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KK Olimpija

KK Olimpija
Nickname	Zmaji (The Dragons) Zeleno-beli (The Green and Whites)
Founded	1946; 78 years ago (1946)
Folded	2019; 5 years ago (2019)
History	KK Svoboda (1946) KK Enotnost (1947–1954) AŠK Olimpija (1955–1976) KK Olimpija (1976–2019) KK Cedevita Olimpija (2019–present)
Location	Ljubljana, Slovenia
Team colors	Green, white, black
Championships	17 Slovenian Leagues 20 Slovenian Cups 8 Slovenian Supercups 6 Yugoslav Leagues 1 Saporta Cup 1 Adriatic League 2 Central European Leagues
Home Away

Active sport clubs named Olimpija Ljubljana
Football Basketball Ice Hockey Football (Women's) Handball (Women's)

Defunct clubs named Olimpija Ljubljana
Football (1945–2005) Basketball (1946–2019) Ice Hockey (1928–2017)

Košarkarski klub Olimpija (English: 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 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 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. In July 2019, the team merged with Cedevita, forming a new club Cedevita Olimpija.

History[edit]

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 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 Adriatic League.

On 8 July 2019, Olimpija merged with Croatian team Cedevita, forming Cedevita Olimpija.^[1][2]

The club was a founding member of the Adriatic Basketball Association in 2015.^[3] In November 2020, the club's shares were transferred to Mornar Bar.^[4]

Names through history[edit]

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[edit]

The team's first venue was Tabor Gymnasium, before they moved to the 4,500 capacity^[5] Tivoli Hall in 1965. In 2010, the club moved into their new arena, Arena Stožice, with a capacity of 12,480.

Notable players[edit]

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

• Ivo Daneu  – has won the Yugoslav national championship six times with Olimpija and earned over 200 appearances for the Yugoslavia national basketball team. In 2007, he became the first Slovenian player included in the FIBA Hall of Fame.^[6]
• Borut Bassin  – became the most valuable player of the 1967 FIBA European Champions Cup Final Four after scoring 30 points against Real Madrid. Bassin has also won the silver medal with Yugoslavia at the 1967 FIBA World Championship.^[7]
• Marko Milič  – former Olimpija and Slovenia national team captain, he became the first Slovenian player to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).^[8]
• Vinko Jelovac  – earned 240 appearances for the Yugoslavia national team, with which he won the silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.^[9]
• 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.^[10]
• Jure Zdovc  – Regarded as one of the best point guards 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 with Yugoslavia in 1989 and 1991, and became the world champion with the team in 1990.^[11]

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

Retired numbers[edit]

Olimpija retired numbers
No	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure	Date retired	Ref
12		Marko Milič	PF	1994–1997, 1999–2000, 2006–2009	2015	[12]
13		Ivo Daneu	PG	1956–1970	2007	[13][14]

Players in the NBA draft[edit]

Position	Player	Year	Round	Pick	Drafted by
PF	Marko Milič	1997	2nd round	33rd	Philadelphia 76ers
C	Vladimir Stepania	1998	1st round	27th	Seattle SuperSonics
C	Primož Brezec	2000	1st round	27th	Indiana Pacers
SG/SF	Jiří Welsch	2002	1st round	16th	Philadelphia 76ers
SG/PG	Yotam Halperin#	2006	2nd round	53rd	Seattle SuperSonics
PG	Goran Dragić*	2008	2nd round	45th	San Antonio Spurs
PF	Dāvis Bertāns	2011	2nd round	42nd	Indiana Pacers
PG	Issuf Sanon#	2018	2nd round	44th	Washington Wizards
PF	Luka Šamanić	2019	1st round	19th	San Antonio Spurs

Honours[edit]

Domestic competitions[edit]

• 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, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1969–70

Runners-up (8): 1953, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1965, 1967, 1967–68, 1968–69

• Yugoslav Cup (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[edit]

• EuroLeague

Semifinalists: 1961–62

Third place: 1966–67, 1996–97

Final Four: 1967, 1997

• FIBA Saporta Cup (defunct)

Winners: 1993–94

Semifinalists: 1968–69, 1982–83, 1991–92

Regional competitions[edit]

• Adriatic League

Winners: 2001–02

Runners-up: 2010–11

• Central European League (defunct)

Winners: 1993, 1994

Other competitions[edit]

• FIBA International Christmas Tournament

Fourth place: 1998

Notable performances in European and worldwide competitions[edit]

The road to the FIBA European Cup victory[edit]

1993–94 FIBA European Cup

Round	Team	Home	Away
Third	Bye
Top 12	Rabotnički	89–77	80–66
	Tofaş	87–78	103–90
	Taugrés	86–73	63–67
	Fidefinanz Bellinzona	77–62	53–50
	Croatia Osiguranje	68–76	84–79
Semi-final	Sato Aris	84–78	79–83
		74–61
Final	Taugrés	91–81

Season-by-season records[edit]

Key

Head coaches[edit]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2019)

Lazar Lečić (1973–1975)

Krešimir Ćosić (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[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to KK Union Olimpija.

• Euroleague.net Official team profile