Košarkarski klub Olimpija () was a men's professional

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 (appro ...

club based in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They have played in two different National Leagues since 1946, the Yugoslav Federal League (1946–1991) and the Slovenian League (1991–2019). Olimpija has won three regional league championships, one in the

Adriatic League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

and two championships in the Central European League. They have also won 20 National Cup tournaments, 8 National Supercup titles, and one

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

. In July 2019, the team merged with Cedevita, forming a new club

Cedevita Olimpija Košarkarski klub Cedevita Olimpija (), commonly referred to as KK Cedevita Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the ABA League and the Premier A Slovenian Bask ...

History

Olimpija basketball club was founded in 1946 as a section of the Svoboda Physical Culture Society. The first basketball game was played the same year against Udarnik and Olimpija came out on top with the score of 37–14. Late in 1946, the club was renamed Enotnost and was known by that name until 1954 when it assumed the name AŠK Olimpia. Olimpija won its first Yugoslav League title in the 1957 season under the direction of the coach/player Boris Kristančić. In the following years, Olimpija won five more Yugoslav titles, in 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, and 1970. A new era for the club began with Slovenia's independence when Olimpija won eight consecutive league titles between 1992 and 1999. On the international stage, the 1993–94 season was the club's best season as they won the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

against the Spanish ACB League club Taugrés under the direction of coach Zmago Sagadin. In the 2001–02 season, Olimpija won the "Small Triple Crown", taking the Slovenian League championship, Slovenian Cup, and the

. On 8 July 2019, Olimpija merged with Croatian team Cedevita, forming

. The club was a founding member of the Adriatic Basketball Association in 2015. In November 2020, the club's

shares In financial markets, a share (sometimes referred to as stock or equity) is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation. It can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Sha ...

were transferred to Mornar Bar.

Names through history

The club was established in 1946 as the basketball department of the larger sports club Svoboda. Later, the name of the club was changed several times. Since 1976 and until its dissolution in 2019, the name of the club included the sponsorship name.

Arenas

The team's first venue was Tabor Gymnasium, before they moved to the 4,500 capacity Tivoli Hall in 1965. In 2010, the club moved into their new arena, Arena Stožice, with a capacity of 12,480.

Notable players

The following players are regarded as the most important for Olimpija by the club's official website. *

Ivo Daneu Ivo Daneu (born 6 October 1937) is a retired Slovenian professional basketball player and basketball coach, coach. During his playing career, at a height of tall, he played at the point guard and shooting guard positions. He represented the Yug ...

– has won the Yugoslav national championship six times with Olimpija and earned over 200 appearances for the

Yugoslavia national basketball team The Yugoslavia men's national basketball team ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Košarkaška reprezentacija Jugoslavije, Кошаркашка репрезентација Југославије; ; ) represented the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

. In 2007, he became the first Slovenian player included in the

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA in 1991. Originally built in ...

. * Borut Bassin – became the most valuable player of the 1967 FIBA European Champions Cup Final Four after scoring 30 points against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Bassin has also won the silver medal with Yugoslavia at the

1967 FIBA World Championship The 1967 FIBA World Championship was the 5th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Montevideo, Uruguay from 27 May to 11 June 1967. Venues Competing nations Compet ...

. * Marko Milič – former Olimpija and Slovenia national team captain, he became the first Slovenian player to play in the

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

(NBA). * Vinko Jelovac – earned 240 appearances for the Yugoslavia national team, with which he won the silver medal at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

. * Peter Vilfan – spent most of his career playing for Olimpija; he became the first captain of the Slovenia national team after the country gained independence in 1991. * Jure Zdovc – Regarded as one of the best

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

s in Europe during the time of his career, Zdovc played for Olimpija in three spells between the 1980s and the early 2000s. Zdovc has won the

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

with Yugoslavia in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, and became the world champion with the team in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. A total of 16 former Olimpija players have played in the NBA: *

Goran Dragić Goran Dragić (born 6 May 1986) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Dragon", he played professional basketball in Slovenia and Spain before entering the NBA in 2008. Dragić also played for the Phoenix Suns, Miam ...

* Rašo Nesterović * Beno Udrih * Šarūnas Jasikevičius * Damjan Rudež * Marko Milič * Primož Brezec * Vladimir Stepania * Boštjan Nachbar *

Jiří Welsch Jiří Welsch () (born 27 January 1980) is a Czech former professional basketball player for BK Pardubice of the Czech Republic National Basketball League (Czech Republic), National Basketball League. He has also represented the senior Czech Rep ...

* Soumaila Samake * Radisav Ćurčić * Danny Green * Aron Baynes * Dāvis Bertāns * Damir Markota

Retired numbers

Players in the NBA draft

Honours

Domestic competitions

* Slovenian League : Winners (17): 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2016–17, 2017–18 : Runners-up (8): 2002–03, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2018–19 * Slovenian Cup : Winners (20): 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017 : Runners-up (3): 2004, 2007, 2014 * Slovenian Supercup : Winners (8): 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017 : Runners-up (5): 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018 * Yugoslav League (defunct) : Winners (6):

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

, 1961,

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, 1969–70 : Runners-up (8):

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, 1958, 1960,

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, 1967–68, 1968–69 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

(defunct) : Runners-up (5): 1960, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1981–82, 1986–87 * Yugoslav 1. B League (defunct) : Winners: 1984–85, 1986–87 *Slovenian Republic League (defunct) : Winners: 1946, 1947

European competitions

EuroLeague 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 ...

: Semifinalists: 1961–62 : Third place: 1966–67, 1996–97 : Final Four:

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

(defunct) : Winners: 1993–94 : Semifinalists: 1968–69, 1982–83, 1991–92

Regional competitions

: Winners: 2001–02 : Runners-up: 2010–11 *Central European League (defunct) : Winners: 1993, 1994

Other competitions

* FIBA International Christmas Tournament : Fourth place:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Notable performances in European and worldwide competitions

The road to the FIBA European Cup victory

1993–94 FIBA European Cup

Season-by-season records

Key *2R = Second round *QF = Quarter-final *W = Winners *GS = Group stage *R32 = Round of 32 *R16 = Round of 16 *T16 = Top 16 *RS = Regular season *L32 = Last 32

Head coaches

* Boris Kristančič (195?–1967) * Lazar Lečić (1973–1975) *

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 ...

(1976–1978) * Lazar Lečić (1978–1982) * Zmago Sagadin (1985–1994) * Sergej Ravnikar (1995) * Peter Vilfan (1995) * Janez Drvarič (1995–1996) * Žarko Đurišić (1996) * Zmago Sagadin (1996–2002) * Tomo Mahorič (2002–2003) * Sašo Filipovski (2003–2005) * Josip Grdović (2005) * Denis Bajramović (2005) * Zmago Sagadin (2005–2006) * Tomo Mahorič (2006) * Gašper Okorn (2006–2007) * Memi Bečirović (2007–2008) * Aleksandar Džikić (2008) * Jure Zdovc (2008–2011) * Miro Alilović (2011) * Sašo Filipovski (2011–2013) * Miro Alilović (2013) * Aleš Pipan (2013–2015) * Memi Bečirović (2015) * Gašper Potočnik (2015–2016) * Gašper Okorn (2016–2018) * Zoran Martič (2018) * Saša Nikitović (2018–2019) * Jure Zdovc (2019)

References

External links

Euroleague.net Official team profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olimpija, KK Basketball teams established in 1946 Basketball teams disestablished in 2019 Basketball teams in Slovenia Sports clubs and teams in Ljubljana Basketball teams in Yugoslavia 1946 establishments in Slovenia 2019 disestablishments in Slovenia