Košarkaški klub Zagreb (), commonly referred to as KK Zagreb or simply Zagreb, was a professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
club based in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
,
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
. It competed in the
ABA League
The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...
and the
Croatian League. In the 2011–12 season, the club competed in the modern
EuroLeague
The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...
. Now the name KK Zagreb is holding previous club: KK Zapruđe.
History
The club was founded in 1970 under the name KK Siget after the
Siget neighbourhood in Zagreb. In 1976 it was renamed to KK Novi Zagreb to represent
Novi Zagreb
Novi Zagreb () is the part of the city of Zagreb located south of the Sava, Sava river. Novi Zagreb forms a distinct whole because it is separated from the northern part of the city both by the river and by the levees around Sava. At the same time ...
, part of Zagreb located south of the
Sava river. After Croatia became independent country, "Novi" was just dropped out and the club name got its simpler and present form - KK Zagreb. From the beginnings Zagreb players were known under the nickname ''Ants'' as a symbol of hard work and team spirit.
Since its establishment KK Zagreb worked its way up over 19 years to join the famed
first division in ex-Yugoslavia in 1989. Though it carries the name of a great basketball capital KK Zagreb had always lived a bit in the shadow of cross-town rival
Cibona but since the beginning of the
Croatian League in the early 1990s Zagreb has made a name of its own, becoming one of the better teams in the country. Until the late 2000s club was mainly known for its youth categories which won numerous Croatian and European titles, while senior team was always in the shadow of Croatian basketball ''Big Three'' - Cibona,
Zadar
Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...
and
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enter ...
. In recent years, when its became a permanent member of the
EuroChallenge Cup competition, the club increased its budget with an intention to make another step forward in its ambitious plans and won its first domestic trophies, the
Croatian Cup in 2008 and 2010. It was only a matter of time, when the team will move from its traditional base in Trnsko school sports hall (capacity 3,000) to a bigger one, which happened in 2010, when they moved to
Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall, home of their better known rival Cibona. Moving to a new and bigger hall proved to be some kind of "growing up" for KK Zagreb as the club won double title, winning both
Championship of Croatia and Croatian Cup in 2011.
[ Club info on ABA League web site] Zagreb played in the
2011–12 Turkish Airlines Euroleague competition. In 2018 the club was dissolved.
A
phoenix club was established in the same year.
Season by season
Honours
*
Croatian Championship: 1
**2011
*
Croatian Cup: 3
**2008, 2010, 2011
Notable players
*
Aleksandar Petrović
*
Ivan Meheš
*
Krunoslav Simon
*
Mario Kasun
*
Damir Mulaomerović
*
Dario Šarić
Dario Šarić (; born 8 April 1994) is a Croatian professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the 12th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. He also represents the senior ...
*
Josip Sesar
*
Mario Stojić
*
Marko Tomas
Marko Tomas (born 3 January 1985) is a retired Croatian professional basketball player. He represented the Croatia men's national basketball team, Croatian national basketball team internationally. Standing at , he played at the shooting guard an ...
*
Ante Tomić
*
Luka Žorić
*
Mario Hezonja
*
Damir Milačić
*
Jan Palokaj
*
Sašo Ožbolt
*
T. J. Ford
*
Diante Garrett
*
Sean May
Sean Gregory May (born April 4, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina. May was born in Chicago, Illinois ...
*
Alex Renfroe
*
Mike James
*
Josh Heytvelt
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zagreb, KK
KK Zagreb
Basketball teams in Croatia
Basketball teams established in 1970
Basketball teams in Yugoslavia
Basketball teams disestablished in 2018