Košarkaški klub Vršac Meridianbet ( Меридианбет), commonly referred to as KK Vršac Meridianbet, is a men's professional basketball club based in Vršac, Serbia. They are currently competing in the Basketball League of Serbia. Their home arena is the Millennium Centar, with a capacity of 4,400.
Over the years, the club competed under different names, mostly after sponsor companies, carrying for an extended period of time the name of pharmaceutical company Hemofarm.
History The club was founded in 1946 under the name KK Jedinstvo. From 1959 to 1967, the club competed under the name KK Mladost until the name got changed to KK Inex Brixol due to sponsorship reasons. In the 1968–69 season, they won first place in the Vojvodina lower-league. In 1977, the club changed its name again, this time to KK Agropanonija. Four years later, in 1981, they again became champions of Vojvodina, which won them the right to participate in the First B League, where they competed under the name KK Vršac. In 1989, Inex Hemofarm became principal sponsor and club changed its name to KK Inex.
The Hemofarm years: 1992–2012 Under the sponsorship of Hemofarm since 1992, the club went from average participants of the lower leagues in Vojvodina to one of the leading clubs in the country. In their first season under the name of KK Hemofarm, they competed in the First League of Vojvodina and regularly improved. In the 1995–96 season, the team was led by Marin Sedlaček, a young and ambitious coach, who led the team to a higher league.
Hemofarm's top league status was achieved in the 1997–98 season, under the guidance of coach Slobodan Lukić. The first season among the elite kept their survival, but during the 1999–2000 season, they finished fourth in the standings, providing their first trip to Europe in the FIBA Korać Cup. As newcomers, they reached the finals under coach Željko Lukajić during the 2000–01 season, where they fell short to Spain's Unicaja Málaga, which was headed by Božidar Maljković. That same year, the team's quality was confirmed with placement at the National Cup final tournament, which was organized in Vršac for the first time, at the opening of the Millennium Centar.
During the 2001–02 season, they played the playoff semifinal of the national championship, where they fell short to Budućnost after five games. In the next season, they played in the final of the National Cup, where they were defeated by FMP, and in the 2003–04 season, they once again fell short, playing in the National League finals against Partizan.
The 2004–05 season was the most successful in the club's history. As rookies, they won the regional Adriatic League. Hemofarm finished the regular season in first place in the standings, and at the Final Eight in Belgrade, they eliminated Bosna, FMP and Partizan in the final. That same season, Vršac was again hosting the final tournament of the National Cup, but the club lost to Budućnost in the first game. In the ULEB Cup, they reached the semifinals, where they fell short by the Greek team Makedonikos.
In the 2005–06 season, they once again played in the ULEB Cup semifinals and took part in the Adriatic League Final Eight. In the 2006–07 season, they played in the semifinals of the National Cup and the Adriatic League semifinals.
In the 2008–09 season, the team was taken over by Stevan Karadžić who led them to the semifinals in all competitions; Radivoj Korać Cup, Basketball League of Serbia, ABA League and Eurocup. Reaching the Eurocup Final Eight in Turin was a major success for Serbian basketball, especially as the club had the youngest team in the whole competition. In the first match of the tournament in Italy, they bested the favored Dynamo Moscow, but lost to Lietuvos rytas, who went on to win the competition.
In the middle of the 2011–12 season, Hemofarm stopped financing the club after 20 years because of financial instabilities within the company. All of the players were informed that they were free to leave the club.
KK Vršac (2012–present) In the summer of 2012, the club changed its name back to KK Vršac.
A few days after the end of the 2023–24 season, on April 16, the club announced that it had signed a title sponsorship agreement with Meridianbet.
Sponsorship naming The club has had several denominations through the years due to its sponsorship: Hemofarm STADA (2007–2012) Vršac Swisslion (2014–2016) Vršac Meridianbet (2024–present)
Logos
Players
Current roster
Players on the NBA draft
Position Player Year Round Pick Drafted byC Darko Miličić20031st round2ndDetroit Pistons
Coaches
Hemofarm (1992–2012)
Miroslav Popov (1993–1994) Miroslav Kanjevac (1994–1995) Marin Sedlaček (1995–1996) Ivan Jeremić (1996–1997) Slobodan Lukić (1997–1998) Željko Lukajić (1998–2005) Luka Pavićević (2005) Miroslav Nikolić (2005–2008) Vlada Vukoičić (2008) Stevan Karadžić (2008–2010) Željko Lukajić (2010–2012) Dušan Gvozdić (2012, interim) Nebojša Bogavac (2012)
Vršac (2012–present) Oliver Popović (2012–2014) Dušan Gvozdić (2014–2015) Miloš Pejić (2015–2016) Milan Gurović (2016) Vladimir Đokić (2016–2018) Goran Topić (2018) Mihajlo Mitić (2018) Branko Maksimović (2018) Darko Kostić (2019–2020) Zoran Todorović (2020) Vladimir Lučić (2020–2021) Vladimir Đokić (2021–2022) Siniša Matić (2022) Vladimir Đokić (2022–present)
Season-by-season SeasonTierDivisionPos.PostseasonNational CupAdriatic competitionsEuropean competitions Hemofarm1996–97 2 YUBA B League 5 — 20–14 N/A —1997–98 2 YUBA B League — N/A N/A —1998–99 1 YUBA League 10 Not held 7–15 N/A —1999–00 1 YUBA League 4 Semifinalist 15–12 N/A —2000–01 1 YUBA League6 Semifinalist 12–15 Quarterfinalist3 Korać Cup 11–52001–02 1 YUBA League 4 Semifinalist 17–13 N/A —3 Korać Cup 5–52002–03 1 YUBA League 5Quarterfinalist 15–10Runners up —4 Champions Cup 4th 14–52003–04 1 BLSM First League 2 Runners up 31–11Quarterfinalist —3 Europe League 11–62004–05 1 BLSM First League 2 Runners up 14–6Quarterfinalist ABA League 25–82 ULEB Cup 9–72005–06 1 BLSM First League B3 — 6–4Runners up ABA League 17–112 ULEB Cup 12–4 2006–07 1 BLS Super League1 Semifinalist 12–4SemifinalistABA League 18–102 ULEB Cup 6–6 2007–08 1 BLS Super League3 Runners up 12–9 Runners upABA League 19–122 ULEB Cup 7–7 2008–09 1 BLS Super LeagueB2 Semifinalist 6–4SemifinalistABA League 19–82 Eurocup 5–3 2009–10 1 BLS Super League2 Runners up 14–5 SemifinalistABA League 17–102 Eurocup 1–5 2010–11 1 BLS Super League2 Runners up 12–8 QuarterfinalistABA League 6 14–122 Eurocup 5–7 2011–12 1 BLS Super League 8 — 4–10SemifinalistABA League 12 7–19 — Vršac 2012–13 1 BLS First League 6 — 14–12Quarterfinalist — — 2013–14 1 BLS First League 7 — 13–13 — —— 2014–15 1 BLS First League 5 — 13–9Semifinalist —— 2015–16 1 BLS First League 10 — 11–15 — — — 2016–17 1 BLS First League1 7th 25–15Quarterfinalist — — 2017–18 1 BLS First League3Quarterfinalist 20–18 — ABA 2nd League 18–8 — 2018–19 1 BLS First League 9 — 11–15 — ABA 2nd League 12 1–21 — 2019–20 1 BLS First League 12 9–17 — — — 2020–21 1 BLS First League 6 — 15–15 — — — 2021–22 1 BLS First League 11 — 14–16 — — — 2022–23 1 BLS First League 8 — 14–16 — — — 2023–24 1 BLS First League 4 — 22–8 — — — 2024–25 1 BLS First League1 — 25–5Quarterfinalist — —
Trophies and awards Trophies Serbia and Montenegro League Runners-up (2) – 2004, 2005 Basketball League of Serbia Runners-up (3) – 2008, 2010, 2011 Radivoj Korać Cup Runners-up (3) – 2003, 2006, 2008 ABA League Winners (1) – 2005 Runners-up (1) – 2008 FIBA Korać Cup Runners-up (1) – 2001
Notable players
Milan Mačvan Boban Marjanović Stefan Marković Darko Miličić Marko Simonović Danilo Anđušić Mladen Jeremić Zlatko Bolić Petar Božić Đorđe Gagić Nemanja Dangubić Miloš Dimić Raško Katić Predrag Šuput Vladimir Tica Milenko Topić Nemanja Krstić Bojan Krstović Nikola Milutinov Nenad Mišanović Luka Mitrović Jovan Novak Miljan Pavković Slavko Stefanović Vanja Plisnić Petar Popović Dragoljub Vidačić Vladan Vukosavljević Jasmin Hukić Aleksej Nešović Marko Šutalo Saša Vasiljević Bojan Bakić Nebojša Bogavac Miloš Borisov Ivan Maraš Nemanja Radović Boris Savović Goran Jagodnik Nebojša Joksimović Rawle Marshall Márton Báder Jerome Jordan Moon Tae-Jong Mustafa Abdul-Hamid Robert Conley Vonteego Cummings Gerrod Henderson Kyle Hill Trey Johnson Rashad Wright
International record SeasonAchievementNotesEuroCup 2008–09Semifinals Eliminated by Lietuvos rytas, 68–73 2005–06Semifinals Eliminated by Aris TT Bank, 151–153 (1–1) 2004–05Semifinals Eliminated by Makedonikos, 172–180 (1–1)2007–08Top 16 Eliminated by Akasvayu Girona, 133–156 (0–2)2006–07Top 16 Eliminated by UNICS, 137–185 (0–2)2010–11Top 16 4th in Group K with Asefa Estudiantes, Pepsi Caserta, Galatasaray Café Crown, and ČEZ Nymburk (2–4)2009–10Regular season 4th in Group B with Power Electronics Valencia, Le Mans, and Triumph Lyubertsy (1–5) FIBA EuroChallenge 2003–04Quarter-finals Eliminated by UNICS, 1–2 FIBA Korać Cup 2000–01Runners-up Eliminated by Unicaja, 116–148 (0–2) 2001–02Round of 16 Eliminated by Maroussi Telestet, 140–156 (0–2) FIBA EuroCup Challenge 2002–033rd place game Eliminated by Ventspils, 90–91
See also List of basketball clubs in Serbia by major honours won
References
External links