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
2002

Slovenian National Championship
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006

Slovenian National Cup
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006

Slovenian Supercup
2003, 2004

Yugoslavian National Championship
1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1970

 

2005/06		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	@Zadar	82	45.9	16	46	34.8	12	15	80.0	14	18	77.8	20	13	16	7	12	2	3	26	22	84
2	FMP	97	72.3	21	25	84.0	13	22	59.1	16	19	84.2	15	6	14	9	17	1	0	20	18	107
3	@Hemofarm	80	55.4	24	41	58.5	7	15	46.7	11	19	57.9	17	9	16	2	10	3	2	21	19	80
4	@Laško	74	49.2	23	44	52.3	7	17	41.2	7	9	77.8	23	7	14	8	16	2	0	15	16	80
5	Zvezda	84	51.7	23	38	60.5	7	20	35.0	17	28	60.7	19	12	6	10	9	1	1	19	22	86
6	@Cibona	81	43.9	25	51	49.0	4	15	26.7	19	26	73.1	22	14	11	9	14	0	4	26	26	75
7	Vojvodina	68	39.3	20	41	48.8	4	20	20.0	16	18	88.9	21	11	11	12	16	2	1	29	23	63
8	@Široki	92	59.3	24	32	75.0	11	27	40.7	11	16	68.8	20	6	13	8	11	2	0	21	19	99
9	Slovan	59	32.8	17	48	35.4	2	10	20.0	19	27	70.4	24	10	9	7	14	2	1	26	22	45
10	@Helios	66	44.9	17	28	60.7	5	21	23.8	17	18	94.4	23	5	7	4	11	1	2	30	22	57
11	Partizan	60	38.5	15	31	48.4	5	21	23.8	15	21	71.4	15	2	12	8	8	3	2	19	20	53
12	@Zagreb	94	61.8	20	34	58.8	14	21	66.7	12	16	75.0	17	8	19	12	18	4	4	18	19	108
13	Bosna	89	52.0	15	24	62.5	11	26	42.3	26	29	89.7	21	5	18	8	10	2	0	25	24	105
14	Zadar	78	47.9	16	31	51.6	7	17	41.2	25	29	86.2	16	9	10	4	13	0	1	24	26	76
15	@FMP	62	48.0	21	36	58.3	3	14	21.4	11	16	68.8	15	7	8	10	18	5	4	21	18	51
16	Hemofarm	75	45.9	19	37	51.4	9	24	37.5	10	12	83.3	19	6	11	5	11	1	1	23	16	63
17	Laško	104	63.6	22	30	73.3	13	25	52.0	21	25	84.0	29	5	17	7	12	6	1	20	24	135
18	@Zvezda	64	37.0	12	32	37.5	8	22	36.4	16	25	64.0	18	8	10	9	14	1	2	22	24	53
19	Cibona	91	52.2	23	37	62.2	12	30	40.0	9	10	90.0	16	7	15	3	4	1	2	23	17	88
20	@Vojvodina	91	62.5	23	32	71.9	12	24	50.0	9	13	69.2	17	6	15	15	14	0	2	27	21	97
21	Široki	89	54.8	27	45	60.0	7	17	41.2	14	20	70.0	20	6	13	8	6	2	2	22	21	95
22	@Slovan	86	54.7	24	39	61.5	5	14	35.7	23	25	92.0	11	2	14	7	12	1	2	20	27	88
23	Helios	77	50.9	21	36	58.3	7	19	36.8	14	20	70.0	17	8	6	7	13	2	1	27	23	66
24	@Partizan	69	47.9	14	27	51.9	9	21	42.9	14	16	87.5	18	4	9	16	23	1	0	23	19	63
25	Zagreb	75	41.8	13	34	38.2	10	21	47.6	19	23	82.6	16	10	13	7	9	2	1	19	23	81
26	@Bosna	69	51.8	23	34	67.6	6	22	27.3	5	5	100.0	17	4	14	8	11	0	2	20	19	71
26	10:16 Total	2056	50.1	518	933		210	520		390	503		486	190	321	210	326	47	41	586	550	2069
	Average	79.1	50.1	55.5			40.4			77.5			18.7	7.3	12.3	8.1	12.5	1.8	1.6	22.5	21.2	79.6
	Season max	104	72.3	84.0%			80.0%			100.0%			29	14	19	16	23	6	4	30	27	135

2005/06				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
4	Johnson, D.	10	244:00	131	49.5	48	97	49.5	0	0	0	35	39	89.7	31	15	7	7	18	1	7	36	45	123
5	Poljak, J.	13	178:15	73	54.7	29	53	54.7	0	0	0	15	23	65.2	28	12	7	2	17	6	1	38	26	66
6	Stringer, D.	8	181:45	73	41.3	18	39	46.2	8	24	33.3	13	17	76.5	9	2	15	12	15	0	2	32	25	46
7	Szewczyk, S.	21	290:45	136	57.8	43	66	65.2	9	24	37.5	23	27	85.2	38	18	8	7	24	9	2	62	31	117
8	Rizvić, H.	22	341:45	106	54.8	46	84	54.8	0	0	0	14	29	48.3	48	17	9	12	33	8	3	53	25	83
9	Rannikko, T.	20	684:00	303	47.2	28	51	54.9	56	127	44.1	79	96	82.3	28	3	66	33	28	0	5	53	102	338
10	Morović, V.	8	128:00	59	58.3	15	25	60.0	6	11	54.5	11	12	91.7	14	6	8	6	13	0	1	19	13	57
11	Markoišvili, M.	13	299:00	101	36.4	22	48	45.8	14	51	27.5	15	18	83.3	25	6	18	17	11	1	3	41	20	67
12	Dijan, T.	13	100:45	14	30.4	7	22	31.8	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	8	6	6	3	7	0	0	20	4	-2
13	Novak, E.	1	04:15	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-1
14	Drobnjak, D.	26	775:30	198	57.7	68	107	63.6	7	23	30.4	41	59	69.5	88	45	33	30	46	9	2	77	62	267
15	Van de Hare, R.	10	97:15	40	56.0	14	25	56.0	0	0	0	12	19	63.2	14	11	0	2	8	6	0	16	13	44
20	Antonijevič, M.	11	144:00	30	40.9	6	7	85.7	3	15	20.0	9	10	90.0	7	2	15	8	13	0	1	21	13	26
21	Halperin, Y.	25	843:45	355	54.2	66	114	57.9	49	98	50.0	76	89	85.4	59	9	91	45	41	2	5	63	99	441
24	Oliver, J.	26	680:00	336	47.5	67	118	56.8	57	143	39.9	31	34	91.2	52	17	23	17	30	5	3	33	43	287
31	Ožbolt, S.	1	13:15	3	50.0	0	1	0.0	1	1	100.0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	1	1	2
32	Evtimov, V.	9	178:45	93	53.3	40	74	54.1	0	1	0.0	13	25	52.0	36	20	12	9	18	0	6	18	24	105
33	Žorić, L.	2	11:15	3	50.0	1	2	50.0	0	0	0	1	4	25.0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0
41	Delibašić, D.	2	03:45	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	100.0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	1	3

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;