Nebojša Popović

Nebojša Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Небојша Поповић; 8 February 1923 – 20 October 2001) was Serbian and Yugoslav basketball player, coach and administrator. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally. He is the basketball legend of Red Star Belgrade. In 2007, he was enshrined as a contributor in the FIBA Hall of Fame.[1]

For the handball player, see Nebojša Popović (handballer).
Nebojša Popović
Personal information
Born(1923-02-08)8 February 1923
Irig, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Died20 October 2001(2001-10-20) (aged 78)
Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
NationalityYugoslav
Career information
Playing career1945–1952
Number8, 16
Coaching career1945–1955
Career history
As player:
1945–1951Crvena zvezda
1951–1952Gallaratese
As coach:
1945–1955Crvena zvezda Men
1946–1952Crvena zvezda Women
1950–1953Yugoslavia
Career highlights and awards
As a player:
  • 6× Yugoslav League champion (1946–1951)

As a coach:

Career Yugoslav League statistics
Points518 (8.9 ppg)
FIBA Hall of Fame as coach

Early life

Popović lived with his family in Rijeka, where he played water polo as a goalkeeper. He learned about basketball from the Yugoslav water polo and a basketball pioneer Božo Grkinić.

Basketball career

Crvena zvezda

Popović was a co-founder of the Crvena Zvezda basketball club in 1945. He held number 1 membership card.[1] He played for Crvena Zvezda from 1945 to 1951, he also coached men's team at Red Star from 1945 to 1955 and women's Red Star team from 1946 to 1952.[1]

Popović played for the Italian team Gallaratese in 1951–1952.[1]

Yugoslavia national team

As a player for the Yugoslavia national basketball team Popović participated in 1950 World Championship and 1947 European Championship.[2] He scored first point in history of World Championships as player of Yugoslavia.[1]

He coached Yugoslavia national basketball team at the 1950 World Championship and 1953 European Championship.

Administrator

Popović served as the president of the Yugoslav Basketball Federation (1985–1987) and president of the Commission for International Competition of FIBA.

Journalism

Popović also worked as a journalist, contributing to La Gazzetta dello Sport for four decades.[1]

He was the executive of Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT), the Yugoslav national TV channel. He covered four Summer Olympic Games with JRT.[1]

Career achievements and awards

Coaching record
Legend
 W  Wins  L  Losses  D  Draws  W%  Winning percentage

Yugoslav First Men's Basketball League
Season Team Games W D L W % Result
1946 Crvena zvezda 7601.857Champions
1947 Crvena zvezda 44001.000Champions
1948 Crvena zvezda 5401.800Champions
1949 Crvena zvezda 181701.944Champions
1950 Crvena zvezda 181602.889Champions
1951 Crvena zvezda 221822.818Champions
1952 Crvena zvezda 44001.000Champions
1953 Crvena zvezda 6510.833Champions
1954 Crvena zvezda 221606.727Champions
1955 Crvena zvezda 181413.778Champions
Career124104416.839

Yugoslav Women's Basketball League
Season Team Games W D L W % Result
1946 Crvena zvezda 33001.000Champions
1947 Crvena zvezda 44001.000Champions
1948 Crvena zvezda 55001.000Champions
1949 Crvena zvezda 44001.000Champions
1950 Crvena zvezda 55001.000Champions
1951 Crvena zvezda 10910.900Champions
1952 Crvena zvezda 33001.000Champions
Career343310.971

National team
Tournament Team Games W L W % Result
1950 World Championship Yugoslavia 505.00010th place
1953 EuroBasket Yugoslavia 1165.5456th place
Career16610.375
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See also

References
  1. FIBA Hall of Fame page on Popović
  2. https://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/64267/sid/2241/tid/390/_//index.html
  3. Full Cast & Crew of We Will Be the World Champions
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Petar Breznik		 President of the
Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia
1987–1989		 Succeeded by
Miodrag Babić
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