When a country of 2 million people generates as many great players as Slovenia, there has to be some magic at work. In the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, the magicians wear the green of Union Olimpija, a club that has become known as something of a talent farm. The basketball club today is called Union Olimpija, was founded in 1946 as a section of the Svoboda Physical Culture Society. The first basketball game was played the same year against Udarnik and Olimpija came out on top with the score of 37-14. Late in 1946, the club was renamed Enotnost and was known by that name until 1954 when it assumed the name ASK Olimpia. Since 1997, the club has been called by it current name, Union Olimpija. Olimpija conquered its first national title of then Yugoslavia in 1957. In one of the world's best emerging leagues, Olimpija went on to dominate the next 15 years, winning the Yugoslav title five more times, in 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966 and 1970. A new era for the club began with Slovenia's independence, when dominance took on another meaning, namely 10 consecutive years of winning both the league and cup trophies in Slovenia. In the international arena, 1993-94 was the club's best season as they took home the European Cup against Spain's Tau Ceramica under the direction of coach Zmago Sagadin. Over the past few seasons, Olimpija has stood out as one of the most ambitious clubs in Europe, competing in three or four separate competitions. In 2001-02, the Slovenian team won the triple crown, taking the Slovenian League championship, Slovenian National Cup and the Adriatic League. Last season, Olimpija fielded a team composed mainly of home grown talent and young players. The results in the Euroleague were amazing and inspirational to smaller clubs in Europe: Olimpija secured a spot in the Top 16 after just 11 games despite being grouped with the likes of Barcelona, Maccabi, and Panathinaikos. They proved disbelievers wrong again in the Top 16, as they won three of the first four games and held hopes of making the Final Four up until the final day, when they were stopped in Barcelona by the champs-to-be. The amazing Euroleague run may have drained the team of its energy, as it failed to repeat as champions in the Slovenian League and Adriatic League. The club did add to its trophy collection in 2002-03, though, winning both the Slovenian Cup. Lesson: don't ever count out this homegrown superpower.

TROPHY CASE:

European Cup winners cup
1994
Goodyear League
2001
Slovenian League
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002
Slovenian Cup
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Slovenian Supercup
2003
Yugoslavian League
1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1970

 

2003/04		overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
1	@Cibona	65	44.7	16	34	47.1	5	13	38.5	18	30	60.0	15	5	6	9	17	1	1	27	32	50
2	Zagreb	88	56.7	22	37	59.5	12	23	52.2	8	10	80.0	24	8	10	8	13	1	2	25	19	90
3	@Krka	87	42.3	12	34	35.3	10	18	55.6	33	43	76.7	16	9	12	4	10	0	0	25	30	83
4	Zadar	95	53.4	26	45	57.8	5	13	38.5	28	33	84.8	27	8	12	5	12	0	0	31	30	102
5	@Zvezda	95	53.6	23	40	57.5	7	16	43.8	28	31	90.3	19	6	10	7	12	2	1	27	26	96
6	Reflex	81	45.5	13	32	40.6	12	23	52.2	19	30	63.3	26	12	12	8	13	0	1	25	24	83
7	@Budućnost	70	45.5	21	47	44.7	4	8	50.0	16	21	76.2	26	11	4	2	13	2	0	29	19	57
8	Laško	77	51.9	25	43	58.1	3	11	27.3	18	27	66.7	30	8	3	1	9	3	0	23	28	83
9	@Split	98	51.6	21	43	48.8	12	21	57.1	20	28	71.4	22	4	23	6	9	0	2	29	30	104
10	Lovćen	80	49.1	20	35	57.1	7	20	35.0	19	21	90.5	15	10	11	4	11	3	1	23	21	79
11	@Slovan	71	52.0	20	39	51.3	6	11	54.5	13	16	81.3	19	10	4	9	17	3	2	25	20	65
12	Široki	90	57.7	20	33	60.6	10	19	52.6	20	23	87.0	14	7	10	10	11	1	1	16	20	99
13	@Banjalučka	91	53.8	19	30	63.3	9	22	40.9	26	37	70.3	22	6	3	3	8	0	0	24	23	81
14	Cibona	79	43.3	19	40	47.5	7	20	35.0	20	27	74.1	21	12	13	8	16	1	0	24	32	85
15	@Zagreb	90	58.9	23	38	60.5	10	18	55.6	14	20	70.0	26	8	18	5	7	1	1	24	21	108
16	Krka	85	53.3	17	27	63.0	7	18	38.9	30	35	85.7	19	6	15	6	16	2	0	25	31	97
17	@Zadar	82	43.8	23	40	57.5	5	24	20.8	21	29	72.4	19	9	3	9	6	1	4	26	30	73
18	Zvezda	86	48.3	21	39	53.8	7	19	36.8	23	37	62.2	21	7	10	11	15	4	2	24	26	80
19	@Reflex	69	41.1	17	34	50.0	6	22	27.3	17	26	65.4	14	8	7	8	11	2	3	24	26	54
20	Budućnost	73	36.5	18	46	39.1	5	17	29.4	22	31	71.0	14	12	5	8	11	1	3	25	27	52
21	@Laško	106	53.6	28	49	57.1	9	20	45.0	23	33	69.7	19	5	6	12	14	4	3	36	28	85
22	Split	84	54.2	20	34	58.8	6	14	42.9	26	27	96.3	20	8	12	4	14	3	0	22	27	99
23	@Lovćen	94	55.8	19	31	61.3	10	21	47.6	26	29	89.7	19	8	15	4	9	1	0	23	27	110
24	Slovan	72	43.1	15	31	48.4	7	20	35.0	21	27	77.8	22	9	13	2	16	4	0	23	26	74
25	@Široki	73	51.0	17	27	63.0	8	22	36.4	15	19	78.9	23	6	9	3	13	3	1	23	21	73
26	Banjalučka	92	51.5	27	46	58.7	8	22	36.4	14	22	63.6	23	12	12	9	9	2	0	26	22	96
27	@Cibona	81	40.0	10	23	43.5	8	22	36.4	37	48	77.1	11	5	4	8	14	1	1	29	30	58
27	18:9 Total	2254	49.3	532	997		205	497		575	760		546	219	262	173	326	46	29	683	696	2216
	Average	83.5	49.3	53.4			41.2			75.7			20.2	8.1	9.7	6.4	12.1	1.7	1.1	25.3	25.8	82.1
	Season max	106	58.9	63.3%			57.1%			96.3%			30	12	23	12	17	4	4	36	32	110

2003/04				overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		GP	Min	Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
0	Olumide, O.	2	22:30	5	50.0	2	4	50.0	0	0	0	1	2	50.0	4	1	1	1	1	0	0	3	3	8
4	Mali, G.	5	16:30	14	36.4	0	1	0.0	4	10	40.0	2	2	100.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	1	6
5	Baždarić, M.	26	742:15	357	51.4	50	94	53.2	63	126	50.0	68	83	81.9	83	10	46	34	52	0	3	63	91	381
7	Boisa, V.	26	695:00	299	46.6	75	148	50.7	22	60	36.7	83	118	70.3	56	52	23	18	48	9	4	98	102	263
10	Štelmahers, R.	24	721:30	273	46.4	43	86	50.0	34	80	42.5	85	103	82.5	39	3	63	27	38	2	3	77	112	294
13	Maravič, M.	23	616:15	230	55.1	55	99	55.6	20	37	54.1	60	74	81.1	71	24	33	13	31	1	3	65	70	268
14	Šmigič, D.	5	17:00	7	60.0	3	4	75.0	0	1	0.0	1	2	50.0	0	0	3	3	4	0	0	3	3	6
15	Rahimić, D.	26	520:15	308	56.9	114	193	59.1	2	11	18.2	74	114	64.9	89	51	3	19	30	0	3	58	89	340
21	Zagorac, S.	3	28:30	7	37.5	2	4	50.0	1	4	25.0	0	0	0	4	3	3	0	2	0	1	9	1	1
22	Petrov, S.	25	479:00	192	44.0	32	71	45.1	23	54	42.6	59	70	84.3	20	2	34	8	21	1	3	58	64	158
25	Anagonye, A.	25	377:15	142	49.5	54	107	50.5	1	4	25.0	31	43	72.1	58	39	8	12	34	19	2	78	40	136
30	Pavič, S.	27	385:00	133	49.0	42	77	54.5	5	19	26.3	34	51	66.7	61	27	10	9	19	7	3	55	34	138
31	Ožbolt, S.	21	392:00	128	43.2	21	45	46.7	17	43	39.5	35	45	77.8	14	1	25	11	19	2	1	46	40	95
33	Hafnar, G.	5	40:30	16	30.8	3	8	37.5	1	5	20.0	7	10	70.0	5	1	3	2	4	0	1	7	8	11
34	Tucker, D.	3	09:00	2	33.3	1	3	33.3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	1	0
45	Dujmović, P.	16	387:30	141	49.0	35	53	66.0	12	43	27.9	35	43	81.4	39	5	7	14	21	5	2	57	37	111

FG2, FG3 - Field Goals; FT - Free Throws; Min - Minutes; Pts - Points; M - Made; A - Attempted; Blck - Blocks; Fv - in Favoure of; Ag - Against; Foul - Foul; Cm - Committed; Rv - Received; Rebs - Rebounds; D - Defensive; O - Offensive; Ass - Assists; St - Steals; To - Turnover; Val - rank Value;