A brief history of the club
Basketball Club Cedevita Olimpija was established in the summer 2019, with the merger of two top-level sporting clubs from our region, Olimpija of Ljubljana and Cedevita of Zagreb. With the merger, the new club has taken over all of the rights and obligations of the old two clubs, that have ceased to exist with the merger and by doing so, it also claimed all of the two clubs’ history, tradition and the trophies of Cedevita and Olimpija.
The history of the newly merged club is dating back into 1946, when a basketball club, that was later known under many names and that is nowadays known as Cedevita Olimpija, was established under the name of Student’s sporting society Svoboda (Freedom). Later on, the club was renamed to Enotnost (Unity) and then to AŠK Olimpija. On January 27th 1955 the basketball players united the group of students and professors from University of Ljubljana to Academic Sports club Olimpija.
In that, time the club changed its name three times. From 1956 to 1960, it was named AŠK Olympia, from 1961 to 1966 AŠK Olimpija and later from 1967 to 1975 as BC Olimpija. In years from 1955 to 1957, AŠK Olympia won the first league title in former Yugoslavia. Club’s great achievement was repeated six times in years 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966 and during 1969/1970 season. In this period, the women basketball section also reached the championship finals.
During this era, the most famous basketball player of the club was legendary Ivo Daneu, who finished his basketball career by winning the World Championship 1970 in Ljubljana, as captain of the team.
In next years, the club was given the name after club sponsors. Therefore, Olimpija was named Brest Olimpija in 1978, Iskra Olimpija in 1979 and Smelt Olimpija from 1985 to 1996. Since 1997 on, until 2017, the club sponsor was Union. Before the start of 2017/2018 season, the main sponsor of the club changed to Petrol energy company. New era of the club started in next years. First foreign players arrived to the club, and management decided to focus on developing young and talented prospects.
In the following years, Olimpija reached its most famous trophy until today. The club won the title of European Cup winners in 1993/1994 season. In 1996/1997 season the team reached the Final Four of Euroleague in Rome, where they took the 3rd place. This is the second greatest achievement in club international history.
After the independence of Slovenia, Petrol Olimpija is winning first places in Slovenian League and Cup competitions. Later on, the Adriatic League started and Euroleague, domestic championship and cup competitions continued. In some of the previous seasons, the club has been competing in 7Days EuroCup and later Basketball Champions League for two seasons.
Many great players left their mark in club history, both Slovenian and foreigh ones and while some of them continued in top European clubs and some of them made it also to the NBA.
With 17 titles of the national champion, 20 titles of the cup champion and eight titles of the supercup champion, Petrol Olimpija is by far the most successful Slovenian basketball club. With all of the success in the international level, the name Olimpija is the most well known name among the World’s basketball fans and experts. This can also be supported by the fact, that next to Crvena zvezda, Olimpija has the most trophies in the Yugoslavian league, when that league was played in the former Yugoslavia. This fact is important, as the Yugoslavian league and the Yugoslavian national team, was one of the best in Europe and in the World at that time.
At the end of the 2018/19 season, that was unsuccessful for the Dragons, since they have achieved only a single victory in the Basketball Champions League and were relegated from the ABA League and stayed without all of the domestic trophies, the new wind started blowing in the basketball of Ljubljana. The merger of BC Petrol Olimpija Ljubljana and BC Cedevita Zagreb into BC Cedevita Olimpija took place on Monday, 8th July, when the Assemblies of both clubs have confirmed the merger of the Ljubljana and Zagreb club. The headquarters of the new club is in Ljubljana and in the cupboards one can find all of the trophies, that BC Olimpija Ljubljana and BC Cedevita Zagreb have won in the past.
The beginnings of Cedevita Zagreb go back into 1991, when BC Botinec was founded by a group of basketball lovers. At the beginning of its existence, it was fighting in the lower-tier Croatian basketball competitions, all until 2002, when it managed to qualify for the top division of Croatian club basketball. The club’s management has set new goals upon itself – to qualify for European competitions and regional competition and to continue to do business responsibly and to build on safe foundations.
The Zagreb side managed to qualify for its first European competition, FIBA Cup in 2003/04 season and it has reached its goal of qualifying for the ABA League in 2009, four years after Atlantic Grupa has become the main sponsor of the club and changed the name of the club into BC Cedevita Zagreb.
All until merging with BC Petrol Olimpija Ljubljana in 2019, BC Cedevita Zagreb was the flagship of Croatian basketball. Between the years 2014 and 2018, its team became Croatian National Champion for five straight times, they have also won seven Krešimir Ćosić Cup titles in total and two Croatian Super Cup trophies. The Zagreb squad played in the ABA League Finals four times and it has won the ABA Super Cup trophy in 2017.
In 2011, Cedevita appeared at the EuroCup Final Four tournament in Treviso and finished third. The Zagreb club played in the EuroLeague for three seasons and in the 2015/16 season it qualified for the Top16 of the elite European competition.
Several great players have worn both Cedevita and Olimpija jerseys. Those are Marino Baždarić, Vlado Ilievski, Mirza Begić, Damjan Rudež and let’s also mention Jusuf Nurkić. In the 2017/18 season, Cedevita was led by legendary Jure Zdovc, who has led Union Olimpija to the EuroLeague Top16 in the 2010/11 season and in 2018/19 season he was back at the Petrol Olimpija bench.
Slaven Rimac became the first head coach of BC Cedevita Olimpija. The Ljubljana club became the perfect example of new era in European and World basketball, where borders do not exist.
Tomaž Berločnik became the first President of BC Cedevita Olimpija, as the President of Petrol d.d. Board, while Emil Tedeschi, the founder and owner of Atlantic Grupa d.d. became the Vice-president. Davor Užbinec became the first Director of the club and Sani Bečirović became the first Sports Director of the club.
The main goal of the newly established club is to become one of the best clubs in the region and Europe and to take care of development and production of young and talented players at the same time. BC Cedevita Olimpija will have two development centres – in Ljubljana and in Zagreb. While in Ljubljana youth categories will remain organized the same way as before, in Zagreb there will be the headquarters of BC Cedevita Junior.
In the 2019/20 season, Cedevita Olimpija played in the 7Days EuroCup, ABA League and ABA Super Cup, Slovenian National Championship and Slovenian National Cup. In the European competiton, the Dragons finished the competiton after the Group Stage, and in ABA League and Nova KBM League, the competition was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the 2020/21 season, the Dragons (Cedevita Olimpija) faced challenges in the 7Days EuroCup, ABA League, Liga Nova KBM, Spar Cup, and the Slovenian Supercup. The head coach of the senior team was Jurica Golemac, who took the helm in January 2020.
The Ljubljana basketball team began the 2020/21 season, shaped by the global coronavirus pandemic, extremely successfully. In the Slovenian Supercup match in Kranj, they defeated Krka from Novo Mesto 78:67, reclaiming the Slovenian Supercup title for the first time since 2017. This was the Dragons’ eighth Supercup trophy in independent Slovenia. The MVP of the Supercup was the American point guard Kendrick Perry, who scored 20 points, adding seven rebounds and five assists.
Cedevita Olimpija finished the group stage of the 7DAYS EuroCup with seven wins in ten games, securing a spot among the top 16 teams in the EuroCup for the first time since the club has been named KK Cedevita Olimpija. The Dragons came very close to reaching the quarterfinals of the second-tier European basketball competition but narrowly missed out after losing their last two games of the second stage to Virtus Bologna and Budućnost VOLI.
In the ABA League, Cedevita Olimpija performed strongly throughout the season but unfortunately missed the playoff spot in the final round. Despite this, the Ljubljana team finished fifth in the ABA League regular season for the first time since 2014/15. It’s also worth noting that Zagreb’s Cedevita reached the semifinals in the 2018/19 season, while the 2019/20 season was prematurely halted and concluded without final standings due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The excellent performances of Cedevita Olimpija captain Jaka Blažič earned him a spot in the ABA League’s ideal five for the 2020/21 season, as well as a place in the second team of the 7DAYS EuroCup.
On May 30, 2021, Cedevita Olimpija returned #BackToTheTop of Slovenian basketball. For the first time since 2018, the eighteenth time in independent Slovenia, and the first time under the name Cedevita Olimpija, the Dragons celebrated the national championship title. The Ljubljana team defeated their eternal rivals in Slovenia, Krka Novo Mesto, in a three-game final series of the Liga Nova KBM, with their final victory coming in Stožice Arena (80:68), thus concluding the 2020/21 season in the best possible way.
Coach Jurica Golemac’s team finished the playoffs without a single loss in seven games. For the first time since the 2008/09 season, the Ljubljana club defeated its opponents in the final in three games. For the Dragons, the national championship title, along with the 2020 Supercup, was their second trophy of the season.
This marked the second season for Cedevita Olimpija since the merger of Ljubljana’s Olimpija and Zagreb’s Cedevita. The Dragons achieved their first breakthrough into the top 16 of the 7DAYS EuroCup, finishing fifth in the regional ABA League after contending for a playoff spot until the very end. The same applies to their run in the EuroCup, where the last round of the regular season proved decisive.
However, Ljubljana can finally celebrate the national basketball championship title for the first time since 2018. Kendrick Perry was named the MVP of the national championship finals series.
In the 2021/22 season, the senior team of KK Cedevita Olimpija competed in two international competitions (7Days EuroCup and ABA League), the Slovenian national championship (Liga Nova KBM), and the Slovenian cup competition (Pokal Spar). After a poor start to the season, the team underwent a leadership reshuffle, with some players leaving the team. However, new additions such as Alen Omić, Yogi Ferrell, and Zoran Dragić sparked a significant revival, and the team delivered outstanding performances in the second half of the season.
Cedevita Olimpija finished the regular season of the 7DAYS EuroCup in third place after an impressive run to end this stage. The Dragons advanced to the quarterfinals, creating a basketball frenzy in Slovenia, but came up just 0.2 seconds short of reaching the semifinals. In a sold-out Stožice Arena, the Turkish team Frutti Extra Bursaspor defeated the Ljubljana team and went on to reach the final of the competition. At the end of the season, captain Jaka Blažič was named to the EuroCup’s All-Second Team.
In the ABA League, the Ljubljana basketball team reached the top four teams in the competition for the first time in over a decade. They closed the season with a winning streak, and for the first time in many years, they sold out the Tivoli Arena at the end of March, first in a game against Partizan NIS (which also marked the club’s 75th anniversary) and then in the second semifinal match against Crvena Zvezda mts, creating a fiery atmosphere in Ljubljana. Ultimately, the Ljubljana team was eliminated in the semifinals, but the positive takeaway was that they were just one win away from reaching the final. Blažič was named to the ABA League’s All-Star Five.
In Slovenian competitions, Cedevita Olimpija won all three domestic trophies. In September 2021, the Dragons defeated Krka Novo Mesto in the Slovenian Supercup, with Zach Auguste being named the game’s MVP. In February 2022, the Ljubljana team claimed the Spar Cup title at Kodeljevo after defeating Helios Suns Domžale in the final, with Edo Murić named the tournament’s MVP. They secured their second consecutive national trophy after going undefeated in the national championship playoffs for the second year in a row. Along the way, they eliminated Krka Novo Mesto in the quarterfinal series and Rogaška in the semifinals. In the final, Cedevita Olimpija faced Helios Domžale, winning the series in three games to claim their 19th Slovenian national championship title. Alen Omić was named the MVP of the Liga Nova KBM finals series.
In the 2022/23 season, Cedevita Olimpija’s senior team once again competed in two international tournaments (7DAYS EuroCup and AdmiralBet ABA League), the Slovenian national championship (Liga Nova KBM), and the Slovenian cup competition (Pokal Spar). After three seasons, Jaka Blažič left the team, but key players like Edo Murić, Yogi Ferrell, Zoran Dragić, and Alen Omić remained part of the squad.
Unfortunately, the season started with bad news, as Dragić, Karlo Matković, and Lovro Gnjidić returned to Ljubljana from EuroBasket with injuries. This was just the beginning of a series of health issues that plagued the team throughout the season. Due to these injuries, the Dragons couldn’t find their rhythm in the EuroCup, finishing the regular season with only three wins out of 18 games, placing them last in Group A.
The team performed much better in the AdmiralBet ABA League, where they recorded 17 wins and 9 losses during the regular season, finishing in fourth place. In the quarterfinals, they faced FMP Soccerbet, defeating them in three games, which earned them a semifinal matchup against Partizan Mozzart Bet. Partizan, a EuroLeague team that came close to reaching the Final Four, faced strong resistance from Cedevita Olimpija. In front of nearly 10,000 fans in Stožice Arena, the Dragons won the second game, forcing a decisive third match in Belgrade’s Štark Arena, where Partizan ultimately prevailed.
On the domestic front, the battle for titles continued against Helios Suns from Domžale. The Dragons faced them in the Slovenian Supercup, the Pokal Spar final, and the Liga Nova KBM final. In all three competitions, Cedevita Olimpija emerged victorious. On Saturday, June 10, 2023, they claimed their 20th Slovenian national championship title. Yogi Ferrell was named the MVP of the national championship finals series.
Before the 2023/24 season, Cedevita Olimpija turned a new chapter in its history. After four seasons, Sani Bečirović stepped down as the sports director, leaving for Greek club Panathinaikos, and was replaced by Vlado Ilievski, a former player of Union Olimpija remembered fondly by basketball fans. Italian coach Simone Pianigiani also joined as head coach, becoming the first non-Yugoslavian coach in the club’s history.
Cedevita Olimpija began the 2023/24 season in the ABA Supercup but did not perform well, suffering three losses and finishing last among eight teams. However, they claimed their first domestic title by defeating Kansai Helios from Domžale 76:59 in the Slovenian Supercup at the end of September. Luka Ščuka was named MVP with 21 points and seven rebounds.
In the EuroCup, the team struggled throughout the regular season. Even before the New Year, it was clear they wouldn’t qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive season, with only one win in 18 games, recorded in Hamburg. Despite 11 close losses (by 10 points or fewer), they finished with the worst record in the competition.
On the other hand, Cedevita Olimpija fared better in the ABA League. They ended the first half of the regular season with 10 wins and 3 losses, ranking near the top of the standings. However, a slump followed, with six wins and seven losses in the remaining games, leading to a fifth-place finish. In the quarterfinals, they faced Mega MIS and were eliminated after two games. Jaka Blažič was named to the league’s second-best team at the season’s end.
In 2024, Cedevita Olimpija also saw a coaching change, with Zoran Martić replacing Pianigiani. Martić led the team to victory in the Spar Cup in February. The team defeated ECE Triglav Kranj in the quarterfinals, Kansai Helios Domžale in the semifinals, and Krka in a thrilling 87:86 final. Alen Omić, who posted 16 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in the final, was named MVP of the tournament for the second consecutive season.
After being eliminated from the ABA League, Cedevita Olimpija focused on the Slovenian national championship playoffs. They swept Šentjur in the quarterfinals and GGD Šenčur in the semifinals.
In the national finals, they met Kansai Helios for the third consecutive season. After two tightly contested games, Cedevita Olimpija won the third game convincingly in Domžale, sweeping the series and claiming their fourth straight Slovenian championship, and their 21st title overall in independent Slovenia. Alen Omić was once again named the MVP of the finals, winning the award for the second time in his career.
The 2023/24 season was also highly successful for Cedevita Olimpija’s youth teams. The club won two national championships in the U16 and U18 categories, and reached the finals in the U20 and U14 categories. In the U20 category, the club even fielded two teams in the finals. Overall, Cedevita Olimpija participated in five finals across four youth categories, winning two championships and finishing as runners-up in two others.
