Yugoslavia national basketball team

Yugoslavia

FIBA ranking	Defunct
Joined FIBA	1936
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia
Nickname(s)	Plavi (Blues)
Olympic Games
Appearances	8
Medals	Gold: 1980 Silver: 1968, 1976, 1988 Bronze: 1984
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	10
Medals	Gold 1970, 1978, 1990 Silver 1963, 1967, 1974 Bronze 1982, 1986
FIBA EuroBasket
Appearances	21
Medals	Gold: 1973, 1975, 1977, 1989, 1991 Silver 1961, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1981 Bronze 1963, 1979, 1987
Uniforms
Light Dark
Medal record Summer Olympic Games 1980 Moscow 1968 Mexico City 1976 Montreal 1988 Seoul 1984 Los Angeles FIBA World Cup 1970 Yugoslavia 1978 Philippines 1990 Argentina 1963 Brazil 1967 Uruguay 1974 Puerto Rico 1982 Colombia 1986 Spain FIBA EuroBasket 1973 Spain 1975 Yugoslavia 1977 Belgium 1989 Yugoslavia 1991 Italy 1961 Yugoslavia 1965 Soviet Union 1969 Italy 1971 West Germany 1981 Czechoslovakia 1963 Poland 1979 Italy 1987 Greece Mediterranean Games 1959 Beirut 1967 Tunis 1971 Izmir 1975 Algiers 1983 Casablanca 1979 Split 1963 Naples Summer Universiade 1987 Zagreb 1979 Mexico City 1983 Kobe 1981 Bucureşti

The SFR Yugoslavian national basketball team (Serbo-Croatian: Košarkaška reprezentacija Jugoslavije / Кошаркашка репрезентација Југославије; Slovene: Jugoslovenska košarkaška reprezentacija; Macedonian: Кошаркашка репрезентација на Југославија) represented Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1992 in international basketball matches and was controlled by the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia (KSJ).

After the World War II, the team steadily improved their rankings and came to be one of dominant forces of the world basketball in the 1970s and the 1980s, along with the United States and Soviet Union, capturing 13 World Cup and Olympic medals in total. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, national teams of the successor countries, particularly Serbia and Montenegro/Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, continued the "Yugoslav school" tradition and exhibited strong performance in international competitions.

Ten FIBA Hall of Fame members emerged from the Yugoslavian national team: Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Ivo Daneu, Mirza Delibašić, Vlade Divac, Dragan Kićanović, Radivoj Korać, Toni Kukoč, Dražen Petrović and Zoran Slavnić.

Competitions

The Yugoslavia team that won the 1989 FIFA EuroBasket held in Yugoslavia

At the Summer Olympic Games, Yugoslavia captured one gold medal (1980), took the silver medal on three occasions (1968, 76, 88) and captured the bronze medal once (1984).

At the FIBA World Cup, Yugoslavia captured three gold medals (1970, 1978 and 1990), three silver medals (1963, 1967, 1974) and two bronze medals (1982, 1986).

At the EuroBasket, Yugoslavia captured the gold medal five times (1973, 1975, 1977, 1989, 1991), were silver medalists on five occasions (1961, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1981), and captured the bronze medal four times (1963, 1979, 1987).

Performance at Summer Olympic Games Year Position Pld W L 1936 Berlin Did not qualify 1948 London 1952 Helsinki 1956 Melbourne 1960 Rome 6th 8 4 4 1964 Tokyo 7th 9 5 4 1968 Mexico City 2nd 9 7 2 1972 Munich 5th 9 7 2 1976 Montreal 2nd 7 5 2 1980 Moscow 1st 8 8 0 1984 Los Angeles 3rd 8 7 1 1988 Seoul 2nd 8 6 2 Total 8/12 66 49 17 Performance at FIBA World Cup Year Position Pld W L 1950 Argentina 10th 5 0 5 1954 Brazil 11th 5 1 4 1959 Chile Did not qualify 1963 Brazil 2nd 9 8 1 1967 Uruguay 2nd 9 6 3 1970 Yugoslavia 1st 6 5 1 1974 Puerto Rico 2nd 7 6 1 1978 Philippines 1st 11 11 0 1982 Colombia 3rd 10 8 2 1986 Spain 3rd 12 10 2 1990 Argentina 1st 8 7 1 Total 10/11 82 62 20

Performance at FIBA EuroBasket Year Position Pld W L 1935 Switzerland Did not qualify 1937 Latvia 1939 Lithuania 1946 Switzerland 1947 Czechoslovakia 13th 5 2 3 1949 Egypt Did not qualify 1951 France 1953 Soviet Union 6th 11 6 5 1955 Hungary 8th 11 4 7 1957 Bulgaria 6th 10 4 6 1959 Turkey 9th 7 6 1 1961 Yugoslavia 2nd 10 8 2 1963 Poland 3rd 9 8 1 1965 Soviet Union 2nd 9 8 1 1967 Finland 9th 9 6 3 1969 Italy 2nd 7 6 1 1971 Germany 2nd 7 6 1 1973 Spain 1st 7 7 0 1975 Yugoslavia 1st 8 8 0 1977 Belgium 1st 7 6 1 1979 Italy 3rd 9 6 3 1981 Czechoslovakia 2nd 10 8 2 1983 France 7th 7 4 3 1985 Germany 7th 8 5 3 1987 Greece 3rd 8 5 3 1989 Yugoslavia 1st 5 5 0 1991 Italy 1st 5 5 0 Total 21/27 169 123 46

Medals table

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Summer Olympic Games
Yugoslavia	1	3	1	5
FIBA World Cup
Yugoslavia	3	3	2	8
FIBA EuroBasket
Yugoslavia	5	5	3	13
Mediterranean Games
Yugoslavia	5	1	1	7
Summer Universiade
Yugoslavia	1	2	1	4
Grand Totals	15	14	8	37

Individual awards

Vlade Divac and Dražen Petrović in the 1990 FIBA World Championship held in Argentina.

• FIBA World Cup MVP
  • Ivo Daneu – 1967
  • Ljubodrag Simonović – 1971
  • Dragan Kićanović – 1974
  • Dražen Dalipagić – 1978
  • Dražen Petrović – 1986
  • Toni Kukoč – 1990
• FIBA EuroBasket MVP
  • Radivoj Korać – 1961
  • Krešimir Ćosić – 1971, 1975
  • Dražen Dalipagić – 1977
  • Dražen Petrović – 1989
  • Toni Kukoč – 1991
• FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team
  • Radivoj Korać – 1967
  • Ivo Daneu – 1967
  • Krešimir Ćosić – 1970, 1978
  • Vinko Jelovac – 1974
  • Dražen Dalipagić – 1978
  • Dragan Kićanović – 1978, 1982
  • Dražen Petrović – 1986
  • Vlade Divac – 1990
  • Toni Kukoč – 1990
• FIBA EuroBasket All-Tournament Team
  • Krešimir Ćosić – 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979
  • Ivo Daneu – 1969
  • Dražen Dalipagić – 1975, 1977, 1981
  • Dragan Kićanović – 1979, 1981
  • Dražen Petrović – 1985, 1989
  • Žarko Paspalj – 1989
  • Dino Rađa – 1989
  • Vlade Divac – 1991
  • Toni Kukoč – 1991

European championships

The dominant years in FIBA competition

The Yugoslav national team of the late 1980s and early 1990s featured what was perhaps the greatest generation in the history of Yugoslav basketball. A common quip about basketball is: "The Americans invented it, the Yugoslavs perfected it." With such players as Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Predrag Danilović, Žarko Paspalj and Jure Zdovc the country was responsible for a wave of international NBA players in the 1990s. Many of the former Yugoslav players of this era were a part of the under-21 national team that won the FIBA World Junior Championships in 1987, defeating the U.S. both in pool play and in the final.

The 1991 team is regarded by Antonello Riva as the best team in European history.^[1]

Rosters

For 1992 onwards, as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: see Serbia and Montenegro national basketball team

Player statistics

Notable people

Manager (head coach) history

• 1947–1950 – Stevica Čolović
• 1950–1953 – Nebojša Popović
• 1954–1965 – Aleksandar Nikolić
• 1965–1972 – Ranko Žeravica
• 1973–1976 – Mirko Novosel
• 1977–1978 – Aleksandar Nikolić
• 1979 – Petar Skansi
• 1980 – Ranko Žeravica
• 1981 – Bogdan Tanjević
• 1982 – Ranko Žeravica
• 1983 – Josip Gjergja
• 1984 – Mirko Novosel
• 1985–1987 – Krešimir Ćosić
• 1988–1991 – Dušan Ivković

New national teams

After the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia in 1991, five new countries were created: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, FR Yugoslavia (in 2003, renamed to Serbia and Montenegro) and Slovenia. In 2006, Montenegro became an independent nation and Serbia became the legal successor of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia and became a FIBA member in 2015.

Here is a list of men's national teams on the SFR Yugoslavia area:

•  Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–present)
•  Croatia (1992–present)
•  Macedonia (1993–present)
•  Serbia and Montenegro (1992–2006)
  •  Montenegro (2006–present)
  •  Serbia (2006–present)
    •  Kosovo (2015–present)
•  Slovenia (1992–present)

None of these teams is an inheritor of the results the SFR Yugoslavia national basketball team had accomplished.

References

External links

• Yugoslavia participation – FIBA archive
• Yugoslavia at fibaeurope.com