KK Bosna Royal

The club was founded in 1951 as a member of the University Sports Society Bosna (Bosnian: Univerzitetsko sportsko društvo Bosna). The club's first chairman and coach was doctor Nedžad Brkić, with the roster composed mostly of students enrolled in the University of Sarajevo.[1] The first four years of the club's existence were spent in the lower-tier Sarajevo city league, which the team went on to win in 1955, earning a promotion to the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina league. The team roster in these early years included the likes of Brkić, Marušić, Takač, Bise, Bjelica, Cindrić, Bilić, Đurasković, Fetahagić, Uzelac, Džapa, Pilav, Hofbauer, Lovrenović, Beganović and Dimitrijević.[1]

For the next 17 years the club competed in the regional SR Bosnia and Herzegovina league, steadily building a team with which it could enter the Yugoslav First League. On 28 April 1972 a decisive win against local city rivals KK Željezničar Sarajevo would promote the club to the top-tier of Yugoslav basketball where it would compete for the next 20 years.[2] The architect of the club's historic triumf and later European glory was charismatic young coach Bogdan Tanjević. Players of this era included Terzić, Milavić, Čečur, Pavlić, Nadaždin, Dumić, Soče, Varajić, Pejović, Pešić, Krvavac and Đogić.[2]

The future European championship winning roster was completed with the arrival of legendary Mirza Delibašić in 1972. The first 6 seasons in the Yugoslav First League represented a coming of age process, with the team eventually going on to win its first title in 1978, led by star players Ratko Radovanović, Žarko Varajić and Mirza Delibašić. A year later KK Bosna became the first team, aside from CSKA Moscow, to win the European championship without a single foreign player on its roster. Namely, on April 5, 1979 the team, led by the late Delibašić and game MVP Varajić, defeated Italian Powerhouse Emerson Varese 96:93.[3] The club started its EuroLeague season in the Quarterfinal group stage, finishing first in its group. Once in the Semifinals, the side sent a message to contenders by edging the defending champions Real Madrid 114:109 in overtime, in Sarajevo. KK Bosna would eventually win all of its home games and would advance to the title game by edging Greek side Olympiacos 83–88, in Piraeus. Bosna's opponent in the final would either be Emerson Varese or Real Madrid, who faced each other off in the final game of the round. The Italian side beat Madrid 82:83. The aforementioned game will be remembered for Prada's misses: Namely, Luis Maria Prada famously missed 3 consecutive free throws with no time on the clock, forever changing European basketball history. Once in the title game, KK Bosna downed mighty Emerson Varese 96:93 in front of 15,000 fans in the Palais des Sports, Grenoble, France. Varajić led the team in scoring with 45 points, while Delibašić followed with 30. The former is still the record holder for most points in a Euroleague final.[4] Radovanović added 10 more points, while Americans Bob Morse and Charlie Yelverton scored 30 and 27 points respectively for Varese.[5] In the next four seasons KK Bosna would go on to win two more Yugoslav championships (1979-80; 1982-83), as well as a silver medal in the 1980 FIBA Intercontinental Cup, which it hosted. A second Yugoslav Cup triumf followed a year later.[6]

After nearly a decade of continuous success, most of the star players transferred abroad in the mid-1980s. Namely, Delibašiš, Varajić, Radovanović, Đogić along with coach Bogdan Tanjević who took over Juventus Caserta moved to foreign clubs. As a result, the club management decided to transfer members of its talented youth department to the senior team, along with bringing in a handful of new players from other Yugoslav clubs. Nenad Marković, Gordan Firić, Samir Avdić and others all came in through the youth ranks but their time in the club was cut short by the start of the Bosnian War.

With the start of the Bosnian War in 1992 competitive basketball was halted in the newly independent country for nearly four years. A talented generation on the verge of success was forced to transfer to foreign sides, and in doing so the club was forced to fight for bare survival. The side's star prospect, Nenad Marković, joined Italian side Stefanel Trieste, while the likes of Avdić, Firić and others left to Spain, Italy and Turkey. At the end of the 1997–98 season, a play-off for the national title was organized. KK Bosna lost 2–1 to HKK Široki in the final series. A year later the maroon-whites, brandishing a roster that included Mirković, Terzić, Subašić, Konaković, Kurtagić, Halimić, Lerić, Isaković, Bukva, Džuho and Radović, coached by former European championship-winning team member, Sabit Hadžić won the national title after a play-off victory.

The club remembrance has gathered all players, coach Tanjević, assistant coaches Prodanović, Krehić, first club's coach Halilović and all the club members who helped Bosna achieve a great success, such as the winning of the European title. Unfortunately, two key members of Bosna championship team are not alive anymore. Mirza Delibašić and Sabahudin Bilalović have died, but they will be remembered by the club and fans forever. Many great players and coaches from the region joined the remembrance in memory to one great generation of Bosna players and their accomplishments.

In October 2014, the club decided to continue under the new name, Bosna Royal.[7][8]

• Bosnia and Herzegovina League

Winners (4): 1998–99, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08

• Cup of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Winners (3): 2004–05, 2008–09, 2009–10

• Yugoslav League (defunct)

Winners (3): 1977–78, 1979–80, 1982–83

Runners-up (1): 1976–77

• Yugoslav Cup (defunct)

Winners (2): 1977–78, 1983–84

Runners-up (3): 1979-80, 1985–86, 1991–92

• EuroLeague

Winners (1): 1978–79

3rd place (1): 1979–80

4th place (2): 1980–81, 1983–84

• FIBA Korać Cup (defunct)

Runners-up (1): 1977–78

Semifinalist (1): 1989–90

• FIBA Intercontinental Cup
• Runners-up (1): 1979
• 3rd (1): 1980