The First Federal Basketball League () was the highest tier level men's professional club basketball competition in the former country of SFR Yugoslavia. Founded in 1945, and folded in 1992 (1991–92 Wiener Broker YUBA League), it was run by the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia. With a total of 16 European-wide trophy winners and 11 finalists, the Yugoslav First Basketball League was one of the strongest European national domestic basketball leagues of all time.
Although each of the former Yugoslav countries now have their own national domestic leagues, the six nations also now take part in the ABA League (commonly known as the Adriatic League), which was founded in 2001; and which is, the closest basketball league in existence today, that is similar to the former Yugoslav First Federal Basketball League.
History After the end of Second World War in Yugoslavia in 1945, there arose a need for athletic development in the fledgling nation. Post-WW2 Yugoslavia was (with the exception of major cities such as Belgrade, Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Sarajevo) for the most part lacking in competitive opportunities in sports. In response to this, 1945 and 1946 saw an explosion of new clubs and leagues for every sport, the basketball league being part of this phenomenon.
The very first competition under the newly formed Yugoslav Basketball League in 1945, drawing parallel to the Yugoslav First League (of football), was more or less a nationwide affirmation of unity. Instead of individual clubs competing in the usual fashion, there were only eight teams. Six representing each state within Yugoslavia, one representing the province of Vojvodina, and the last representing the Yugoslav People's Army.
Only in the 1970s did the basketball culture of Yugoslavia truly come to enjoy recognition as the top nation in basketball. Breaking away from the dominance of the Soviet Union, the Yugoslav league gave rise to stars that would go on to win multiple Basketball World Championships and European Basketball Championships. After a decade of dominance, the 1980s saw a disappointing slump of talent in the Yugoslav Basketball League. On 10 January 1985, Drazen Petrovic, of Cibona Zagreb scored 112 pts against SMELT Olimpija, a record in the league.Basketball Players who have scored 100 Points in one game - luckyshow.org
Once again the world witnessed a sleeping giant come awake in the early 90s as Yugoslavia won two straight European Basketball Championships and a World Basketball Championship. This momentum was swiftly halted by the ethnic strife which broke out in 1991. Clubs from SR Slovenia and SR Croatia withdrew from the league so that the 1991–92 season, the competition's last, was contested without them. The country got divided into five successor republics, each founding their own basketball federations with the exception of Serbia and Montenegro, which retained the name Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the YUBA League.
Despite all these changes, the joint league of clubs from the former Yugoslavia proved to be a winning league format formula, so on 3 July 2001, the Adriatic League was founded. It features teams from all the former Yugoslav states, and it exists alongside scaled-down versions of the individual national domestic leagues of each of the former Yugoslav states.
Title holders
1945: Yugoslav Army 1946: Crvena zvezda 1947: Crvena zvezda 1948: Crvena zvezda 1949: Crvena zvezda 1950: Crvena zvezda 1951: Crvena zvezda 1952: Crvena zvezda 1953: Crvena zvezda 1954: Crvena zvezda 1955: Crvena zvezda 1956: Proleter Zrenjanin 1957: AŠK Olimpija 1958: OKK Beograd 1959: AŠK Olimpija 1960: OKK Beograd 1961: AŠK Olimpija 1962: AŠK Olimpija 1963: OKK Beograd 1964: OKK Beograd 1965: Zadar 1966: AŠK Olimpija 1967: Zadar 1967–68: Zadar 1968–69: Crvena zvezda 1969–70: AŠK Olimpija 1970–71: Jugoplastika 1971–72: Crvena zvezda 1972–73: Radnički Belgrade 1973–74: Zadar 1974–75: Zadar 1975–76: Partizan 1976–77: Jugoplastika 1977–78: Bosna 1978–79: Partizan 1979–80: Bosna 1980–81: Partizan 1981–82: Cibona 1982–83: Bosna 1983–84: Cibona 1984–85: Cibona 1985–86: Zadar 1986–87: Partizan 1987–88: Jugoplastika 1988–89: Jugoplastika 1989–90: Jugoplastika 1990–91: POP 84 1991–92: Partizan
Performance by club Club Titles Years won Runners up Crvena zvezda 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1969, 1972 Olimpija 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1970 Split 1971, 1977, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 Zadar 1965, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1986 Partizan 1976, 1979, 1981, 1987, 1992 Beograd 1958, 1960, 1963, 1964 Cibona 1982, 1984, 1985 Bosna 1978, 1980, 1983 Proleter 1956 Radnički 1973 Mladost Šibenik
Performance by constitutional republics Titles Republic 23 SR Serbia15 SR Croatia6 SR Slovenia3 SR Bosnia and Herzegovina
Playoff finals Playoffs, as a way of determining the Yugoslav First Basketball League champion following the regular season, got instituted in 1981 ahead of the 1981–82 season.
Season Home court advantage Coach Result Home court disadvantage Coach 1st of Regular Season Record Partizan Borislav Ćorković Cibona Mirko Novosel Partizan Šibenka Vlade Đurović Bosna Svetislav Pešić Šibenka Cibona Mirko Novosel Crvena zvezda Ranko Žeravica Cibona Cibona Željko Pavličević Crvena zvezda Ranko Žeravica Cibona Cibona Željko Pavličević Zadar Vlade Đurović Cibona Partizan Duško Vujošević Crvena zvezda Vlade Đurović Cibona Jugoplastika Božidar Maljković Partizan Duško Vujošević Jugoplastika Partizan Duško Vujošević Jugoplastika Božidar Maljković Partizan Jugoplastika Božidar Maljković Crvena zvezda Zoran Slavnić Jugoplastika POP 84 Željko Pavličević Partizan Duško Vujošević Pop 84 Partizan Željko Obradović Crvena zvezda Duško Vujošević Partizan
Source: official website archive
Clubs in European and worldwide competitions
Notable players Award winnersNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Krešimir Ćosić (1996) Dražen Petrović (2002) Dražen Dalipagić (2004) Dino Rađa (2018) Vlade Divac (2019) Toni Kukoč (2021)
FIBA Hall of Fame Krešimir Ćosić (2007) Dražen Dalipagić (2007) Ivo Daneu (2007) Mirza Delibašić (2007) Radivoj Korać (2007) Dražen Petrović (2007) Vlade Divac (2010) Dragan Kićanović (2010) Zoran Slavnić (2013)
FIBA's 50 Greatest Players Krešimir Ćosić (1991) Dražen Dalipagić (1991) Ivo Daneu (1991) Mirza Delibašić (1991) Vlade Divac (1991) Dragan Kićanović (1991) Radivoj Korać (1991) Toni Kukoč (1991) Dražen Petrović (1991) Dino Rađa (1991) Petar Skansi (1991) Zoran Slavnić (1991)
50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors Dejan Bodiroga (2008) Krešimir Ćosić (2008) Predrag Danilović (2008) Mirza Delibašić (2008) Vlade Divac (2008) Aleksandar Đorđević (2008) Radivoj Korać (2008) Toni Kukoč (2008) Dražen Petrović (2008) Dino Rađa (2008)
EuroLeague Final Four MVP Dino Rađa (1989) Toni Kukoč (1990, 1991, 1993) Predrag Danilović (1992) Žarko Paspalj (1994) Zoran Savić (1998) Željko Rebrača (2000) Dejan Bodiroga (2002, 2003)
EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer Petar Skansi (1972) Žarko Varajić (1979) Dražen Petrović (1985)
FIBA Saporta Cup Finals Top Scorer Zoran Slavnić (1974, 1975) Srećko Jarić (1977) Andro Knego (1982) Dragan Kićanović (1983) Dražen Petrović (1987, 1989) Branislav Prelević (1991, 1992, 1996) Roman Horvat (1994) Petar Naumoski (1995, 2002) Predrag Danilović (2000)
FIBA Korać Cup Finals Top Scorer Nikola Plećaš (1972) Dražen Dalipagić (1974, 1978) Željko Jerkov (1977) Dragan Kićanović (1979) Dražen Petrović (1988) Vlade Divac (1989) Aleksandar Đorđević (1993, 1999) Teoman Alibegović (1995) Petar Naumoski (1996)
Euroscar Dražen Dalipagić (1980) Dragan Kićanović (1981, 1982) Dražen Petrović (1986, 1989, 1992, 1993) Toni Kukoč (1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1998)
Mr. Europa Dražen Dalipagić (1977, 1978) Dragan Kićanović (1981, 1982) Dražen Petrović (1986, 1993) Vlade Divac (1989) Toni Kukoč (1990, 1991, 1992, 1996) Aleksandar Đorđević (1994, 1995)
Statistical leaders
Successor leagues YUBA League (1992–2006) HT Premijer liga (1991–present) Premier A League (1991–present) Basketball Championship (1993–present) First League (1992–present) Basketball League (2006–present) Basketball League (2006–present) Adriatic League (2001–present)
See also Yugoslav 1. B Federal Basketball League Yugoslav Basketball Cup
Notes
References