Zoran Čutura (born 12 March 1962 in

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 ...

) is a former Croatian basketball player. After ending his professional basketball career he started working as a

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

and

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

Professional career

Čutura started playing basketball in his hometown

. His first club was the second division club Industromontaža where he spent three years. In 1981 he joined the Zagreb powerhouse

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 ...

where

Mirko Novosel Mirko Novosel (born 30 June 1938) is a Croatian former professional basketball coach and player. Novosel coached some of the greatest players in former Yugoslavia and Croatia, such as Croatian Hall of Fame players Krešimir Ćosić and Dražen Pe ...

was starting to build the future European champion team with players like the 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 ...

, Aleksandar Petrović,

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s, before joining the Natio ...

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 with ...

Ivo Nakić Ivo Nakić (born May 26, 1966) is a Croatian former professional basketball player, who is now a coach. Personal life He lives in Belgrade and works as an agent in Bill Duffy's BDA Sports Management agency. Ivo Nakić married Zorica Desnica ...

and

Branko Vukićević Branko Vukićević (born 18 December 1961) is a Serbian former basketball player who competed for Yugoslavia in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Vukićević played for Cibona Zagreb until June 1991, when he left for Belgrade after a dispute with the cl ...

. This team won two back-to-back European Champions Cups in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. In his first season in Cibona (1981–82), Čutura won a triple crown: the

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

by defeating Bosna in the final, the

Yugoslav League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League (Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

by winning in the first play-off organized by the

Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia The Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Košarkaški savez Jugoslavije, Кошаркашки савез Југославије; sl, Košarkarska zveza Jugoslavije; mk, Кошаркарска федерација на Југосл ...

and the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

by defeating

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 ...

in the final. He won another

in 1983 and another

trophy in 1984. The second triple crown came in 1985, this time including the European champion title. For their second European trophy Cibona defeated

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

again with Čutura scoring 16 points. Čutura won his second European champion title in 1986 participating with 16 points in the final victory against Žalgiris. Čutura won two more

s in 1986 and 1988 as well as another

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. In the final victory against

Scavolini Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

he scored six points. His last trophy with

was the Croatian League in 1992. In 1993, after 12 seasons spent in

, Čutura moved to

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 ...

where he spent two seasons before retiring. With Split he won his last trophy—the

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

in 1994.

National team career

Čutura played with the

Yugoslavia national basketball team The Yugoslavia men's national basketball team ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Košarkaška reprezentacija Jugoslavije, Кошаркашка репрезентација Југославије; sl, Jugoslovanska košarkarska reprezentanca; mk, ...

at the 1979 European Championship for Cadets where his team took gold. He was the team's leading scorer with a 23.9 points average. Čutura's second major tournament was the first World Under-19 Championship, held the same year in Brazil where Yugoslavia finished fourth. His teammates included

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 KK Partizan, Partizan of the ABA League, ...

, Goran Grbović and

Zoran Radović Zoran Radović (born February 17, 1961 in Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a retired Serbian basketball player and current FIBA administrator. Early career and college Known for tenacious defensive skills, Radović started playing baske ...

. He was the team's top scorer with 16.3 ppg. He was once again the top scorer (22.8 p) of his team (even though still playing for a second division club) at the 1980 European Championship for Juniors where he won silver. Čutura's first major senior tournament was the

1985 EuroBasket The 1985 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1985, was the 24th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 5 to 16 June 1985 in West Germany. The Soviet Union defeated Cze ...

where Yugoslavia took seventh place. Čutura won his first senior medal at the 1986 World Championship where he played in a talent-packed team alongside

, Aleksandar Petrović,

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 ...

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 ...

and others. Yugoslavia took bronze with Čutura contributing 10.3 ppg. Head coach

did not call-up Čutura for the

1987 EuroBasket The 1987 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1987, was the 25th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Greece between 3 and 14 June 1987. Twelve national teams entered the ev ...

, but Čutura was back on the team at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

under coach

Dušan Ivković Dušan "Duda" Ivković ( sr-cyrl, Душан "Дуда" Ивковић; 29 October 1943 – 16 September 2021) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He served as head coach of the senior Serbian national basketball team from 20 ...

. Yugoslavia took silver with Čutura making 8.2 ppg. At the 1989 Eurobasket played in front of his hometown crowd Čutura (5.0 ppg) along with

Dino Rađa Dino Rađa (Anglicized: Dino Radja, ; born April 24, 1967) is a Croatian former professional basketball player. He was a member of the Jugoplastika team of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which he helped to win two FIBA European Champions Cup ...

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 ...

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 ...

Toni Kukoč Toni Kukoč, nicknamed ''“The Waiter”'' (; born September 18, 1968) is a Croatian-American former professional basketball player who serves as Special Advisor to Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago Bulls. After a highly successful perio ...

Jure Zdovc Jurij "Jure" Zdovc (born 13 December 1966) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player and coach Zdovc Returning to Helm of National Team.] As a player, he was a 1.98 m (6'6") tall point guard, who began his professional playing career ...

and others took gold. Čutura's last major tournament was the 1990 FIBA World Championship, 1990 World Championship where Yugoslavia were crowned champions. Čutura averaged 4.8 ppg. After the breakup of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, Čutura never made a major tournament squad for the

Croatia national basketball team The Croatia men's national basketball team ( hr, Hrvatska košarkaška reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international basketball matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Basketball Federation (HKS). The biggest success Croatia has ...

After basketball

After his professional basketball career Čutura started working as a

and

. In 2008 he won a prize for the best Croatian sports journalist while writing for Jutarnji list.

Personal life

Čutura is married to Gordana Gojnić-Čutura, a former

Croatia women's national volleyball team , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

player. He is the father of Tomislav, a former basketball player at

Lycoming College Lycoming College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1812, Lycoming College is affiliated with the United Methodist Church but operates as an in ...

in Pennsylvania and

Hana Hana or HANA may refer to: Places Europe * Haná, an ethnic region in Moravia, Czech Republic * Traianoupoli, Greece, called Hana during the Ottoman period * Hana, Norway, a borough in the city of Sandnes, Norway West Asia * Hana, Iran, a ci ...

, a professional volleyball player, occasional

player and former student of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. While she studied she played for the Golden Bear volleyball team that was a semifinalist at the 2007 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament Final Four, as well as being the 2009 Pac-10 Player of the Year.

References

External links

*
FIBA Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cutura, Zoran 1962 births Living people Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Croatian men's basketball players FIBA World Championship-winning players Forwards (basketball) KK Split players KK Cibona players KK Zrinjevac players Olympic basketball players of Yugoslavia Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Basketball players from Zagreb Yugoslav men's basketball players 1986 FIBA World Championship players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics