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 the former country of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia. Founded in 1945, and folded in 1992 (1991–92 YU ...

, the highest professional basketball league in

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. The season ended with Partizan winning the league championship; despite finishing the season with an identical 19-3 record as

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 compete ...

, 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 (; born 17 August 1953) is a Serbian and Yugoslav retired professional basketball player. A tall shooting guard, Kićanović played in the 1970s and 1980s, and is considered to be one of the best European players and scorers ...

, 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 19 ...

. 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 professional basketball player and coach. He was a collegiate All-American at Brigham Young University. He revolutionized basketball in Yugoslavia and was the first ...

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. National team career Knego played with th ...

— 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 stormed 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 Eastern Sports Club (basketball), Eastern in ASEAN Basketball League. Early life Pavličević began ...

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.

Teams

Classification

The winning roster of Partizan: *

* Miško Marić * Arsenije Pešić *

Dragan Todorić Dragan Todorić (; born 27 July 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—either as a player or subsequently as part of th ...

Dušan Kerkez Dušan Kerkez (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Керкез; born 1 May 1976) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Club career In the 2001–02 season, Kerkez played regularly for Radnički Obr ...

* Goran Despotović *

Milan Medić Milan Medić (born 16 March 1961) is a Serbian 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 obj ...

Milenko Savović Milenko Savović (18 July 1960 – 1 March 2021) was a Serbian professional basketball player. For most of his career, he was the captain of KK Partizan. Savović died from COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious d ...

* 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). Cvj ...

* 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 KK Dinamo Panče ...

Results

Other sources:

Scoring leaders

Branko Skroče Branko Skroče (born 17 May 1955 in Zadar) is a retired Croatian basketball player who competed for Yugoslavia in the 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially bran ...

(Zadar) - ___ points (35.4ppg)

Qualification in 1981-82 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

* Partizan (champions) FIBA Cup Winners' Cup *

(Cup winners)

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

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

(3rd) * Šibenka (4th) *

Crvena Zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

(5th) * Iskra Olimpija (6th)

Basketball Cup

Bracket

References

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