KK Cedevita Olimpija

Košarkarski klub Cedevita Olimpija (English: Cedevita Olimpija Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Cedevita Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the ABA League and the EuroCup, as well as in the Slovenian League.

Not to be confused with KK Cedevita or KK Olimpija.

Cedevita Olimpija
2020–21 KK Cedevita Olimpija season
NicknameZmaji (The Dragons)
LeaguesSlovenian League
ABA League
EuroCup
Founded2019
HistoryKK Cedevita Olimpija
(2019–present)
ArenaArena Stožice
Capacity12,480
LocationLjubljana, Slovenia
Team colorsGreen, orange, white
              
Main sponsorAtlantic Grupa
PresidentTomaž Berločnik
General managerDavor Užbinec
Head coachJurica Golemac
Team captainJaka Blažič
Affiliation(s)Cedevita Junior
Websitecedevita.olimpija.com

The club was established in 2019 after the merger of the most successful Slovenian club Olimpija and the Croatian powerhouse Cedevita. Cedevita Olimpija inherited trophies of both predecessors and their competition licenses for its inaugural season. Olimpija, founded in 1946, won 17 Slovenian League championships, 20 Slovenian Cup titles and 8 Slovenian Supercup titles. They are also 6-time winners of Yugoslav League, first champions of Adriatic League and winners of the 1993–94 FIBA European Cup. Cedevita, founded in 1991, are 5-time Croatian League champions, 7-time Croatian Cup winners and 2-time Croatian Supercup winners. Additionally, they have won ABA League Supercup in 2017.

History

Background
Main articles: KK Cedevita and KK Olimpija

KK Cedevita Olimpija is an outcome of a merger of two clubs from neighboring countries, the Slovenian club Petrol Olimpija from Ljubljana and the Croatian team Cedevita from Zagreb, which is the first such instance of two clubs from different countries merging.[1]

Olimpija is the winner of 17 Slovenian Championships and 20 Slovenian Cups. It traces its history back to 1946 and adopted the name Olimpija in 1955. The club was an early power in the Yugoslav League with Ivo Daneu leading Olimpija to six domestic titles between 1957 and 1970. After Slovenia's independence in 1991, Olimpija won ten out of eleven championships between 1992 and 2002. Olimpija won the FIBA Saporta Cup in the 1993–94 season, and Arriel McDonald and Marko Milič helped it to the 1997 Euroleague Final Four. Over the years, Olimpija had a streak of 17 straight EuroLeague appearances and it won the inaugural Adriatic League in the 2001–02 season. Olimpija won the Slovenian League in 2009 and brought home its sixth straight Slovenian Cup in 2013 before going on a four-year trophy drought. During that span, Olimpija made its EuroCup debut in the 2013–14 season, but it wasn't until the 2016–17 season that it got back to its winning ways with the Slovenian League and Cup "double". Olimpija won its most-recent Slovenian League championship in the 2017–18 season.

Cedevita is the winner of five Croatian League Championships and seven Croatian Cup tournaments. It was founded in Zagreb in 1991 as KK Botinec. The club reached the first-tier league in 2002, but its ambitions rose when Atlantic Grupa took over in 2005 and the club changed its name to Cedevita. The club reached the 2011 EuroCup Final Four; Dontaye Draper was named EuroCup MVP while Aleksandar Petrović was EuroCup Coach of the Year. A year later, Cedevita won its first title, the Croatian Cup, led by veteran forward Matjaž Smodiš. Cedevita made its EuroLeague debut in the 2012–13 season, which it finished with a 2–8 record. That turned out to be a title-less season, but the last such for Cedevita, which celebrated a Croatian "double" in each of the next five years. In the 2015–16 EuroLeague, Cedevita reached the Top 16. The club also won the inaugural Adriatic Supercup in 2018. In 2019, Cedevita won the Croatian Cup for the sixth season in a row.

Establishment

On 4 June 2019, it was announced that Croatian club Cedevita and Slovenian club Petrol Olimpija plan to merge and form Cedevita Olimpija, a new men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia.[2][3][4] KK Cedevita has a plan to compete in the Croatian League in the future as Cedevita Junior.[5] On 13 June, management boards of Cedevita and Olimpija have confirmed the appointment of Davor Užbinec as a general manager and Sani Bečirovič as a sports director.[6][7] On 25 June, the EuroCup Board confirmed the club's participation in the 2019–20 EuroCup season.[8] Management boards of Cedevita and Olimpija have separately invited their respective members for their Assembly meetings which took place on 8 July in Arena Stožice, where the club was officially established with Slaven Rimac being confirmed as the first team head coach, as well as Tomaž Berločnik named the president of the club.[9][10]

Inaugural season

Slovenian forward Edo Murić is the first-ever player who signed for the club.[11] Next to players added from Cedevita and Petrol Olimpija rosters, the club signed veterans Mirko Mulalić, Saša Zagorac, and Marko Simonović, as well as Martin Krampelj, Mikael Hopkins, Jaka Blažič, Codi Miller-McIntyre, and Ryan Boatright.[12] On 11 September 2019, guard Jaka Blažič was named the first team captain.[13] In September 2019, Cedevita Olimpija lost to Partizan in the 2019 ABA Supercup final.[14]

Identity

The main colors of Cedevita Olimpija are green and orange. Those two colors are the main colors of the club founders. Green has been used by Olimpija, while orange was used by Cedevita. The crest is the green Ljubljana Dragon, white framed, on the right next to a capital letter 'C' in orange color and white frame, which stands for Cedevita. In addition, the whole crest is framed with green color.

Home arena
Main article: Arena Stožice
External and internal view of Stožice Arena

Cedevita Olimpija plays their home games at the Stožice Arena, often referred to as Zmajevo gnezdo ("The Dragon's Nest") in Slovenian media.[15][16] The arena is located in the Bežigrad District, Ljubljana and owned by the City of Ljubljana. The arena was built in 2010 in fourteen months and is a part of the Stožice sports complex. It has a seating capacity of 12,480.[17]

Occasionally Cedevita Olimpija plays their games at the Tivoli Hall, which has a capacity of 4,500.

Players

Current roster
First and current team captain Jaka Blažič

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Cedevita Olimpija roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.Age
G/F 11 Blažič, Jaka (C) 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 27 – (1992-12-27)27 December 1992
G/F 15 Brown, Rion 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 29 – (1991-03-09)9 March 1991
C 27 Dimec, Žiga 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 27 – (1993-02-20)20 February 1993
PG 7 Duščak, Dan 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 18 – (2002-07-02)2 July 2002
SF 20 Hodžić, Alen 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 28 – (1992-08-11)11 August 1992
PF 5 Hopkins, Mikael 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 27 – (1993-06-23)23 June 1993
C 29 Marinković, Ivan 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 26 – (1993-11-27)27 November 1993
C 9 Mathiang, Mangok 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 27 – (1992-10-08)8 October 1992
SF 8 Murić, Edo 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 28 – (1991-11-27)27 November 1991
G 3 Perry, Kendrick 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 27 – (1992-12-23)23 December 1992
SF 1 Radović, Rok 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 19 – (2001-02-04)4 February 2001
SG 4 Sytnikov, Egor 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 18 – (2002-05-20)20 May 2002
PG 10 Ukić, Roko Leni 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 35 – (1984-12-05)5 December 1984
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured
Updated: August 12, 2020

Depth chart
Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Mangok Mathiang Ivan Marinković Žiga Dimec
PF Mikael Hopkins
SF Edo Murić Rion Brown Rok Radović
SG Jaka Blažič Alen Hodžić Egor Sytnikov
PG Kendrick Perry Roko Leni Ukić Dan Duščak

Retired numbers
FIBA Hall of Fame member Ivo Daneu
Cedevita Olimpija retired numbers
No. Nat. Player Position Tenure Ceremony date
12Marko MiličPF1994–1997, 1999–2000, 2006–2007, 2007–200928 October 2015
13Ivo DaneuPG/SG1956–19707 November 2007

Head coaches

Trophies and awards

Inherited trophies

After Olimpija Ljubljana and Cedevita Zagreb merged into Cedevita Olimpija, the newly-formed club obtained the right to the trophies of the two predecessors clubs.[18][19]

Honours No. Years
National league – 28
Yugoslav League (1946–1991)OLWinners61957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1969–70
Slovenian League (1991–2019)OLWinners171991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2016–17, 2017–18
Croatian League (1991–2019)CZWinners52013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
National cup – 27
Slovenian Cup (1991–2019)OLWinners201992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017
Croatian Cup (1991–2019)CZWinners72012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
National supercup – 10
Slovenian Supercup (2003–2019)OLWinners82003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017
Croatian Supercup (2011–2015)CZWinners22011, 2015
Regional competitions – 4
Adriatic League (2001–2019)OLWinners12001–02
Central European League (1992–1994)OLWinners21992–93, 1993–94
Adriatic Super Cup (2017–2018)CZWinners12017
European competitions – 1
FIBA Saporta Cup (1966–2002)OLWinners11993–94
Notes

Management

Source: Board of Directors

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

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References
  1. "Basketball clubs Cedevita and Olimpija announce merger". sloveniatimes.com. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  2. R. K.; Tilen Jamnik (4 June 2019). "Cedevita Olimpija – slovenski klub Eurocup oz. Evroligo in vrh Lige ABA". RTV Slovenija (in Slovenian). Ljubljana. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  3. "VIDEO: SADA JE I SLUŽBENO: ODRŽAN POVIJESNI SASTANAK U LJUBLJANI! SPAJAJU SE CEDEVITA I KK OLIMPIJA 'Ovo nikada nitko nije napravio u nijednom sportu'". sportske.jutarnji.hr. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  4. "Pionirski projekt v Evropi: novoustanovljena Cedevita Olimpija piše športno zgodovino". 24ur.com. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  5. "Udružuju se KK Cedevita i KK Petrol Olimpija i nastaje KK Cedevita Olimpija". kkcedevita.hr. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  6. "KK Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana: announce Davor Užbinec and Sani Bečirović". kkcedevita.hr. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  7. "General Manager and Sports Director of the new club Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana named". petrol.olimpija.com. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  8. "EuroCup Board proposes team list for 2019–20 season". euroleaguebasketball.net. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  9. R. K. (8 July 2019). "Rimac trener Cedevite Olimpije, prva okrepitev Edo Murić". RTV Slovenija (in Slovenian). Ljubljana. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  10. "Assemblies confirmed new club BC Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana". kkcedevita.hr. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  11. "Muric becomes first signing for Cedevita Olimpija". eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  12. A. V. (7 August 2019). "Bečirović: Iskali smo igralce, ki so lačni uspeha". RTVSLO.si (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  13. "Kapetan Cedevite Olimpije je postal Jaka Blažič". cedevita.olimpija. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  14. "New trophy in Partizan NIS' cupboard: ABA Super Cup". aba-liga.com. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  15. "Tudi Blažič pristal v zmajevem gnezdu". rtvslo.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  16. "Žiga Dimec naslednji slovenski reprezentant v zmajevem gnezdu". 24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  17. "Dvorana Stožice". sport-ljubljana.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  18. "Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana". www.eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  19. "Kratka zgodovina kluba" [Short club's history]. www.cedevita.olimpija.com (in Slovenian). KK Cedevita Olimpija. Retrieved 8 August 2019. ...v vitrinah pa je moč najti trofeje, ki sta jih osvojila tako KK Olimpija Ljubljana, kot tudi KK Cedevita Zagreb.
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