017, he returned to professional basketball and signed with Serbian club

Dynamic Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' "power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics) ** Aerodynamics, the study of the motion of air ** Analytical dynam ...

. On December 30, 2017, he parted ways with Dynamic.

National team career

Varda first represented

Serbia and Montenegro national basketball team The Serbia and Montenegro men's national basketball team ( sr, Кошаркашка репрезентација Србије и Црне Горе, Košarkaška reprezentacija Srbije i Crne Gore ) also widely known as the FR Yugoslavia men's nati ...

. He won the bronze medal at the 1996 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship in France, and gold medal at the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship in Italy.Ratko VARDA (BIH) participated in 7 FIBA / FIBA Zones events
/ref> He was on the preliminary 17-man squad of coach

Svetislav Pešić Svetislav "Kari" Pešić ( sr-cyrl, Светислав "Кари" Пешић; born August 28, 1949) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Serbia men's national team. Playing career During his ...

for the

Eurobasket 2001 The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a be ...

in Turkey. However he did not make the final roster for the Eurobasket. Three years later he was on

Željko Obradović Želimir "Željko" Obradović ( sr-cyr, Желимир "Жељко" Обрадовић, ; born 9 March 1960) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for Partizan of the ABA League, the Basketba ...

preliminary squad for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens. However he and

Dejan Milojević Dejan Milojević ( sr-cyrl, Дејан Милојевић; born 15 April 1977) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. Currently, since summer 2021, he is an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors of the National Bask ...

were cut on July 20, 2004. After not getting opportunity to play for Serbian national team, Varda accepted offer to play for the

. He represented Bosnian national team in

FIBA EuroBasket 2009 qualification This page describes the qualification procedure for EuroBasket 2009. Qualified teams Eight teams have secured their places at the EuroBasket 2009 before the qualifications. Seven teams have qualified through the Qualifying Round, and one more tea ...

and

FIBA EuroBasket 2011 qualification This page describes the qualification procedure for FIBA EuroBasket 2011. Qualified teams Ten teams have secured their places at the EuroBasket 2011 before the qualifications. Seven teams have qualified through the Qualifying Round, five through ...

. He left the Bosnian national team in 2011, after conflict with coach

Sabit Hadžić Sabit Hadžić (7 August 1957 – 3 March 2018) was a Bosnian basketball player who competed for Yugoslavia in the 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) ...

Personal life

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

, Varda was born in Gradiška,

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

(now Bosnia and Herzegovina). His family moved to Serbia during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

. He has a tattoo of

Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...

Professional career

National team career

Personal life

References

External links