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 winner
(*) 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

 

2002/03		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	Zvezda	90	42.9	20	38	52.6	4	18	22.2	38	44	86.4	21	13	7	10	17	0	0	22	0	64
2	@Maccabi	72	38.5	14	34	41.2	11	31	35.5	11	17	64.7	13	9	12	7	6	1	0	24	18	56
3	Cibona	89	44.2	13	30	43.3	10	22	45.5	33	43	76.7	19	11	7	5	9	3	0	29	0	57
4	Zadar	82	46.2	23	41	56.1	7	24	29.2	15	22	68.2	25	10	11	6	9	4	1	22	25	89
5	@Borac	97	49.1	15	31	48.4	12	24	50.0	31	36	86.1	15	3	7	6	10	4	0	31	29	87
6	Široki	76	47.5	22	45	48.9	7	16	43.8	11	20	55.0	29	12	11	3	14	5	2	22	23	80
7	@Zagreb	89	49.3	25	45	55.6	9	24	37.5	12	19	63.2	17	10	7	19	15	1	0	27	0	59
8	Laško	78	45.3	22	39	56.4	7	25	28.0	13	16	81.3	15	13	12	11	8	1	0	19	19	84
9	@Bosna	82	52.6	21	34	61.8	9	23	39.1	13	17	76.5	13	7	17	15	12	2	0	20	0	73
10	Krka	81	55.9	31	45	68.9	2	14	14.3	13	19	68.4	22	4	14	9	11	3	2	25	23	86
11	@Split	100	56.5	23	38	60.5	12	24	50.0	18	22	81.8	18	7	6	6	9	3	0	21	0	79
12	Maccabi	64	33.3	16	33	48.5	3	24	12.5	23	34	67.6	19	13	6	5	11	2	1	26	27	49
13	@Zvezda	78	49.1	18	31	58.1	9	24	37.5	15	17	88.2	15	9	8	10	14	2	3	28	20	67
14	@Cibona	68	33.3	13	35	37.1	6	22	27.3	24	31	77.4	14	10	9	16	18	1	0	24	0	31
15	@Zadar	86	48.4	25	43	58.1	5	19	26.3	21	30	70.0	20	9	8	5	7	2	1	30	27	78
16	Borac	85	52.6	22	38	57.9	8	19	42.1	17	25	68.0	20	12	10	12	21	0	2	25	24	80
17	@Široki	77	52.9	19	29	65.5	8	22	36.4	15	19	78.9	19	4	11	4	13	2	0	23	0	53
18	Zagreb	85	54.5	23	31	74.2	7	24	29.2	18	24	75.0	12	6	20	19	12	2	0	23	0	78
19	@Laško	83	47.6	18	30	60.0	12	33	36.4	11	15	73.3	15	14	4	16	14	0	1	24	20	76
20	Bosna	91	55.9	25	40	62.5	8	19	42.1	17	26	65.4	32	6	21	11	17	4	1	20	22	114
21	@Krka	78	50.9	21	34	61.8	6	19	31.6	18	25	72.0	19	6	10	10	16	0	0	22	0	52
22	Split	81	44.3	16	41	39.0	11	20	55.0	16	22	72.7	16	9	12	9	13	3	4	20	24	77
23	Maccabi	76	41.4	19	39	48.7	5	19	26.3	23	36	63.9	16	13	10	6	15	1	2	30	30	58
23	17:6 Total	1888	47.5	464	844		178	509		426	579		424	210	240	220	291	46	20	557	331	1627
	Average	82.1	47.5	55.0			35.0			73.6			18.4	9.1	10.4	9.6	12.7	2.0	0.9	24.2	14.4	70.7
	Season max	100	56.5	74.2%			55.0%			88.2%			32	14	21	19	21	5	4	31	30	114

2002/03				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	Jurak, G.	20	375:15	193	57.3	62	101	61.4	1	9	11.1	66	102	64.7	60	41	20	29	49	1	1	69	55	197
5	Baždarić, M.	21	530:52	214	44.6	42	69	60.9	32	97	33.0	34	42	81.0	34	8	24	25	20	1	1	37	31	179
6	Ilievski, V.	23	542:28	226	51.4	45	85	52.9	30	61	49.2	46	62	74.2	27	3	53	32	38	1	4	49	36	200
7	Boisa, V.	22	487:48	223	47.0	57	107	53.3	13	42	31.0	70	94	74.5	54	34	15	25	31	4	3	75	53	196
8	Ožbolt, S.	14	181:27	76	60.5	19	27	70.4	4	11	36.4	26	32	81.3	14	3	17	13	5	3	1	14	13	98
8	Modrić, S.	16	262:33	59	45.5	24	46	52.2	1	9	11.1	8	19	42.1	26	17	3	9	15	4	2	46	15	29
9	Udrih, S.	7	94:11	25	36.0	4	9	44.4	5	16	31.3	2	5	40.0	5	4	3	3	6	0	1	12	5	7
10	Štelmahers, R.	23	549:43	196	39.5	30	68	44.1	28	79	35.4	52	59	88.1	33	14	47	34	30	1	4	67	34	162
11	Poljak, J.	20	303:30	139	50.0	49	91	53.8	2	11	18.2	35	53	66.0	35	28	9	11	27	8	1	58	26	101
12	Zagorac, Ž.	16	214:25	82	53.2	28	52	53.8	5	10	50.0	11	15	73.3	20	18	4	5	18	6	0	29	7	62
13	Šmigič, D.	2	29:00	13	50.0	3	4	75.0	2	6	33.3	1	2	50.0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	6
13	Dryden, R.	3	16:00	2	14.3	1	7	14.3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	3	0	-3
13	Varda, R.	7	90:36	40	52.0	12	22	54.5	1	3	33.3	13	14	92.9	21	7	3	0	14	4	0	12	10	46
14	Hukić, J.	21	428:33	211	45.5	48	76	63.2	27	89	30.3	34	41	82.9	55	19	22	19	16	8	1	41	23	202
15	Dujmović, P.	22	518:37	189	45.9	40	80	50.0	27	66	40.9	28	39	71.8	38	13	19	14	21	3	1	43	23	144

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;