KK Crvena zvezda
| Crvena Zvezda Beograd | |||
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| Nickname | Zvezda (The Star) Delije (The Red and Whites) |
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| Leagues | Serbian League Adriatic League Eurocup |
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| Founded | 1945 | ||
| Arena | Hala Pionir (capacity: 8,122) |
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| Location | Belgrade, Serbia | ||
| Team colors | Red and White |
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| Current Season | 2012–13 KK Crvena zvezda season | ||
| President |  Nebojša Čović |
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| Head coach |  Dejan Radonjić |
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| Championships | 1 Saporta Cup (1974) 15 National Championships (1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1969, 1972, 1993, 1994, 1998) 6 National Cups (1971, 1973, 1975, 2004, 2006, 2013) |
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| Website | kkcrvenazvezda.rs | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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KK Crvena zvezda Beograd (Serbian Cyrillic: Кошаркашки клуб Црвена звезда Београд), widely known as BC Red Star Belgrade or simply Red Star, is a professional basketball club based in Belgrade, which is part of the Red Star Sports Society.[1] Red Star is a part of the Adriatic Basketball Association and compete in the ABA League and in the Serbian League. The club play all home matches in the Pionir Hall, built in 1973, with a capacity of 8,150 seats. Red Star's organized supporters are known as Delije.
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History [edit]
When the subject of great teams in the cradle of European basketball arises, the name of Red Star Belgrade is always a part of the discussion. As one of the most-crowned teams in the former Yugoslavia, Red Star has always commanded attention wherever it plays.
Early years and ten consecutive championship titles (1940s and 1950s) [edit]
By winning the first of ten consecutive championship titles after the Second World War, the golden age of Red Star began. No domestic national selection could be imagined without seven or eight Red Star basketball players and the first quintet featured Nebojša Popović, Tulio Roklicer, Aleksandar Gec, Ladislav Demšar and Srđa Kalember. Their style was unique, they made basketball popular in Serbia and achieved first international results for former Yugoslavia, playing in an open-air court at Kalemegdan fortress. The greatness of this team cannot be disputed. They were pioneers of Yugoslavian basketball who achieved amazing results, entertaining the audience with their game style, just as with their squad harmony both on and off the court. After a decade filled with nothing but success, game scores started to decline, generation shift arrived and it took Red Star fourteen long years to win another trophy.
A giant reborn (late 1960s and 1970s) [edit]
That long awaited eleventh title was won in the 1968–69 season, when Red Star won all six games against Jugoplastika, KK Zadar and Partizan, therefore proving to be better than all three fierce rivals. Led by Vladimir Cvetković, the title was won by Dragan Kapičić, Zoran Lazarević, Ivan Sarjanović, Ljubodrag Simonović, Srđan Skulić, Zoran Slavnić, Tihomir Pavlović, Nemanja Đurić, Miroslav Todosijević, Dragisa Vučinić and Dubravko Kapetanović. At that time, they were the youngest championship winning team in Yugoslavian basketball. The twelfth title was won in the 1971–72 season, after which Red Star's league success deteriorated gradually. In the 70s the club won the national cup three times, and most of the work in those years was done by Slavnić, Simonović, Kapičić, Vučinić and Živković. This generation of players definitely failed to certify their talent by winning only two national championships and three national cups, although they were widely considered capable of achieving much more.
Continental competitions (1970s and 1980s) [edit]
Red Star also had significant international success, having played in five continental cup finals so far. They lost the first Cup Winners' Cup finals to Italian Olimpia Simental in 1972 by a score of 70–74. Then, in 1974, they defeated Zbrojevka from Czechoslovakia by a score of 86–75. This team's third finals in the Cup Winners' Cup were lost to Spartak Leningrad by a score of 62–63 in 1975. In the club's first Korać Cup finals, in Paris in 1984, French Élan won by a 73–67 score. In the Korać Cup second finals in 1998 Red Star played two matches with Mash Verona from Italy. They triumphed in the away match with 74–68 score, but lost the home match by 64–73. With the total score being 138–141, the precious trophy wasn't won.
Another comeback (1990s) [edit]
The 1990s started promisingly. Throughout the 1991-92 league season, which was the last one in SFR Yugoslavia, Red Star played some inspired basketball, reaching the play-off final versus arch-rival Partizan that coached by Željko Obradović won Euroleague that season. In a twist of fate, Red Star was led that season by the legendary Partizan coach Duško Vujošević. Though they lost the finals series, the young Crveno-beli team showed plenty of promise. The thirteenth championship title was won after a gap of no less than 21 years, in 1993. In the fifth match of the playoff finals Red Star beat fierce rivals and Pionir Hall co-tenants Partizan. The players who won that championship title are: Saša Obradović, Nebojša Ilić, Zoran Jovanović, Mile Marinković, Nikola Jovanović, Mileta Lisica, Dejan Tomašević, Dragoljub Vidačić, Aleksandar Trifunović, Rastko Cvetković, Slobodan Kaličanin, Predrag Stojaković and Srđan Jovanović. In the next season Red Star won its fourteenth national championship title literally without any problems. In the playoff finals Partizan was beaten by 4–1 overall. Red Sar won the championship for the fifteenth time in 1998. In those playoff finals Red Star beat FMP from Železnik by an overall score of 3–1. The main star of that team was without any doubt Yugoslavian national team power forward Milenko Topić, and other influential players were Igor Rakočević, Oliver Popović and Zlatko Bolić.
2000s: European Red Star project [edit]
In the early part of 2002, the club got a complete new management. Individuals from the political and business milieu close to ruling Democratic Party, such as Živorad Anđelković, Goran Vesić, and Igor Žeželj, took over key positions in the club. From summer 2002 onward, the project called Evropska Zvezda (European Red Star) was thought up in order to slowly and methodically return the club on the path of its former glory by achieving results that would see the club play Euroleague again. To that end, new management hired Slovenian coach Zmago Sagadin who became Red Star's organizational centerpiece. In his first season Sagadin did not actually coach the team (the formal head coach role was given to Aleksandar Trifunović), but he did make all the important personnel decisions from the role of a sporting director. Under Sagadin's guidance Red Star entered the Adriatic League (a privately owned regional competition in which he holds ownership stake) for the 2002–03 season. In August 2003, ahead of the 2003–04 season, Sagadin took over the coaching duties formally as well. Despite all the efforts, the club did not manage to win any major trophies in this period, and in November 2004 Sagadin got fired.
In the last couple of years the club is struggling to get back on a winning streak, and managed to win the 2003 and 2006 national cup (Radivoj Korać Cup) finals. The first of them was held in Novi Sad, where Red Star beat the national champion Partizan, then the host Vojvodina and, finally, Reflex from Železnik. All three matches were won in overtime, which is something to remember, especially when it is known that those matches were played without some of the best players, including the team captain Igor Rakočević who missed the final match. Besides Rakočević, the cup was won by Goran Jeretin, Vuk Radivojević, Milan Dozet, Miloš Mirković, Norman Richardson, Milko Bjelica, Aleksandar Đurić, Vladislav Dragojlović, Luka Bogdanović, Čedomir Vitkovac and Aleksej Nešović. The 2006 cup was won in Belgrade when Red Star won superiorly against Hemofarm Vršac by 80–65. The team was coached by Dragan Šakota and featured the likes of Jeretin, Milan Gurović, Gerrod Henderson, Miroslav Raičević, Larry O'Bannon, Igor Milošević, Vujadin Subotić, Nenad Mišanović, Vladislav Dragojlović, Čedomir Vitkovac, Vuk Radivojević and Pero Antić. In February 2013 Red Star won their third Radivoj Korać cup beating Partizan 78:69.
Honours [edit]
| Honours | No. | Years | |||
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| League | |||||
| Yugoslav League | Winners | 12 | 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1969, 1972 | ||
| Runners-up | 8 | 1959, 1970, 1973, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1992 | |||
| Serbia and Montenegro League | Winners | 3 | 1993, 1994, 1998 | ||
| Runners-up | 1 | 2006 | |||
| Serbian League | Winners | 0 | none | ||
| Runners-up | 3 | 2007, 2009, 2012 | |||
| Cups | |||||
| Yugoslav Cup | Winners | 3 | 1971, 1973, 1975 | ||
| Runners-up | 2 | 1974, 1990 | |||
| Serbia and Montenegro Cup | Winners | 0 | none | ||
| Runners-up | 1 | 1994 | |||
| Radivoj Korać Cup | Winners | 3 | 2004, 2006, 2013 | ||
| Runners-up | 2 | 2009 | |||
| European | |||||
| Cup Winner's Cup/Eurocup | Winners | 1 | 1974 | ||
| Runners-up | 2 | 1972, 1975 | |||
| Korać Cup | Winners | 0 | none | ||
| Runners-up | 2 | 1984, 1998 | |||
| Regional | |||||
| Adriatic League | Winners | 0 | none | ||
| Runners-up | 1 | 2013 | |||
Individual awards [edit]
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Players [edit]
Current roster [edit]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined by FIBA. Players may hold more than one nationality.
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KK Crvena zvezda roster
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Roster |
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Notable former players [edit]
Players on the NBA Draft [edit]
Igor Rakočević - 2nd round, 51st overall on 2000 NBA Draft by Minnesota Timberwolves
Tadija Dragićević - 2nd round, 53rd overall on 2008 NBA Draft by Utah Jazz- Nemanja Bjelica - 2nd round, 35th overall on 2010 NBA Draft by Washington Wizards
Coaching history [edit]
See: List of Red Star Belgrade basketball coaches
Notable coaches:
- Vladislav Lučić
- Božidar Maljković (1981-86, assistant)
- Aleksandar Nikolić
- Svetislav Pešić
- Nebojša Popović
Zmago Sagadin- Ranko Žeravica
Kit manufacturers [edit]
| Period | Kit Manufacturer |
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| 2008–2010 | And1 |
| 2010–present | Adidas |
References [edit]
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: KK Crvena zvezda |
- KK Crvena zvezda
- Club info at Adriatic league official site
- Crvena Zvezda Sports Association
- Latest news from KK Crvena zvezda (Serbian) at kapiten.rs
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