KK Cedevita Olimpija

Not to be confused with KK Cedevita or KK 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 Slovenian First League.

Cedevita Olimpija
Nickname	Zmaji (The Dragons)
Leagues	Slovenian First League ABA League EuroCup
Founded	2019; 5 years ago (2019)
History	KK Cedevita Olimpija (2019–present)
Arena	Arena Stožice
Capacity	12,480
Location	Ljubljana, Slovenia
Team colors	Green, orange, white
Main sponsor	Atlantic Grupa
President	Emil Tedeschi
General manager	Davor Užbinec
Head coach	Zvezdan Mitrović
Team captain	Jaka Blažič
Affiliation(s)	Cedevita Junior
Championships	4 Slovenian Championships 3 Slovenian Cups 5 Slovenian Supercups 70 Inherited trophies
Retired numbers	3 (10, 12, 13)
Website	cedevita.olimpija.com
Home Away Third

The club was established in 2019 after the merger of the most successful Slovenian club Olimpija and the Croatian powerhouse Cedevita. Cedevita Olimpija inherited 70 trophies of both predecessors and their competition licences for its inaugural season.

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 was 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 last Slovenian League championship in the 2017–18 season.^[2]

Cedevita was 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, and Aleksandar Petrović 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.^{[citation needed]}

Establishment

On 4 June 2019, it was announced that Cedevita and Petrol Olimpija plan to merge and form Cedevita Olimpija, a new men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia.^[3][4][5] On 13 June, the 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] On 8 July, 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]

KK Cedevita continued to compete under the name Cedevita Junior, and reached the top division of Croatian basketball in 2020–21.^[11]

Inaugural season and first titles

Slovenian forward Edo Murić became the first-ever player who signed for the club.^[12] 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.^[13] On 11 September 2019, guard Jaka Blažič was named the first team captain.^[14] In September 2019, Cedevita Olimpija lost to Partizan in the 2019 ABA Supercup final.^[15] The team also finished as runners-up of the Slovenian Cup. In EuroCup, Olimpija participated in Group C and finished in sixth place, before the competition was cancelled in the playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Slovenian League and the ABA League were also cancelled.^[16] In mid-season, former Olimpija player Jurica Golemac replaced Rimac as head coach.^[17]

In the 2020–21 season, Cedevita Olimpija signed two Slovenian international players, Žiga Dimec and Luka Rupnik,^[18][19] and the top scorer of the 2019–20 ABA League season, Kendrick Perry.^[20] At the beginning of the season, the club won its first trophy since the merger as they beat Krka in the Slovenian Supercup.^[21] In the EuroCup and the ABA League, Cedevita Olimpija was only one win away from advancing to the playoffs. However, the team won the national league for the first time in three years after sweeping Krka 3–0 in the final.^[22] At the beginning of the 2021–22 season, Cedevita Olimpija won its tenth Supercup title after beating Krka,^[23] which was followed by their first Slovenian Cup title in five years after defeating Helios Suns in the final, their second trophy of the season.^[24]

Identity

The main colours of Cedevita Olimpija are green and orange. Green has been used by Olimpija, while orange was used by Cedevita. The crest consists of a green dragon, one of the symbols of the city of Ljubljana, and a capital letter 'C' in orange, which stands for Cedevita. In addition, the entire crest is framed in green.

Home arena

Main article: Arena Stožice

Cedevita Olimpija play their home games at the Stožice Arena, often referred to as Zmajevo gnezdo (Dragon's Nest) in Slovenian media.^[25][26] The arena is located in the Bežigrad District of 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.^[27]

Occasionally, Cedevita Olimpija play their home games at the Tivoli Hall, which has a capacity of 4,500.^[28]

Players

First and current team captain Jaka Blažič

Main page: Category:KK Cedevita Olimpija players

Current roster

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

Cedevita Olimpija roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age SG 0 D.J. Stewart Jr. 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 25 – (1999-07-28)28 July 1999 PF 1 Robinson, Devin 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 29 – (1995-03-07)7 March 1995 PG 2 Jones, DeVante' 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 26 – (1998-04-09)9 April 1998 F 3 Radović, Rok 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 23 – (2001-02-04)4 February 2001 PG 5 Nikolić, Aleksej 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 29 – (1995-02-21)21 February 1995 G 7 Glas, Gregor 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 23 – (2001-04-29)29 April 2001 PG 9 Lemar, Brynton 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 29 – (1995-01-23)23 January 1995 G 11 Blažič, Jaka (C) 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 34 – (1990-06-30)30 June 1990 PG 19 Gnjidić, Lovro 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 23 – (2001-04-18)18 April 2001 C 20 Beringer, Joan 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 17 – (2006-11-11)11 November 2006 C 23 Geben, Martinas 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 30 – (1994-10-20)20 October 1994 PF 34 Prepelič, Bine 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 23 – (2001-08-05)5 August 2001 PF 41 Daneu, Žiga 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 22 – (2002-08-10)10 August 2002	Head coach Zvezdan Mitrović Assistant coach(es) Đorđe Adžić Dalibor Damjanović Grega Nachbar Strength & conditioning coach(es) Filip Ujaković Physiotherapist(s) Rok Žagar Borut Černilogar Team manager Tevž Ružič Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 2 November 2024

Retired numbers

Cedevita Olimpija retired numbers
No.	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure	Ceremony date
10		Dušan Hauptman	SG	1982–1998OL	29 January 2023[29]
12		Marko Milič	PF	1994–1997, 1999–2000, 2006–2007, 2007–2009OL	28 October 2015
13		Ivo Daneu	PG/SG	1956–1970OL	7 November 2007

Notes

• ^OL Played for KK Olimpija Ljubljana (1946–2019)

Notable former players

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

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Saša Ciani
• Žiga Dimec
• Zoran Dragić
• Alen Hodžić
• Jaka Klobučar
• Edo Murić
• Alen Omić
• Klemen Prepelič
• Matic Rebec
• Luka Rupnik
• Luka Ščuka
• Saša Zagorac
• Ryan Boatright
• Rašid Mahalbašić
• Amar Alibegović
• Andrija Stipanović
• Codi Miller-McIntyre
• Melvin Ejim
• Karlo Matković
• Roko Ukić
• Jacob Pullen
• Maik Zirbes
• Zach Auguste
• Mikael Hopkins
• Jarrod Jones
• Dominic Artis
• Shawn Jones
• Justin Cobbs
• Kendrick Perry
• Marko Jeremić
• Marko Simonović
• Yogi Ferrell

Head coaches

Main page: Category:KK Cedevita Olimpija coaches

• Slaven Rimac (2019–2020)
• Jurica Golemac (2020–2023)
• Miro Alilović (2023) (interim)
• Simone Pianigiani (2023–2024)
• Zoran Martić (2024)
• Zvezdan Mitrović (2024–present)

Trophies and awards

Trophies won

• Slovenian Championship
  • Winners (4) – 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
• Slovenian Cup
  • Winners (3) – 2022, 2023, 2024
• Slovenian Supercup
  • Winners (5) – 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

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.^[30][31]

Honours		No.	Years
National league – 28
Yugoslav League (1946–1991)OL	Winners	6	1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1969–70
Slovenian League (1991–2019)OL	Winners	17	1991–92, 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)CZ	Winners	5	2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
National cup – 27
Slovenian Cup (1991–2019)OL	Winners	20	1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017
Croatian Cup (1991–2019)CZ	Winners	7	2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
National supercup – 10
Slovenian Supercup (2003–2019)OL	Winners	8	2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017
Croatian Supercup (2011–2015)CZ	Winners	2	2011, 2015
Regional competitions – 4
Adriatic League (2001–2019)OL	Winners	1	2001–02
Central European League (1992–1994)OL	Winners	2	1992–93, 1993–94
Adriatic Super Cup (2017–2018)CZ	Winners	1	2017
European competitions – 1
FIBA Saporta Cup (1966–2002)OL	Winners	1	1993–94

Notes

• ^OL Won by KK Olimpija Ljubljana (1946–2019)
• ^CZ Won by KK Cedevita Zagreb (1991–2019)

Management

• President: Emil Tedeschi
• Vice-presidents: Tomaž Berločnik, Damjan Kralj, Andrej Slapar
• Management board: David Kovačič, Nada Drobne Popović, Blaž Brodnjak, Emil Tedeschi Jr., Zoran Stankovič, Jurij Žurej, Enzo Smrekar
• General manager: Davor Užbinec
• Sporting director: Chechu Mulero^[32]
• Technical director: Krešimir Novosel

Source: ^[33][34]

References

1. "Basketball clubs Cedevita and Olimpija announce merger". sloveniatimes.com. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
2. Subotić, Dolores (29 May 2018). "Badžim odločil košarkarsko dramo – Petrol Olimpija je prvak!" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
3. R. K.; Tilen Jamnik (4 June 2019). "Cedevita Olimpija – slovenski klub Eurocup oz. Evroligo in vrh Lige ABA" (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
4. "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. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
5. "Pionirski projekt v Evropi: novoustanovljena Cedevita Olimpija piše športno zgodovino". 24ur.com. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
6. "KK Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana: announce Davor Užbinec and Sani Bečirović". kkcedevita.hr. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
7. R. K. (13 June 2019). "Prva poteza Cedevite Olimpije: Imenovana Užbinec in Bečirović" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
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" (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
10. "Assemblies confirmed new club BC Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana". kkcedevita.hr. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
11. "Cedevita Junior izborila HT Premijer ligu, Dinamo ima popravni s Furnirom". Basketball.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 22 September 2021.
12. "Muric becomes first signing for Cedevita Olimpija". eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved 11 July 2019.^{[dead link]}
13. A. V. (7 August 2019). "Bečirović: Iskali smo igralce, ki so lačni uspeha" (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
14. "Jaka Blažič kapetan košarkarjev Cedevite Olimpije". Dnevnik. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
15. "New trophy in Partizan NIS' cupboard: ABA Super Cup". aba-liga.com. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
16. "URADNO: Brez prvaka in konec sezone v ligi ABA". Sportklub (in Slovenian). 27 May 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
17. "Rimca bo v Cedeviti Olimpiji zamenjal Jurica Golemac". vecer.com (in Slovenian). 27 January 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
18. "Dimec nov slovenski reprezentant v vrstah Cedevite Olimpije". Dnevnik (in Slovenian). 1 June 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
19. "Zdaj je uradno: Luka Rupnik okrepil Cedevito Olimpijo". 24ur.com (in Slovenian). 6 December 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
20. S. J. (23 May 2020). "Olimpijo okrepil prvi strelec Lige ABA" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
21. "Olimpija devetič osvojila superpokal" (in Slovenian). Siol. 17 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
22. Lisjak, Mitja (30 May 2021). "Cedevita Olimpija po treh letih znova državni prvak" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
23. T. O. (17 September 2021). "Cedevita Olimpija z dvojnim dvojčkom Zacha Augusta do 10. superpokala" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
24. D. S. (18 February 2022). "Cedevita Olimpija z odličnim drugim polčasom do 21. pokalne lovorike" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
25. "Tudi Blažič pristal v zmajevem gnezdu" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
26. "Žiga Dimec naslednji slovenski reprezentant v zmajevem gnezdu". 24ur.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 24 July 2020.
27. "Dvorana Stožice". sport-ljubljana.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 13 June 2019.
28. "Hala Tivoli (dvorana in drsališče Tivoli) – Šport Ljubljana". sport-ljubljana.si (in Slovenian). Retrieved 21 October 2020.
29. "Hauptman: Čustva se hitro naberejo, sploh pa zdaj, ko sem ranljiv" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. 26 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
30. "Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana". eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
31. "Kratka zgodovina kluba" [Short club's history]. cedevita.olimpija.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 8 August 2019. ...v vitrinah pa je moč najti trofeje, ki sta jih osvojila tako KK Olimpija Ljubljana, kot tudi KK Cedevita Zagreb.
32. A. G. (6 May 2024). "Španec Mulero novi športni direktor Cedevite Olimpije" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
33. "Klub". cedevita.olimpija.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 21 October 2020.
34. "Vodstvena ekipa". cedevita.olimpija.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 21 October 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Club profile at eurobasket.com