First Federal Basketball League

The First Federal Basketball League (Serbo-Croatian: Prva savezna košarkaška liga) was the name of the top-tier level professional basketball league that was played in SFR Yugoslavia, from 1945 to 1991–92, and run by Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia. The First Federal League was the top-tier level league in Yugoslavia, and the Second Federal League was the second-tier level league in 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.

First Federal Basketball League
SportBasketball
Founded1945
Ceased1992
Countries Yugoslavia
ContinentFIBA Europe (Europe)
Last
champion(s)		Partizan (5th title)
Most titlesCrvena zvezda (12 titles)
Level on pyramid1st Tier
(Yugoslavia)
Relegation to1. B Federal Basketball League
Related
competitions		Yugoslav Basketball Cup

Although all of the former Yugoslavian countries that were founded after the breakup of Yugoslavia, each now have their own national domestic leagues, each of 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 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.

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 July 3, 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

Performance by club
TitlesClubYears
12Crvena zvezda1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1968–69, 1971–72
6Olimpija1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1969–70
Zadar1965, 1967, 1967–68, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1985–86
Split1970–71, 1976–77, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91
5Partizan1975–76, 1978–79, 1980–81, 1986–87, 1991–92
4OKK Beograd1958, 1960, 1963, 1964
3Bosna1977–78, 1979–80, 1982–83
Cibona1981–82, 1983–84, 1984–85
1Yugoslav Army1945
Proleter Zrenjanin1956
Radnički Belgrade1972–73

Performance by constitutional republics
TitlesRepublic
23 SR Serbia
15 SR Croatia
6 SR Slovenia
3 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 Result Home court disadvantage 1st of Regular Season Record
1981–82
 Partizan
0–2
 Cibona Partizan
18–4
1982–83
 Šibenka
1–2
 Bosna Šibenka
16–6
1983–84
 Cibona
2–1
 Crvena zvezda Cibona
16–6
1984–85
 Cibona
2–1
 Crvena zvezda Cibona
19–3
1985–86
 Cibona
1–2
 Zadar Cibona
21–1
1986–87
 Partizan
2–0
 Crvena zvezda Cibona
22–0
1987–88
 Jugoplastika
2–1
 Partizan Jugoplastika
21–1
1988–89
 Partizan
0–2
 Jugoplastika Partizan
16–6
1989–90
 Jugoplastika
3–1
 Crvena zvezda Jugoplastika
19–3
1990–91
 POP 84
3–0
 Partizan Pop 84
19–3
1991–92
 Partizan
3–0
 Crvena zvezda Partizan
20–2

Source: official website archive[3]

Clubs in European and worldwide competitions
Main article: Yugoslav basketball clubs in European and worldwide competitions

Notable players
Award winners

Statistical leaders
Main article: Yugoslav First Federal Basketball League career stats leaders

Successor leagues

See also

Notes
  1. On Saturday, 9 April 1983 at Baldekin Hall in Šibenik, Šibenka and Bosna played the deciding game 3 of their best-of-three playoff final series. The contest was decided in the very last second: Bosna's Sabit Hadžić got called for a foul on Šibenka's Dražen Petrović who proceeded to score two free throws that won the game. The next morning, after watching video replays of the game's last moments, the presidency of the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia (KSJ) established that the foul happened after time had already elapsed. The game was thus voided and a rematch was ordered at a neutral venue in Novi Sad. Unhappy with the decision Šibenka decided to boycott it, refusing to show up for the rematch. The championship got awarded to Bosna.[1]

References
  1. "Režimski poraz iz ´83. bio je pobjeda: "I hrvatski klubovi grozili su se na pomisao da Dražen sa Šibenkom osvoji naslov"" (in Croatian). Index.hr. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  2. "Tri decenije od historijske utakmice Bosne i Šibenke (VIDEO)". sport.ba. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  3. "Tabele državnih prvenstava od sezone 1991/92 (archive copy at the Wayback Machine)". Basketball League of Serbia. 5 June 2008. Archived from the original on 5 June 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
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