ABA League

The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia). Due to sponsorship reasons, the league was also known as the Goodyear League from 2001 to 2006, and as the NLB League from 2006 to 2011.

ABA League
Founded2001 (2001)
First season2001–02
Country
Other club(s) from
ConfederationFIBA Europe (Europe)
Number of teams14
Level on pyramid1st
Relegation toABA Second Division
SupercupABA Super Cup
International cup(s)
Current champions Crvena zvezda (4th title)
(2018–19)
Most championships Partizan (6 titles)
TV partnersArena Sport, TV B92
Websiteaba-liga.com
2020–21 season

The league coexists alongside scaled-down national leagues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. All but one of Adriatic League clubs join their country's own competitions in late spring after the Adriatic League regular season and post-season have been completed. In the past, the league has also consisted of clubs from Bulgaria (Levski), the Czech Republic (ČEZ Nymburk), Hungary (Szolnoki Olaj), and Israel (Maccabi FOX) that received wild card invitations.

The Adriatic League is a private venture, founded in 2001 and run until 2015 by the Sidro, a Slovenian limited liability company. Since 2015, the league has been operated by ABA League JTD, a Zagreb-based general partnership for organizing sports competitions. Adriatic Basketball Association is the body that organizes the league and is a full member of ULEB, as well as a voting member of Euroleague Basketball's board.

History

At various points throughout mid-to-late 1990s, in the years following the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia and ensuing Yugoslav Wars, different basketball administrators from the newly independent Balkan states floated and informally discussed the idea of re-assembling a joint basketball competition to fill the void left by the dissolution of the former Yugoslav Basketball League whose last season was 1991–92.[1]

However, no concrete action towards that end was taken before the summer 2000 ULEB-supported creation of Euroleague Basketball Company under the leadership of Jordi Bertomeu that immediately confronted FIBA Europe, then proceeded to take a handful of top European clubs into its new competition for the 2000–01 season thereby opening an organizational split in European club basketball. During the 2000–01 split in the continent's top club competition, local Balkan basketball administrators from the ULEB-affiliated clubs Cibona, Olimpija, and Budućnost (that already competed in this new 'breakaway' Euroleague competition) shifted the discussions of creating a regional Balkan-wide basketball league into higher gear.

On the public relations front, Adriatic League was met with strong and mixed reactions. Though many hailed it as an important step for the development of club basketball in the Balkans region, many others felt that it brings no new quality and that it's not worth dismantling three domestic leagues. There was a lot of negative reaction from political circles, especially in Croatia, with even TV panel discussions being broadcast on Croatian state television. A very vociferous opinion in the country saw the league's formation as a political attempt to reinstate Yugoslavia.[2] The league organizers for their part did their best to appease the Croatian public with statements such as the one delivered by Radovan Lorbek in Slobodna Dalmacija in September 2001:

This is not a Yugoslav league, and it will never become a Yugoslav league. The Adriatic League has no clubs from Serbia and Macedonia, therefore the Adriatic League and Yugoslav league are not the same thing.[3][4]

Ten years later, in a 2011 interview for the Serbian newspaper Press, Roman Lisac explained the league's behind the scenes strategy during its nascent stages was actually quite different:

I'm convinced the league would've never been able to survive without Serbian clubs. Getting Crvena zvezda and Partizan to join the league was something that we worked on from day one. However, the situation ten years ago was not that simple. Too much antagonistic post-war politics was still all around us, and it made our task all the more difficult. Everything that smelled of old Yugoslavia caused a lot of resistance both in Croatia and in Serbia. I repeat, the idea of having both Crvena zvezda and Partizan in the league was there from the very beginning, but we avoided talking about it publicly because of politics.[5]

On 28 September 2001, the league announced a five-year sponsorship deal with Slovenian company Sava Tires from Kranj, a subsidiary of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The deal also included naming rights, hence from 2001 until 2006, the competition was known as the Goodyear League.

Debut season

With twelve clubs taking part in the inaugural 2001–02 season, the competition commenced in fall 2001 with four teams from Slovenia, four teams from Croatia, three teams from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and one team from FR Yugoslavia. The very first game was contested in Ljubljana between Olimpija and Široki on Saturday, 29 September 2001 at 5:30pm.[6]

Though the competition purported to gather the strongest sides from former Yugoslavia, as mentioned, teams from Serbia were noticeably absent, particularly Belgrade powerhouses and biggest regional crowd draws Partizan and Crvena zvezda. In addition to no clubs from Serbia proper, the league had no Serb-dominated clubs from Bosnia-Herzegovina either. Since the league founders mostly avoided talking about the issue due to fears of media backlash, the fact that no invitations were extended to Serbian clubs was generally explained through security issues due to organizers' fears of crowd trouble if Croatian and Serbian clubs were to start playing again in the same competition. Then in early February 2002, the public got a preview of just that when Cibona and Partizan met in Zagreb as part of that season's EuroLeague group stage. In a nationalistically charged and incident-filled encounter, Croatian fans peppered the Partizan players with rocks, flares, and even ceramic tiles before physically assaulting Partizan head coach Duško Vujošević in the guest team dressing room after the game.[6]

The Adriatic League debut season was marked by dwindling attendances and lukewarm media support. Still the league did receive a bit of a shot in the arm on 24 February 2002, when its managing body ABA got accepted as full member of ULEB.[7]

Second season

For the 2002–03 season, the league remained at the total number of 12 teams, while it went through major re-tooling internally. By the time season started, four teams dropped out (Sloboda Dita, Budućnost, Triglav, and Geoplin Slovan) to be replaced by: Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv, Crvena zvezda (the first team from Serbia in the competition), the Bosnian outfit KK Borac, and Croatian club KK Zagreb.

It was important for the league's long-term business to negotiate acceptable terms for the Serbian clubs to join the competition. To that end, Lorbek and Lisac went to Belgrade in early April 2002 with an offer of taking in three clubs from FR Yugoslavia for the Adriatic League's 2002–03 season.[8] The offer was flatly rejected initially by the representatives of five YUBA Liga clubs – Partizan, Crvena zvezda, Hemofarm, FMP, and Budućnost – as their unified platform was either all five or nothing. Taking in all five required expanding the league to 14 teams, which was something the league organizers weren't prepared to do due to the associated increase in operating costs. The negotiated agreement thus fell through for the time being. However, it didn't take long for dents to appear in the unified front put forth by five YUBA league clubs – in May 2002 Crvena zvezda's management (three businessmen close to the ruling Democratic Party in Serbia: Živorad Anđelković, Igor Žeželj, and Goran Vesić) hired Zmago Sagadin to be the club's new general manager – and soon after, in June 2002, the club broke the ranks by negotiating terms on its own thus agreeing to join the Adriatic League for the 2002–03 season.[8]

Competition

Competition system

As of the 2013–14 season the league comprises a 26-game regular season, with the top 4 sides making the play-offs.[9]

From 2002 through 2004, four teams qualified, and the playoffs were termed the "Final Four"; starting in 2005, eight teams advanced to the "Final Eight" round. All playoff rounds consist of one-off knockout matches, unusual among European leagues. However, since all Adriatic League clubs play in domestic leagues at the same time, and many also play in the EuroLeague, the current format has the virtue of limiting fixture congestion for the playoff sides.

In 2017, the ABA League Second Division was created. The last qualified team from ABA League would be relegated to the Second Division and replaced by the winner of this one.

Current clubs

The following 14 clubs are competing in the 2020–21 ABA season:[10]

Borac Buducnost Cedevita Olimpija Cibona
Crvena Zvezda FMP Igokea Koper Primorska
Krka Mega Bemax Mornar Bar Partizan NIS
Split Zadar

Finals

Year Final Semifinalists
Champions Score Runners-up
2001–02
Details

Union Olimpija
73–59
Krka

Pivovarna Laško

Cibona VIP
2002–03
Details

Zadar
91–88
Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv

Crvena zvezda

Union Olimpija
2003–04
Details

Reflex
71–70
Cibona VIP

Crvena zvezda

Union Olimpija
2004–05
Details

Hemofarm
89–76
Partizan Pivara MB

Reflex

Crvena zvezda
2005–06
Details

FMP
73–72
Partizan Pivara MB

Crvena zvezda

Hemofarm
2006–07
Details

Partizan
2–0
playoffs

FMP

Cibona VIP

Hemofarm
2007–08
Details

Partizan Igokea
69–51
Hemofarm

Union Olimpija

Zadar
2008–09
Details

Partizan Igokea
63–49
Cibona VIP

Crvena zvezda

Hemofarm
2009–10
Details

Partizan
75–74 (OT)
Cibona VIP

Hemofarm

Union Olimpija
2010–11
Details

Partizan
77–74
Union Olimpija

Budućnost m:tel

Krka
2011–12
Details

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv
87–77
Cedevita

Budućnost VOLI

Partizan mt:s
2012–13
Details

Partizan mt:s
71–63
Crvena zvezda Telekom

Igokea

Radnički Kragujevac
2013–14
Details

Cibona
72–59
Cedevita

Crvena zvezda Telekom

Partizan
2014–15
Details

Crvena zvezda Telekom
3–1
playoffs

Cedevita

Partizan NIS

Budućnost VOLI
2015–16
Details

Crvena zvezda Telekom
3–0
playoffs

Mega Leks

Cedevita

Budućnost VOLI
2016–17
Details

Crvena zvezda mts
3–0
playoffs

Cedevita

Budućnost VOLI

Partizan NIS
2017–18
Details

Budućnost VOLI
3–1
playoffs

Crvena zvezda mts

Cedevita

Mornar
2018–19
Details

Crvena zvezda mts
3–2
playoffs

Budućnost VOLI

Partizan NIS

Cedevita
2019–20
Details
Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic - no champion announced

Performances

By club

Rank Club Titles Runner-up Champion Years
1. Partizan 6 2 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13
2. Crvena zvezda 4 2 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19
3. FMP 2 1 2003–04, 2005–06
4. Cibona 1 3 2013–14
5. Olimpija 1 1 2001–02
6. Vršac 1 1 2004–05
7. Maccabi Tel Aviv 1 1 2011–12
8. Budućnost 1 1 2017–18
9. Zadar 1 2002–03
10. Cedevita 4
11. Krka 1
12. Mega Basket 1

By country

Rank Country Titles Runners-up
1. Serbia 10 5
2. Serbia and Montenegro 3 2
3. Croatia 2 7
4. Slovenia 1 2
5. Israel 1 1
6. Montenegro 1 1

All-time participants

The following is a list of clubs who have played in the Adriatic League at any time since its formation in 2001 to the current season. A total of 40 teams from 10 countries have played in the League.

2D Played in the Second Division
Canceled Season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Defunct Defunct teams
Restricted Teams out of the Adriatic area
Suspended Suspended teams
1st Champions
2nd Runners-up
SF Semi-finalists
Bold Teams playing in the 2020–21 season
R Regular season champions
Team 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20[lower-alpha 1] 21 Total
seasons
Highest
finish
Borac Banja Luka11th13th211th
Bosna12th12thQFQF10th7th13th2D7Quarter-finals
Igokea11thSFR6th12th9th5th10th8thCn.TBD10Semi-finals
Sloboda Tuzla5th2D15th
Široki6th9th12th13th11th11th12th10th9th5th10th14th2D2D125th
Levski Sofia14thRestricted114th
Cedevita7th7th2nd6th2nd2ndSF2ndSFSF102nd
CibonaSF5th2ndRQFQFSFQF2nd2ndR12th7th11th1st11th8th7th11th7thCn.TBD201st
Split8th10th9th15th14th10th10th14th2D2D2DTBD98th
Šibenik11thDefunct111th
Triglav Osiguranje10thDefunct110th
Zadar7th1st8thQFQF7thSF5th8th14th12th13th8th6th12th6th11thCn.TBD191st
Zagreb6th11th12th13th12th11th13th6th5th9th-Defunct105th
Nymburk8thRestricted18th
Szolnoki Olaj13th12th7thRestricted37th
Maccabi Tel Aviv2nd1stRRestricted21st
Budućnost9th5th14th5thQF6th5thSFSF5th5thSFSFRSF1st2ndCn.TBD181st
Lovćen14th2D2D2D2D114th
Mornar8thSF9thCn.TBD5Semi-finals
Sutjeska13th2D2D2D113th
Karpoš Sokoli10thSuspended[lower-alpha 2]110th
MZT Skopje7th9th13th10th13th12th2D2D2D67th
Borac Čačak2D2D2DTBD1
Crvena zvezdaSFRSFSFSF6thQFSF9th13th10th2ndSFR1stR1st1stR2ndR1stRCn.TBD191st
FMP9th8th6thCn.TBD56th
FMP Železnik1stSF1st2ndRQF8th12thDefunct71st
Mega8th10th2nd6th 9th5thCn.TBD82nd
Metalac Valjevo6th11th26th
Partizan2nd2ndR1st1stR1stR1st1stRSF1stSFSF5thSF5thSFCn.TBD171st
Radnički Kragujevac11th10th8thSF11thDefunct5Semi-finals
Vojvodina SrbijagasQF9th14thDefunct3Quarter-finals
Vršac1stRSFSF2ndSFSF6th12th2D2D81st
Cedevita OlimpijaUnfoundedCn.TBD2
Helios Suns16th12th8th13th12th14th13th2D2D2D78th
Koper PrimorskaUnfounded2D2DCn.14th214th
Krka2nd7th7th11thSF11th9th7th9th12th14th2D10thCn.TBD142nd
Olimpija1stRSFSFQF10th9thSF9thSF2nd6th8th10th5th7th11th7th12thDefunct181st
Slovan11th10th10th9th13th14th69th
Tajfun14th114th
Zlatorog LaškoSF8th6th9th14th14th6Semi-finals

Awards

Records

Source:[11]

Players

Clubs

All-time leaders

From the 2001–02 to the 2020–21 season:

Accumulated
Points Nemanja Gordić[12]2,855[lower-alpha 3]
Field goals Marin Rozić[13]1,052[lower-alpha 4]
3 Points Siniša Štemberger[14]403[lower-alpha 5]
Defensive Rebounds Marin Rozić[15]1,032[lower-alpha 6]
Total Rebounds Marin Rozić[16]1,323[lower-alpha 7]
Assists Nemanja Gordić[15]909[lower-alpha 6]
Steals Nebojša Joksimović355
Blocks Slavko Vraneš[17]272[lower-alpha 8]
Index Ratings Todor Gečevski3,212
Games Played Marin Rozić[18]377[lower-alpha 9]

Notable players

Well-known basketball players who have played in the Adriatic League include:

See also

Notes

  1. Season was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
  2. Team is suspended until 2022
  3. Updated 4 October 2020
  4. Updated 30 October 2020
  5. Updated 6 January 2020
  6. Updated 29 January 2020
  7. Updated 10 February 2020
  8. Updated 23 January 2020
  9. Updated 20 October 2020

References

  1. Mitrović: Bogosavljev je dao ideju;Press, 11 July 2011
  2. Jadranska liga ili samoubistvo pod obručima;NSPM, 31 December 2008
  3. Deset godina NLB lige: Kako je Partizan gurnut u Jadran;Press, 15 July 2011
  4. Bibić, Milorad (28 September 2001). "Jadranska liga donosi košarkašku REVOLUCIJU!". Slobodna Dalmacija. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  5. Lisac: Jadranska liga bi propala bez Srba;Press, 23 July 2011
  6. Deset godina NLB lige: Huligani odložili ulazak Partizana;Press, 12 July 2011
  7. Deset godina Jadranske lige: Košarka nas je održala;Press, 10 July 2011
  8. Deset godina NLB lige: Zvezdin izlazak na Jadran;Press, 13 July 2011
  9. "ADRIATIC LEAGUE – Players showing off World Cup credentials". FIBA. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  10. "Conclusions of the ABA League j.t.d. Assembly". aba-liga.com. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  11. "ABA League – interesting facts and figures". abaliga.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  12. "The ABA League Top Points". ABA League oficiall twitter profile. 4 October 2020.
  13. "The World of Stats: Nemanja Gordić joins the 1,000 FG Made club". aba-liga.com. 30 October 2020.
  14. "The World of Stats - Suad Šehović eying the top place on the ABA All-Time 3-point list". aba-liga.com. 8 January 2020.
  15. "The World of Stats: Marin Rozić - The ABA League Top Rebounder". aba-liga.com. 29 January 2020.
  16. "ABA All time rebounds". aba-liga.com. 10 February 2020.
  17. "The World of Stats - Uroš Luković joined the 200+ Blocks club". aba-liga.com. 23 January 2020.
  18. "Most apps". twitter.com. 20 October 2020.
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