The Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall () is a multi-purpose

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

located in the

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

municipality of

New Belgrade New Belgrade (, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a Planned community, planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously un ...

. 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 ...

, 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 business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

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 (; 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 ...

Dražen Dalipagić Dražen "Praja" Dalipagić (; 27 November 1951 – 25 January 2025) was a Serbian 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 Yugos ...

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 King ...

, Aleksandar ''Sasha'' Đorđević,

Predrag Danilović Predrag "Saša" Danilović ( sr-Cyrl, 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 o ...

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 ...

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 ...

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
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Other teams

Hala has also been home to basketball's

Novi Beograd New Belgrade (, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a Planned community, planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously un ...

, 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 world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

. 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 (appro ...

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-ti ...

, 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, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

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

aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art which 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 practic ...

, and

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, 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 Encyc ...

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 Yugoslav Serbian architecture

Sports

KK Partizan

Other teams

Concerts

See also

References