Yugoslavia (Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene: ''Jugoslavija''; Cyrillic: Југославија) refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans, during most of the 20th century.

The first country to be known by this name was the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which before 3 October 1929 was known as the ''Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes''. It was established on 1 December 1918 by the union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia (to which the Kingdom of Montenegro was annexed on 13 November 1918, and the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris gave international recognition to the union on 13 July 1922). The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers in 1941, and because of the events that followed, was officially abolished in 1943 and 1945.

The second country with this name was the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, proclaimed in 1943 by the Yugoslav Partisans resistance movement during World War II. It was renamed to the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946, when a communist government was established. In 1963, it was renamed again to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). This was the largest Yugoslav state, as Istria, Rijeka and Zadar were added to the new Yugoslavia after the end of World War II.

The constituent six Socialist Republics and two Socialist Autonomous Provinces that made up the country were: SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Slovenia and SR Serbia (including the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo which after 1974 were largely equal to the other members of the federation).

Starting in 1991, the SFRY disintegrated in the Yugoslav Wars which followed the secession of most of the country's constituent entities. The next Yugoslavia, known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, existed until 2003, when it was renamed Serbia and Montenegro.

Background

Originating from Pan-Slavism ideologies, Yugoslavia was ultimately the idea for a single state for all South Slavic intelligentsia and emerged in the late 17th and gained prominence in the 19th century Illyrian Movement. Coined from the Slavic words "jug" (south) and "slaveni" (Slavs).

First Yugoslavia

Formed in 1918 immediately after World War I as the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes by union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia. Commonly called at the time a "Versailles state". Renamed to and first official use of ''Yugoslavia'' in 1929.

King Alexander

King Alexander I banned national political parties in 1929, assumed executive power and renamed the country Yugoslavia. He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions. However, Alexander's policies later encountered opposition from other European powers stemming from developments in Italy and Germany, where Fascists and Nazis rose to power, and the Soviet Union, where Stalin became absolute ruler. None of these three regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I. In fact, Italy and Germany wanted to revise the international treaties signed after World War I, and the Soviets were determined to regain their positions in Europe and pursue a more active international policy.

Alexander attempted to create a centralized Yugoslavia. He decided to abolish Yugoslavia's historic regions, and new internal boundaries were drawn for provinces or banovinas. The banovinas were named after rivers. Many politicians were jailed or kept under police surveillance. The effect of Alexander's dictatorship was to further alienate the non-Serbs from the idea of unity. During his reign the flags of Yugoslav nations were banned. Communist ideas were banned also.

The king was assassinated in Marseille during an official visit to France in 1934 by an experienced marksman from Ivan Mihailov's Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization with the cooperation of the Ustaše, a Croatian fascist revolutionary organization. Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Peter II and a regency council headed by his cousin, Prince Paul.

1934–1941

The international political scene in the late 1930s was marked by growing intolerance between the principal figures, by the aggressive attitude of the totalitarian regimes and by the certainty that the order set up after World War I was losing its strongholds and its sponsors were losing their strength. Supported and pressured by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Croatian leader Vladko Maček and his party managed the creation of the Banovina of Croatia (Autonomous Region with significant internal self-government) in 1939. The agreement specified that Croatia was to remain part of Yugoslavia, but it was hurriedly building an independent political identity in international relations. The entire kingdom was to be federalized but World War II stopped the fulfillment of those plans.

Prince Paul submitted to the fascist pressure and signed the Tripartite Treaty in Vienna on 25 March 1941, hoping to still keep Yugoslavia out of the war. But this was at the expense of popular support for Paul's regency. Senior military officers were also opposed to the treaty and launched a coup d'état when the king returned on 27 March. Army General Dušan Simović seized power, arrested the Vienna delegation, exiled Paul, and ended the regency, giving 17-year-old King Peter full powers. Hitler then decided to attack Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, followed immediately by an invasion of Greece where Mussolini had previously been repelled.

World War II

Invasion of Yugoslavia

At 5:12 am on 6 April 1941, German, Italian and Hungarian forces attacked Yugoslavia. The German Air Force (''Luftwaffe'') bombed Belgrade and other major Yugoslav cities. On 17 April, representatives of Yugoslavia's various regions signed an armistice with Germany in Belgrade, ending 11 days of resistance against the invading German Army (''Wehrmacht Heer''). More than 300,000 Yugoslav officers and soldiers were taken prisoner.

The Axis Powers occupied Yugoslavia and split it up. The Independent State of Croatia was established as a Nazi satellite state, ruled by the fascist militia known as the Ustaše that came into existence in 1929, but was relatively limited in its activities until 1941. German troops occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as part of Serbia and Slovenia, while other parts of the country were occupied by Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy. From 1941–45, the Croatian Ustaše regime murdered around 500,000 people, 250,000 were expelled, and another 200,000 were forced to convert to Catholicism; the victims were predominantly Serbs but included 37,000 Jews.

Yugoslav People's Liberation War

From the start, the Yugoslav resistance forces consisted of two factions: the communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and the royalist Chetniks, with the former receiving Allied recognition only at the Tehran conference (1943). The heavily pro-Serbian Chetniks were led by Draža Mihajlović, while the pan-Yugoslav oriented Partisans were led by Josip Broz Tito.

The Partisans initiated a guerrilla campaign that developed into the largest resistance army in occupied Western and Central Europe. The Chetniks were initially supported by the exiled royal government as well as the Allies, they but soon focused increasingly on combating the Partisans rather than the occupying Axis forces. By the end of the war, the Chetnik movement transformed into a collaborationist Serb nationalist militia completely dependent on Axis supplies. The highly mobile Partisans, however, carried on their guerrilla warfare with great success. Most notable of the victories against the occupying forces were the battles of Neretva and Sutjeska.

On 25 November 1942, the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia was convened in Bihać, modern day Bosnia and Herzegovina. The council reconvened on 29 November 1943, in Jajce, also in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and established the basis for post-war organization of the country, establishing a federation (this date was celebrated as Republic Day after the war).

The Yugoslav Partisans were able to expel the Axis from Serbia in 1944 and the rest of Yugoslavia in 1945. The Red Army provided limited assistance with the liberation of Belgrade and withdrew after the war was over. In May 1945, the Partisans met with Allied forces outside former Yugoslav borders, after also taking over Trieste and parts of the southern Austrian provinces of Styria and Carinthia. However, the Partisans withdrew from Trieste in June of the same year.

Western attempts to reunite the Partisans, who denied the supremacy of the old government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the émigrés loyal to the king led to the Tito-Šubašić Agreement in June 1944; however, Marshal Josip Broz Tito was seen as a national hero by the citizens and was elected by referendum to lead the new independent communist state, starting as a prime minister.

The official Yugoslav post-war estimate of victims in Yugoslavia during World War II is 1,704,000. Subsequent data gathering in the 1980s by historians Vladimir Žerjavić and Bogoljub Kočović showed that the actual number of dead was about 1 million.

Second Yugoslavia

On 29 November 1945, while still in exile, King Peter II was deposed by Yugoslavia's Constituent Assembly. However, he refused to abdicate.

On 31 January 1946, the new constitution of Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, modeled after the Soviet Union, established six republics, an autonomous province, and an autonomous district that were part of SR Serbia. The federal capital was Belgrade. Republics and provinces were (in alphabetical order):

List of countries>Name !! Capital !! Flag !! Location
Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina		style="width:6em;"	style="width:4em;"
Socialist Republic of Croatia
[[Socialist Republic of Macedonia">File:Flag of SR Croatia.svg	style="width:4em;"
[[Socialist Republic of Macedonia
[[Socialist Republic of Montenegro">File:Flag of the SR Macedonia.svg	style="width:4em;"
[[Socialist Republic of Montenegro
[[Socialist Republic of Serbia">File:Flag of SR Montenegro.svg	style="width:4em;"
[[Socialist Republic of Serbia	:	:		:Priština	:Novi Sad
[[Socialist Republic of Slovenia">File:Flag of SR Serbia.svg	style="width:4em;"
[[Socialist Republic of Slovenia

()

In 1947, negotiations between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were led and finalized with the [[Bled agreement">File:Flag of SR Slovenia.svg style="width:4em;"

()

In 1947, negotiations between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were led and finalized with the [[Bled agreement. The aim of the negotiations was to include Bulgaria in Yugoslavia or to form a new union of two independent countries. After the intervention of Stalin this agreement was never realized.

Yugoslavia solved the national issue of nations and nationalities (national minorities) in a way that all nations and nationalities had the same rights. The flags of the republics used versions of the red flag and/or Slavic tricolor, with a red star in the centre or in the canton.

In 1974, the two provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo-Metohija (for the latter had by then been upgraded to the status of a province), as well as the republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, were granted greater autonomy to the point that Albanian and Hungarian became nationally recognised minority languages and the Serbo-Croat of Bosnia and Montenegro altered to a form based on the speech of the local people and not on the standards of Zagreb and Belgrade. In Slovenia the recognized minorities were Hungarians and Italians.

Vojvodina and Kosovo-Metohija formed a part of the Republic of Serbia but those provinces also formed part of the federation, which led to the unique situation that Central Serbia did not have its own assembly but a joint assembly with its provinces represented in it. The country distanced itself from the Soviets in 1948 (cf. Cominform and Informbiro) and started to build its own way to socialism under the strong political leadership of Josip Broz Tito. The country criticized both Eastern bloc and NATO nations and, together with other countries, started the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, which remained the official affiliation of the country until it dissolved.

Demographics

Yugoslavia had always been a home to a very diverse population, not only in terms of national affiliation, but also religious affiliation. Of the many religions, Islam, Catholicism, Judaism and Protestantism as well as various Orthodox faiths composed the religions of Yugoslavia, comprising over 40 in all. The religious demographics of Yugoslavia have changed dramatically since World War II. A census taken in 1921 and later in 1948 show that 99% of the population appeared to be deeply involved with their religion and practices. With postwar government programs of modernization and urbanization, the percentage of religious believers took a dramatic plunge. Connections between religious belief and nationality posed a serious threat to the post-war Communist government's policies on national unity and state structure.

After the rise of communism, a survey taken in 1964 showed that just over 70% of the total population of Yugoslavia considered themselves to be religious believers. The places of highest religious concentration were that of Kosovo with 91% and Bosnia and Herzegovina with 83.8%. The places of lowest religious concentration were Slovenia 65.4%, Serbia with 63.7% and Croatia with 63.6%. Religious differences between Orthodox Christian Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks and the rise of nationalism contributed to the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991.

Government

On 7 April 1963, the nation changed its official name to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Josip Broz Tito was named President for Life. In the SFRY, each republic and province had its own constitution, supreme court, parliament, president and prime minister. At the top of the Yugoslav government were the President (Tito), the federal Prime Minister, and the federal Parliament (a collective Presidency was formed after Tito's death in 1980). Also important were the Communist Party general secretaries for each republic and province, and the general secretary of Central Committee of the Communist Party.

Tito was the most powerful person in the country, followed by republican and provincial premiers and presidents, and Communist Party presidents. Slobodan Penezić Krcun, Tito's chief of secret police in Serbia, fell victim to a dubious traffic incident after he started to complain about Tito's politics. The Interior Minister Aleksandar Ranković lost all of his titles and rights after a major disagreement with Tito regarding state politics. Sometimes ministers in government, such as Edvard Kardelj or Stane Dolanc, were more important than the Prime Minister.

The suppression of national identities escalated with the so-called Croatian Spring of 1970–1971, when students in Zagreb organized demonstrations for greater civil liberties and greater Croatian autonomy. The regime stifled the public protest and incarcerated the leaders, but many key Croatian representatives in the Party silently supported this cause, so a new Constitution was ratified in 1974 that gave more rights to the individual republics in Yugoslavia and provinces in Serbia.

Ethnic tensions and economic crisis

The post–World War II Yugoslavia was in many respects a model of how to build a multinational state. The Federation was constructed against a double background: an inter-war Yugoslavia which had been dominated by the Serbian ruling class; and a war-time division of the country, as Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany split the country apart and endorsed an extreme Croatian nationalist faction called the Ustaše which committed genocide against Serbs. A small faction of Bosniak nationalists joined the Axis forces and attacked Serbs while extreme Serb nationalists engaged in attacks on Bosniaks and Croats.

The ethnic violence was only ended when the multiethnic Yugoslav Partisans took over the country at the end of the war and banned nationalism from being publicly promoted. Overall relative peace was retained under Tito's rule, though nationalist protests did occur, but these were usually repressed and nationalist leaders were arrested and some were executed by Yugoslav officials. However one protest in Croatia in the 1970s, called the "Croatian Spring" was backed by large numbers of Croats who claimed that Yugoslavia remained a Serb hegemony and demanded that Serbia's powers be reduced.

Tito, whose home republic was Croatia, was concerned over the stability of the country and responded in a manner to appease both Croats and Serbs, he ordered the arrest of the Croat protestors, while at the same time conceding to some of their demands. In 1974, Serbia's influence in the country was significantly reduced as autonomous provinces were created in ethnic Albanian-majority populated Kosovo and the mixed-populated Vojvodina.

These autonomous provinces held the same voting power as the republics but unlike the republics, they could not legally separate from Yugoslavia. This concession satisfied Croatia and Slovenia, but in Serbia and in the new autonomous province of Kosovo, reaction was different. Serbs saw the new constitution as conceding to Croat and ethnic Albanian nationalists. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo saw the creation of an autonomous province as not being enough, and demanded that Kosovo become a constituent republic with the right to separate from Yugoslavia. This created tensions within the Communist leadership, particularly amongst Communist Serb officials who resented the 1974 constitution as weakening Serbia's influence and jeopardizing the unity of the country by allowing the republics the right to separate.

An economic crisis erupted in the 1970s which was the product of disastrous errors by Yugoslav governments, such as borrowing vast amounts of Western capital in order to fund growth through exports. Western economies then entered recession, blocked Yugoslav exports and created a huge debt problem. The Yugoslav government then accepted the IMF loan.

In 1989, according to official sources, 248 firms were declared bankrupt or were liquidated and 89,400 workers were laid off. During the first nine months of 1990 directly following the adoption of the IMF programme, another 889 enterprises with a combined work-force of 525,000 workers suffered the same fate. In other words, in less than two years "the trigger mechanism" (under the Financial Operations Act) had led to the lay off of more than 600,000 workers out of a total industrial workforce of the order of 2.7 million. An additional 20% of the work force, or half a million people, were not paid wages during the early months of 1990 as enterprises sought to avoid bankruptcy. The largest concentrations of bankrupt firms and lay-offs were in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. Real earnings were in a free fall and social programmes had collapsed; creating within the population an atmosphere of social despair and hopelessness. This was a critical turning point in the events to follow.

Breakup

Though the 1974 Constitution dampened the institutional and material powers of the federal government, Tito's authority substituted for this weakness until his death in 1980.

After Tito's death on 4 May 1980, ethnic tensions grew in Yugoslavia. The legacy of the Constitution of 1974 was used to throw the system of decision-making into a state of paralysis, made all the more hopeless as the conflict of interests had become irreconcilable. The constitutional crisis that inevitably followed resulted in a rise of nationalism in all republics: Slovenia and Croatia made demands for looser ties within the Federation, the Albanian majority in Kosovo demanded the status of a republic, Serbia sought absolute, not only relative dominion over Yugoslavia. Added to this, the Croat quest for independence led to large Serb communities within Croatia rebelling and trying to secede from the Croat republic.

In 1986, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts drafted a memorandum addressing some burning issues concerning position of Serbs as the most numerous people in Yugoslavia. The largest Yugoslav republic in territory and population, Serbia's influence over the regions of Kosovo and Vojvodina was reduced by the 1974 Constitution. Because its two autonomous provinces had de facto prerogatives of full-fledged republics, Serbia found that its hands were tied, for the republican government was restricted in making and carrying out decisions that would apply to the provinces. Since the provinces had a vote in the Federal Presidency Council (an eight-member council composed of representatives from six republics and two autonomous provinces), they sometimes even entered into coalition with other republics, thus outvoting Serbia. Serbia's political impotence made it possible for others to exert pressure on the 2 million Serbs (20% of total Serbian population) living outside Serbia.

Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milošević sought to restore pre-1974 Serbian sovereignty. Other republics, especially Slovenia and Croatia, denounced this move as a revival of great Serbian hegemonism. Milošević succeeded in reducing the autonomy of Vojvodina and of Kosovo and Metohija, but both entities retained a vote in the Yugoslav Presidency Council. The very instrument that reduced Serbian influence before was now used to increase it: in the eight member Council, Serbia could now count on four votes minimum – Serbia proper, then-loyal Montenegro, and Vojvodina and Kosovo.

As a result of these events, the ethnic Albanian miners in Kosovo organized strikes, which dovetailed into ethnic conflict between the Albanians and the non-Albanians in the province. At around 80% of the population of Kosovo in the 1980s, ethnic-Albanians were the majority. The number of Slavs in Kosovo (mainly Serbs) was quickly declining for several reasons, among them the ever increasing ethnic tensions and subsequent emigration from the area. By 1999 the Slavs formed as little as 10% of the total population in Kosovo.

Meanwhile Slovenia, under the presidency of Milan Kučan, and Croatia supported Albanian miners and their struggle for formal recognition. Initial strikes turned into widespread demonstrations demanding a Kosovan republic. This angered Serbia's leadership which proceeded to use police force, and later even the Federal Army was sent to the province by the order of the Serbia-held majority in the Yugoslav Presidency Council.

In January 1990, the extraordinary 14th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was convened. For most of the time, the Slovenian and Serbian delegations were arguing over the future of the League of Communists and Yugoslavia. The Serbian delegation, led by Milošević, insisted on a policy of "''one person, one vote''", which would empower the plurality population, the Serbs. In turn, the Slovenes, supported by Croats, sought to reform Yugoslavia by devolving even more power to republics, but were voted down. As a result, the Slovenian, and eventually Croatian delegation left the Congress, and the all-Yugoslav Communist party was dissolved.

Following the fall of communism in the rest of Eastern Europe, each of the republics held multi-party elections in 1990. Slovenia and Croatia held the elections in April since their communist parties chose to cede power peacefully. Other Yugoslav republics – especially Serbia – were more or less dissatisfied with the democratization in two of the republics and proposed different sanctions (e.g. Serbian "customs tax" for Slovenian products) against the two of the union but as the year passed other republics communist parties saw the inevitability of the democratization process and in December as the last member of the federation – Serbia held parliamentary elections which confirmed (former) communists rule in this republic.

The unresolved issues however remained. In particular, Slovenia and Croatia elected governments oriented towards greater autonomy of the republics (under Milan Kučan and Franjo Tuđman, respectively), since it became clear that Serbian domination attempts and increasingly different levels of democratic standards were becoming increasingly incompatible. Serbia and Montenegro elected candidates who favoured Yugoslav unity. Serbs in Croatia would not accept a status of a national minority in a sovereign Croatia, since they would be demoted from a constituent nation of Croatia and this would consequently diminish their rights.

Yugoslav Wars

The war broke out when the new regimes tried to replace Yugoslav civilian and military forces with secessionist forces. When in August 1990 Croatia attempted to replace police in the Serb populated Croat Krajina by force, the population first looked for refuge in the JNA caserns, while the army remained passive. The civilians then organised armed resistance. These armed conflicts between the Croatian armed forces (“police”) and civilians mark the beginning of the Yugoslav war that inflamed the region. Similarly, the attempt to replace Yugoslav frontier police by the Slovenian police provoked regional armed conflicts which finished with a minimal number of victims.

A similar attempt in Bosnia and Herzegovina led to a war that lasted more than three years (see below). The results of all these conflicts are almost complete emigration of the Serbs from all three regions, massive displacement of the populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and establishment of the three new independent states. The separation of Macedonia was peaceful, although the Yugoslav Army occupied the peak of the Straža mountain on the Macedonian soil.

Serbian uprisings in Croatia began in August 1990 by blocking roads leading from the Dalmatian coast towards the inland almost a year before Croatian leadership made any move towards independence. These uprisings were more or less discretely backed up by the Serbian dominated federal army (JNA). The Serbs proclaimed the emergence of Serbian Autonomous Areas (known later as Republic of Serb Krajina) in Croatia. Federal army tried to disarm the Territorial defence forces of Slovenia (republics had their local defence forces similar to Home guard ) in 1990 but wasn't completely successful. Still, Slovenia began to covertly import arms to replenish its armed forces.

Croatia also embarked upon the illegal import of arms, (following the disaramament of the republics armed forces by the federal JNA) mainly from Hungary, and were under constant surveillance which produced a video of a secret meeting between the Croatian Defence minister Martin Špegelj and the two men, filmed by the Yugoslav Counter Intelligence (''KOS, Kontra-obavještajna Služba''). Špegelj announced that they were at war with the army and gave instructions about arms smuggling as well as methods of dealing with the Yugoslav Army's officers stationed in Croatian cities. Serbia and JNA used this discovery of Croatian rearmament for propaganda purposes. The film was spiced by distorting sounds and fabricated voice of the Croatian minister.

Also, guns were fired from army bases through Croatia. Elsewhere, tensions were running high.

In the same month, the Yugoslav People's Army (''Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, JNA'') met with the Presidency of Yugoslavia in an attempt to get them to declare a state of emergency which would allow for the army to take control of the country. The army was seen as a Serbian service by that time so the consequence feared by the other republics was to be total Serbian domination of the union. The representatives of Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Vojvodina voted for the decision, while all other republics, Croatia (Stipe Mesić), Slovenia (Janez Drnovšek), Macedonia (Vasil Tupurkovski) and Bosnia and Hercegovina (Bogić Bogićević), voted against. The tie delayed an escalation of conflicts, but not for long. Slobodan Milošević installed his proponents in Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro during Yogurt Revolutions.

Following the first multi-party election results, in the autumn of 1990, the republics of Slovenia and Croatia proposed transforming Yugoslavia into a loose confederation of six republics. By this proposal republics would have right to self-determination. However Milošević rejected all such proposals, arguing that like Slovenes and Croats, the Serbs (having in mind Croatian Serbs) should also have a right to self-determination.

On 9 March 1991, demonstrations were held against Slobodan Milošević in Belgrade, but the police and the military were deployed in the streets to restore order, killing two people. In late March 1991, the Plitvice Lakes incident was one of the first sparks of open war in Croatia. The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), whose superior officers were mainly of Serbian ethnicity, maintained an impression of being neutral, but as time went on, they got more and more involved in the state politics.

On 25 June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia became the first republics to declare independence from Yugoslavia. The federal customs officers in Slovenia on the border crossings with Italy, Austria and Hungary mainly just changed uniforms since most of them were local Slovenes. The border police were mostly already Slovenian before Slovenia's declaration of independence. The following day (26 June), the Federal Executive Council specifically ordered the army to take control of the "internationally recognized borders". See Ten-Day War.

The Yugoslav People's Army forces, based in barracks in Slovenia and Croatia, attempted to carry out the task within the next 48 hours. However, because of the misinformation given to the Yugoslav Army conscripts that the Federation was under attack by foreign forces, and the fact that the majority of them did not wish to engage in a war on the ground where they served their conscription, the Slovene territorial defence forces retook most of the posts within several days with only minimal loss of life on both sides.

There was a suspected incident of a war crime, as the Austrian ORF TV station showed footage of three Yugoslav Army soldiers surrendering to the Territorial defense, before gunfire was heard and the troops were seen falling down. However, none were killed in the incident. There were however numerous cases of destruction of civilian property and civilian life by the Yugoslav Peoples Army – houses, a church, civilian airport was bombarded and civilian hangar and airliners inside it, truck drivers on the road Ljubljana – Zagreb and Austrian journalists on Ljubljana Airport were killed. Ceasefire was agreed upon. According to the Brioni Agreement, recognized by representatives of all republics, the international community pressured Slovenia and Croatia to place a three-month moratorium on their independence.

During these three months, the Yugoslav Army completed its pull-out from Slovenia, but in Croatia, a bloody war broke out in the autumn of 1991. Ethnic Serbs, who had created their own state Republic of Serbian Krajina in heavily Serb-populated regions resisted the police forces of the Republic of Croatia who were trying to bring that breakaway region back under Croatian jurisdiction. In some strategic places, the Yugoslav Army acted as a buffer zone; in most others it was protecting or aiding Serbs with resources and even manpower in their confrontation with the new Croatian army and their police force.

In September 1991, the Republic of Macedonia also declared independence, becoming the only former republic to gain sovereignty without resistance from the Belgrade-based Yugoslav authorities. 500 U.S. soldiers were then deployed under the U.N. banner to monitor Macedonia's northern borders with the Republic of Serbia, Yugoslavia. Macedonia's first president, Kiro Gligorov, maintained good relations with Belgrade and the other breakaway republics and there have to date been no problems between Macedonian and Serbian border police even though small pockets of Kosovo and the Preševo valley complete the northern reaches of the historical region known as Macedonia (Prohor Pčinjski part), which would otherwise create a border dispute if ever Macedonian romantic nationalism should resurface (''see VMRO''). This was despite the fact that the Yugoslav Army refused to abandon its military infrastructure on the top of the Straža Mountain up to the year 2000.

As a result of the conflict, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 721 on 27 November 1991, which paved the way to the establishment of peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina in November 1991, the Bosnian Serbs held a referendum which resulted in an overwhelming vote in favour of forming Serbian republic in borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina and staying in a common state with Serbia and Montenegro. On 9 January 1992, the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb assembly proclaimed a separate "Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina". The referendum and creation of SARs were proclaimed unconstitutional by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and declared illegal and invalid. However, in February–March 1992 the government held a national referendum on Bosnian independence from Yugoslavia. That referendum was in turn declared contrary to the BiH and Federal constitution by the federal Constitution court in Belgrade and the newly established Bosnian Serb government.

The referendum was largely boycotted by the Bosnian Serbs. The Federal court in Belgrade did not decide on the matter of the referendum of the Bosnian Serbs. The turnout was somewhere between 64–67% and 98% of the voters voted for independence. It was not clear what the two-thirds majority requirement actually meant and whether it was satisfied. The republic's government declared its independence on 5 April, and the Serbs immediately declared the independence of Republika Srpska. The war in Bosnia followed shortly thereafter.

The end of the Second Yugoslavia

Various dates are considered the end of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia:

25 June 1991, when Croatia and Slovenia declared independence

8 September 1991, following a referendum the Republic of Macedonia declared independence

8 October 1991, when the 9 July moratorium on Slovenian and Croatian secession was ended and Croatia restated its independence in Croatian Parliament (that day is celebrated as Independence Day in Croatia)

15 January 1992, when Slovenia and Croatia were internationally recognized by most European countries

6 April 1992, full recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence by the U.S. and most European countries

28 April 1992, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is formed

November 1995, Dayton Agreement is signed by leaders of FR Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia

Legacy

New states

Countries created from the former Yugoslavia:

List of countries>Name !! Capital !! Flag
Bosnia and Herzegovina		style="width:6em;"
Croatia		File:Flag of Croatia.svg
		[[File:Flag of Macedonia.svg
[[Montenegro		File:Flag of Montenegro.svg
[[Serbia	:		:Priština	File:Flag of Serbia.svg	:
[[Slovenia		File:Flag of Slovenia.svg

The first former Yugoslav republic to join the official candidate for membership in the European Union. The remaining three republics have yet to apply so their acceptance generally is not expected before 2015. These states are signatories of various partnership agreements with the European Union. Since 1 January 2007, they have been encircled by member-states of the EU (and Albania, which is encircled with them). The Assembly of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008. Its independence is recognised by and the Republic of China (Taiwan). On 8 October 2008, upon request of Serbia, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution asking the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the issue of Kosovo's declaration of independence. On 22 July 2010, the court ruled that Kosovo's independence was not illegal.

Remaining cultural and ethnic ties

The similarity of the languages and the long history of common life have left many ties among the peoples of the new states, even though the individual state policies of the new states favour differentiation, particularly in language. The Serbo-Croatian language is linguistically a unique language, with several literary and spoken variants and also was the imposed means of communication used where other languages dominated (Slovenia, Macedonia). Now, separate sociolinguistic standards exist for the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian languages. Although the SFRY had no official language, technically there had been three official languages, along with minority languages official where minorities lived, but in all federal organs only Serbo-Croatian or Croato-Serbian was used and others were expected to use it as well.

Remembrance of the time of the joint state and its perceived positive attributes is referred to as Yugo-nostalgia. Many aspects of Yugonostalgia refer to the socialist system and the sense of social security it provided. There are still people from the former-Yugoslavia who self-identify as Yugoslavs, and commonly seen in demographics relating to ethnicity in today's independent states.

See also

History of the Balkans

Yugoslav wars

Notes and references

Notes:

References: - Yugoslavia

Further reading

Allcock, John B.: Explaining Yugoslavia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000

Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob: ''Sarajevo Roses: War Memoirs of a Peacekeeper''. Oshun, 2002. ISBN 177007031

Chan, Adrian: ''Free to Choose: A Teacher's Resource and Activity Guide to Revolution and Reform in Eastern Europe''. Stanford, CA: SPICE, 1991. ED 351 248

Cigar, Norman, : ''Genocide in Bosnia: The Policy of Ethnic-Cleansing''. College Station: Texas A&M; University Press, 1995

Cohen, Lenard J.: ''Broken Bonds: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia''. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993

Conversi, Daniele: ''German -Bashing and the Breakup of Yugoslavia'', The Donald W. Treadgold Papers in Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, no. 16, March 1998 (University of Washington: HMJ School of International Studies) http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/conversi/german.html

Dragnich, Alex N.: ''Serbs and Croats. The Struggle in Yugoslavia''. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992

Fisher, Sharon: ''Political Change in Post-Communist Slovakia and Croatia: From Nationalist to Europeanist''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006 ISBN 1 4039 7286 9

Glenny, Mischa: ''The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804–1999'' (London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2000)

Glenny, Mischa: ''The fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War'', ISBN 0-14-026101-X

Gutman, Roy.: ''A Witness to Genocide. The 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning Dispatches on the "Ethnic Cleansing" of Bosnia''. New York: Macmillan, 1993

Hall, Brian: The Impossible Country: A Journey Through the Last Days of Yugoslavia. Penguin Books. New York, 1994

Harris, Judy J.: ''Yugoslavia Today''. Southern Social Studies Journal 16 (Fall 1990): 78–101. EJ 430 520

Hayden, Robert M.: Blueprints for a House Divided: The Constitutional Logic of the Yugoslav Conflicts. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000

Hoare, Marko A., ''A History of Bosnia: From the Middle Ages to the Present Day''. London: Saqi, 2007

Jelavich, Barbara: ''History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries'', Volume 1. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1983 ED 236 093

Jelavich, Barbara: ''History of the Balkans: Twentieth Century'', Volume 2. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1983. ED 236 094

Kohlmann, Evan F.: ''Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network'' Berg, New York 2004, ISBN 1-85973-802-8; ISBN 1-85973-807-9

Lampe, John R: ''Yugoslavia As History: Twice There Was a Country'' Great Britain, Cambridge, 1996, ISBN 0 521 46705 5

Malesevic, Sinisa: Ideology, Legitimacy and the New State: Yugoslavia, Serbia and Croatia. London: Routledge, 2002.

Owen, David: ''Balkan Odyssey'' Harcourt (Harvest Book), 1997

Ramet, Sabrina: ''The Three Yugoslavias: State-building and Legitimation, 1918–2003''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006

Roberts, Walter R|Walter R Roberts: "Tito, Mihailovic, and the Allies: 1941–1945". Duke University Press, 1987; ISBN 0-8223-0773-1

Sacco, Joe: ''Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992–1995''. Fantagraphics Books, January 2002

Silber, Laura and Allan Little:''Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation''. New York: Penguin Books, 1997

West, Rebecca: ''Black Lamb and Gray Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia''. Viking, 1941

White, T.: ''Another fool in the Balkans – in the footsteps of Rebbecca West''. Cadogan Guides, London, 2006

Time homepage: ''New Power''

External links

European University Institute Yugoslavia

Maps

Teaching about Conflict and Crisis in the Former Yugoslavia

The First Yugoslavia: Search for a Viable Political System, by Alex N. Dragnich

Timeline: Break-up of Yugoslavia at BBC

"Where the West went wrong": an article in the TLS by Charles King about the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

CIA report from November 1970">"Yugoslavia: the outworn structure" CIA report from November 1970

The collapse of communist Yugoslavia

Category:Former countries in the Balkans Category:Former countries in Europe Category:Former Slavic countries Category:Former monarchies

af:Joego-Slawië ar:يوغوسلافيا ast:Yugoslavia az:Yuqoslaviya be:Югаславія be-x-old:Югаславія br:Yougoslavia bg:Югославия ca:República Federal de Iugoslàvia cs:Jugoslávie cy:Iwgoslafia da:Jugoslavien de:Jugoslawien et:Jugoslaavia el:Γιουγκοσλαβία es:Yugoslavia eo:Jugoslavio fa:یوگسلاوی fo:Jugoslavia fr:Yougoslavie fy:Joegoslaavje ga:An Iúgslaiv gv:Yn Yugoslaavey gl:Iugoslavia ko:유고슬라비아 hy:Հարավսլավիա hsb:Juhosłowjanska io:Yugoslavia id:Yugoslavia ie:Yugoslavia is:Júgóslavía it:Jugoslavia he:יוגוסלביה jv:Yugoslavia kn:ಯುಗೊಸ್ಲಾವಿಯ ka:იუგოსლავია rw:Yugosilaviya ky:Югославия sw:Yugoslavia ku:Yûgoslavya la:Iugoslavia lv:Dienvidslāvija hu:Jugoszlávia mk:Југославија mr:युगोस्लाव्हिया arz:يوجوسلافيا ms:Yugoslavia nl:Joegoslavië ja:ユーゴスラビア no:Jugoslavia nn:Jugoslavia pap:Yugoslavia pl:Jugosławia pt:Jugoslávia ro:Iugoslavia qu:Yuguslawya ru:Югославия sc:Iugoslàvia scn:Jugoslavia si:යුගොස්ලෝවියාව simple:Yugoslavia sk:Juhoslávia sl:Jugoslavija sr:Југославија sh:Jugoslavija fi:Jugoslavia sv:Jugoslavien tl:Yugoslabya ta:யுகோஸ்லாவியா th:ยูโกสลาเวีย to:ʻIukosilāvia uk:Югославія vi:Nam Tư zh-classical:南斯拉夫 yi:יוגאסלאוויע zh:南斯拉夫

country	Yugoslavia
color1	00008B|
color2	FFFFFF|
fiba ranking	defunct
team colours	Blue, White and Red
joined fiba	1936-1991
logo	||
fiba zone	FIBA Europe
national fed	?
coach	none
oly appearances	8
oly medals	16px ''Gold'': 1980 16px ''Silver'': 1968, 1976, 1988 16px ''Bronze'': 1984|
wc appearances	11
wc medals
zone championship	Eurobasket
zone appearances	21
zone medals
H pattern b	_thinsidesonwhite|h_body00008B|h_shorts00008B|h_pattern_s_blanksides2|
A pattern b	_whiteshoulders|a_body00008B|a_shorts00008B|a_pattern_s_whitesides| }}

The Yugoslavian national basketball team represented the Kingdom and socialist Yugoslavia. It was administrated by Košarkaški savez Jugoslavije. The seat of the governing body was in Belgrade. After the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the national team of FR Yugoslavia (country changed name to "Serbia and Montenegro" in 2003) was a successor of the former SFR Yugoslavian team. And, after the 2006 Montenegro Independence Referendum, FIBA considers the Serbian national basketball team the direct successor of FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro. As such, indirect successor of SFR Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia had many successes at the FIBA World Championships. The national team captured 3 titles in 1970, 1978 and 1990, Later capturing 2 more titles as FR Yugoslavia in 1998 and 2002.

Olympics

At the Summer Olympic Games, Yugoslavia captured one gold medal (1980), took the silver medal on four occasions (1968, 76, 88, 96) and captured the bronze medal once (1984).

World Basketball Championship

At the World Basketball Championships, Yugoslavia captured five gold medals (1970, 1978, 1990, 1998, 2002), three silver medals (1963, 1967, 1974) and two bronze medals (1982, 1986).

European Basketball Championships

At the European basketball championships, Yugoslavia captured the gold medal eight times (1973, 1975, 1977, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001), were silver medalists on five occasions (1961, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1981), and captured the bronze medal four times (1963, 1979, 1987, 1999).

Eurobasket 1947

Yugoslavia made its European championship debut in Eurobasket 1947, the fifth edition of the tournament. The team placed 13th out of 14 teams in the competition, losing to the Soviet Union and Hungary in the preliminary round, beating the Netherlands but losing to Italy in the semifinal round (placing third in the three-way tie between the teams), and defeating Albania in the 13th/14th classification match.

Eurobasket 1953

Yugoslavia's second appearance was at Eurobasket 1953 in Moscow. They dropped an early 27–25 decision against Bulgaria but finished at 3–1 in their preliminary group. In the three-way tie-breaker with Bulgaria and Israel, Yugoslavia ended up in second place to advance to the final round. There, they won 3 but lost 4 to take 6th place overall in the 17 team tournament.

Eurobasket 1955

Yugoslavia again advanced to the final round at Eurobasket 1955 in Budapest, this time in sole second place with a 3–1 record in the preliminary round pool. Their final round performance was riddled with 6 losses in 7 games, but did include the high point of a 52–49 victory over eventual silver medallist Czechoslovakia on Yugoslavia's way to an 8th place finish of the 18 entrants.

Eurobasket 1957

Yugoslavia's appearance at the Eurobasket 1957 tournament in Sofia resulted in a 2–1 record for the preliminary round and advancement to the final round robin. There, they proved capable of two wins, defeating Poland and France to finish at 2–5 for 6th place in the tournament.

End

The Yugoslav national team of the late 1980s and early 1990s featured what was perhaps the greatest generation in the history of Yugoslav basketball. A common quip about basketball is: "The Canadians invented it, the Yugoslavs perfected it." With such players as Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Predrag Danilović, Žarko Paspalj and Jure Zdovc has pioneered the wave of international NBA players well before the early 21st century, when the concept began to gain true global momentum.

Many of the former Yugoslav stars mentioned above were a part of the under-21 national team that won the FIBA World Junior Championships in 1987, defeating the U.S. both in pool play and in the final.

History

FIBA World Championships

;As Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

1950 – 10th

1954 – 11th

1959 – Did not qualify

1963 – Runner up

1967 – Runner up

1970 – World Champion

1974 – Runner up

1978 – World Champion

1982 – Third place

1986 – Third place

1990 – World Champion

Olympic Games

;As Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

1960 – 6th

1964 – 7th

1968 – Silver

1972 – 5th

1976 – Silver

1980 – Gold

1984 – Bronze

1988 – Silver

European Championships

;As Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

1947 – 13th

1949 – Did not qualify

1951 – Did not qualify

1953 – 6th

1955 – 8th

1957 – 6th

1959 – 9th

1961 – Runner-up

1963 – Third place

1969 – Runner-up

1971 – Runner-up

1973 – European Champion

1975 – European Champion

1977 – European Champion

1979 – Third place

1981 – Runner-up

1983 – 7th

1985 – 7th

1987 – Third place

1989 – European Champion

1991 – European Champion

Rosters

As Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia/Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

;1947 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 14 teams :Nebojša Popović, Ladislav Demšar, Aleksandar Gec, Srđan Kalember, Mirko Marjanović, Zorko Cvetković, Božo Grkinić, Zlatko Kovačević, Aleksandar Milojković, Božidar Munćan, Otone Olivieri, Tulio Roklicer, Miodrag Stefanović (Coach: Stevica Čolović)

;1948 Olympic Games: did not participate

;1949 EuroBasket: did not participate

;1950 World Championship: finished 10th among 10 teams :Borislav Stanković, Nebojša Popović, Ladislav Demšar, Aleksandar Gec, Srđan Kalember, Vilmos Loczi, Lajos Engler, Aleksandar Blašković, Mirko Amon, Dusan Radojčić, Milorad Sokolović, Milenko Novaković (Coach: Nebojša Popović)

;1951 EuroBasket: did not participate

;1952 Olympic Games: did not participate

;1953 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 17 teams :Borislav Stanković, Ladislav Demšar, Aleksandar Gec, Srđan Kalember, Vilmos Loczi, Lajos Engler, Aleksandar Blasković, Mirko Marjanović, Đorđe Andrijašević, Milan Bjegojević, Borislav Ćurčić, Dragan Godžić, Borko Jovanović (Coach: Nebojša Popović)

;1954 World Championship: finished 11th among 12 teams :Vilmos Loczi, Lajos Engler, Aleksandar Blasković, Mirko Marjanović, Đorđe Andrijašević, Milan Bjegojević, Borislav Ćurčić, Dragan Godzić, Bogdan Muller, Đorđe Konjović, Milan Blagojević, Boris Kristančić (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1955 EuroBasket: finished 8th among 18 teams :Ladislav Demšar, Vilmos Loczi, Aleksandar Blasković, Đorđe Andrijašević, Milan Bjegojević, Borislav Ćurčić, Bogdan Muller, Đorđe Konjović, Milutin Minja, Obren Popović, Joze Zupančić, Ljubomir Katić (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1956 Olympic Games: did not participate

;1957 EuroBasket: finished 6th among 16 teams :Ivo Daneu, Vilmos Loczi, Lajos Engler, Bogdan Muller, Boris Kristančić, Milutin Minja, Ljubomir Katić, Marjan Kandus, Miodrag Nikolić, Branko Radović, Matija Dermastija, Branko Miletić (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1959 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 17 teams :Radivoj Korać, Ivo Daneu, Slobodan Gordić, Boris Kristančić, Milutin Minja, Marjan Kandus, Miodrag Nikolić, Branko Radović, Matija Dermastija, Nemanja Đurić, Radovan Radović, Igor Jelnikar (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1959 World Championship: did not participate

;1960 Olympic Games: finished 6th among 16 teams :Radivoj Korać, Ivo Daneu, Slobodan Gordić, Josip Đerđa, Boris Kristančić, Marjan Kandus, Miodrag Nikolić, Nemanja Đurić, Radovan Radović, Miha Lokar, Zvonko Petričević, Sreten Dragojlović (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1961 EuroBasket: finished 2nd among 19 teams :Radivoj Korać, Ivo Daneu, Slobodan Gordić, Marjan Kandus, Miodrag Nikolić, Nemanja Đurić, Radovan Radović, Miha Lokar, Zvonko Petričević, Sreten Dragojlović, Vital Eiselt, Željko Troskot (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1963 EuroBasket: finished 3rd among 16 teams :Radivoj Korać, Ivo Daneu, Slobodan Gordić, Trajko Rajković, Borut Bassin, Miodrag Nikolić, Nemanja Đurić, Zvonko Petričević, Dragoslav Ražnatović, Miloš Bojović, Živko Kasun, Emil Logar (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1963 World Championship: finished 2nd among 13 teams :Radivoj Korać, Ivo Daneu, Josip Đerđa, Slobodan Gordić, Trajko Rajković, Miodrag Nikolić, Nemanja Đurić, Zvonko Petričević, Dragoslav Ražnatović, Vital Eiselt, Vladimir Cvetković, Dragan Kovačić (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1964 Olympic Games: finished 7th among 16 teams :Radivoj Korać, Ivo Daneu, Josip Đerđa, Slobodan Gordić, Trajko Rajković, Miodrag Nikolić, Nemanja Đurić, Zvonko Petričević, Dragoslav Ražnatović, Vital Eiselt, Vladimir Cvetković, Dragan Kovačić (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1965 EuroBasket: finished 2nd among 16 teams :Radivoj Korać, Ivo Daneu, Petar Skansi, Josip Đerđa, Slobodan Gordić, Trajko Rajković, Nemanja Đurić, Zvonko Petričević, Dragoslav Ražnatović, Vital Eiselt, Dragan Kovačić, Milos Bojović (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1967 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 16 teams :Kresimir Ćosić, Petar Skansi, Aljosa Zorga, Rato Tvrdić, Damir Šolman, Borut Bassin, Ljubodrag Simonović, Dragoslav Ražnatović, Vladimir Cvetković, Dragan Kapičić, Zoran Marojević, Goran Brajković (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1967 World Championship: finished 2nd among 13 teams :Radivoj Korać, Krešimir Ćosić, Ivo Daneu, Josip Đerđa, Petar Skansi, Rato Tvrdić, Borut Bassin, Nemanja Đurić, Trajko Rajković, Dragoslav Ražnatović, Vladimir Cvetković, Dragan Kovačić (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1968 Olympic Games: finished 2nd among 16 teams :Radivoj Korać, Krešimir Ćosić, Ivo Daneu, Petar Skansi, Nikola Plecas, Aljoša Žorga, Damir Šolman, Trajko Rajković, Dragoslav Ražnatović, Vladimir Cvetković, Dragutin Čermak, Zoran Marojević (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1969 EuroBasket: finished 2nd among 12 teams :Krešimir Ćosić, Ivo Daneu, Nikola Plećaš, Vinko Jelovac, Rato Tvrdić, Damir Šolman, Ljubodrag Simonović, Trajko Rajković, Dragutin Čermak, Dragan Kapičić, Vladimir Cvetković, Zoran Marojević (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1970 World Championship: finished 1st among 13 teams :Krešimir Ćosić, Ivo Daneu, Petar Skansi, Nikola Plećaš, Vinko Jelovac, Aljoša Žorga, Rato Tvrdić, Damir Šolman, Ljubodrag Simonović, Trajko Rajković, Dragutin Čermak, Dragan Kapičić (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1971 EuroBasket: finished 2nd among 12 teams :Krešimir Ćosić, Nikola Plećaš, Vinko Jelovac, Aljoša Žorga, Ljubodrag Simonović, Dragutin Čermak, Borut Bassin, Dragan Kapičić, Blagoje Georgijevski, Žarko Knežević, Dragiša Vučinić, Davor Rukavina (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1972 Olympic Games: finished 5th among 16 teams :Krešimir Ćosić, Nikola Plećaš, Vinko Jelovac, Rato Tvrdić, Damir Šolman, Ljubodrag Simonović, Dragan Kapičić, Blagoje Georgijevski, Žarko Knežević, Dragutin Čermak, Miroljub Damnjanović, Milun Marović (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1973 EuroBasket: finished 1st among 12 teams :Kresimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Dragan Kićanović, Nikola Plecas, Vinko Jelovac, Zoran Slavnić, Željko Jerkov, Rato Tvrdić, Damir Šolman, Žarko Knezević, Milun Marović, Dragan Ivković (Coach: Mirko Novosel)

;1974 World Championship: finished 2nd among 14 teams :Kresimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Dragan Kićanović, Nikola Plecas, Vinko Jelovac, Zoran Slavnić, Željko Jerkov, Rato Tvrdić, Damir Šolman, Žarko Knezević, Dragan Kapičić, Milun Marović (Coach: Mirko Novosel)

;1975 EuroBasket: finished 1st among 12 teams :Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Mirza Delibašić, Dragan Kićanović, Nikola Plećaš, Vinko Jelovac, Zoran Slavnić, Željko Jerkov, Rato Tvrdić, Damir Šolman, Dragan Kapičić, Rajko Žižić (Coach: Mirko Novosel)

;1976 Olympic Games: finished 2nd among 12 teams :Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Mirza Delibašić, Dragan Kićanović, Vinko Jelovac, Zoran Slavnić, Željko Jerkov, Žarko Varajić, Damir Šolman, Andro Knego, Rajko Žižić, Blagoje Georgijevski (Coach: Mirko Novosel)

;1977 EuroBasket: finished 1st among 12 teams :Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Mirza Delibašić, Dragan Kićanović, Vinko Jelovac, Zoran Slavnić, Željko Jerkov, Žarko Varajić, Ratko Radovanović, Duje Krstulović, Ante Đogić, Joško Papić (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1978 World Championship: finished 1st among 14 teams :Kresimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Mirza Delibašić, Dragan Kićanović, Zoran Slavnić, Željko Jerkov, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanović, Rajko Žižić, Duje Krstulović, Peter Vilfan, Branko Skroče (Coach: Aca Nikolić)

;1979 EuroBasket: finished 3rd among 12 teams :Kresimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Mirza Delibašić, Dragan Kićanović, Zoran Slavnić, Željko Jerkov, Žarko Varajić, Ratko Radovanović, Rajko Žižić, Duje Krstulović, Peter Vilfan, Mihovil Nakić (Coach: Petar Skansi)

;1980 Olympic Games: finished 1st among 12 teams :Kresimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Mirza Delibašić, Dragan Kićanović, Zoran Slavnić, Željko Jerkov, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanović, Rajko Žižić, Duje Krstulović, Mihovil Nakić, Branko Skroče (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1981 EuroBasket: finished 2nd among 12 teams :Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Mirza Delibašić, Dragan Kićanović, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanović, Peter Vilfan, Branko Skroče, Predrag Benaček, Boban Petrović, Željko Poljak, Petar Popović (Coach: Bogdan Tanjević)

;1982 World Championship: finished 3rd among 13 teams :Dražen Dalipagić, Mirza Delibašić, Dragan Kićanović, Željko Jerkov, Aco Petrović, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanović, Peter Vilfan, Rajko Žižić, Boban Petrović, Zufer Avdija, Zoran Radović (Coach: Ranko Žeravica)

;1983 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 12 teams :Dražen Petrović, Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Dragan Kićanović, Zoran Slavnić, Ratko Radovanović, Peter Vilfan, Rajko Žižić, Ivan Sunara, Goran Grbović, Željko Poljak, Milenko Savović (Coach: Josip Đerđa)

;1984 Olympic Games: finished 3rd among 12 teams :Dražen Petrović, Aco Petrović, Dražen Dalipagić, Andro Knego, Ratko Radovanović, Rajko Žižić, Mihovil Nakić, Emir Mutapčić, Sabit Hadžić, Ivan Sunara, Nebojša Zorkić, Branko Vukičević (Coach: Mirko Novosel)

;1985 EuroBasket: finished 7th among 12 teams :Dražen Petrović, Andro Knego, Zoran Čutura, Mihovil Nakić, Emir Mutapčić, Stojan Vranković, Ivan Sunara, Zoran Radović, Sven Ušić, Nebojša Zorkić, Boban Petrović, Borislav Vucević (Coach: Krešimir Ćosić)

;1986 World Championship: finished 3rd among 24 teams :Dražen Petrović, Aco Petrović, Dražen Dalipagić, Vlade Divac, Stojan Vranković, Ratko Radovanović, Zoran Čutura, Emir Mutapčić, Danko Cvjetičanin, Franjo Arapović, Zoran Radović, Veljko Petranović (Coach: Krešimir Ćosić)

;1987 EuroBasket: finished 3rd among 12 teams :Dražen Petrović, Aco Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Žarko Paspalj, Aleksandar Đorđević, Stojan Vranković, Ratko Radovanović, Danko Cvjetičanin, Zoran Radović, Goran Grbović (Coach: Krešimir Ćosić)

;1988 Olympic Games: finished 2nd among 12 teams :Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Žarko Paspalj, Stojan Vranković, Jure Zdovc, Zoran Čutura, Danko Cvjetičanin, Franjo Arapović, Željko Obradović, Zdravko Radulović (Coach: Dušan Ivković)

;1989 EuroBasket: finished 1st among 8 teams :Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Žarko Paspalj, Predrag Danilović, Stojan Vranković, Jure Zdovc, Zoran Čutura, Zdravko Radulović, Zoran Radović, Mario Primorac (Coach: Dušan Ivković)

;1990 World Championship: finished 1st among 16 teams :Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Žarko Paspalj, Zoran Savić, Velimir Perasović, Jure Zdovc, Zoran Čutura, Željko Obradović, Arijan Komazec, Radisav Ćurčić, Zoran Jovanović (Coach: Dušan Ivković)

;1991 EuroBasket: finished 1st among 8 teams :Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Žarko Paspalj, Zoran Savić, Predrag Danilović, Aleksandar Đorđević, Velimir Perasović, Jure Zdovc, Arijan Komazec, Zoran Sretenović, Zoran Jovanović (Coach: Dušan Ivković)

For 1992 onwards, as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro: see Serbia national basketball team

References

External links

Category:Former national basketball teams Bask Category:Eurobasket-winning countries Category:Basketball in Yugoslavia

bs:Jugoslavenska košarkaška reprezentacija de:Jugoslawische Basketballnationalmannschaft es:Selección de baloncesto de Yugoslavia fr:Équipe de Yougoslavie de basket-ball hr:Jugoslavenska košarkaška reprezentacija it:Nazionale di pallacanestro della Jugoslavia lt:Jugoslavijos vyrų krepšinio rinktinė pl:Reprezentacja Jugosławii w koszykówce mężczyzn pt:Seleção Jugoslava de Basquetebol Masculino ru:Мужская сборная Югославии по баскетболу sl:Jugoslovanska košarkarska reprezentanca sr:Кошаркашка репрезентација Југославије

union	FIBA
first	1891, Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
contact	Contact
team	10 to 12 (5 at a time)
mgender	Single
category	Indoor (mainly) or Outdoor (streetball)
ball	Basketball
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Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports.

A regulation basketball hoop consists of a rim 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high mounted to a backboard. A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the hoop during regular play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the hoop than the three-point line, and three points (a "3 pointer") if the player is "outside" the three-point line. The team with more points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when the game ends with a tie. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or passing it to a teammate. It is a violation (traveling) to walk with the ball, carry it, or to double dribble (to hold the ball and then resume dribbling).

Various violations are generally called "fouls". Disruptive physical contact (a personal foul) is penalized, and a free throw is usually awarded to an offensive player if he is fouled while shooting the ball. A technical foul may also be issued when certain infractions occur, most commonly for unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of a player or coach. A technical foul gives the opposing team a free throw.

Basketball has evolved many commonly used techniques of shooting, passing, and dribbling, as well as specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures (player positioning) and techniques. Typically, the tallest members of a team will play "center", "small forward", or "power forward" positions, while shorter players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed play "point guard" or "shooting guard".

While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. Competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport played on carefully marked and maintained basketball courts, but less regulated variations are often played outdoors in both inner city and rural areas.

History

Creation

In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith, a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (YMCA) (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, and balls had to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored; this proved inefficient, however, so the bottom of the basket was removed, allowing the balls to be poked out with a long dowel each time.

An association football was used to shoot baskets. Basketball was originally played with an association football. The first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle, searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced the orange ball that is now in common use. Dribbling was not part of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to teammates. Passing the ball was the primary means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the asymmetric shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a major part of the game around the 1950s, as manufacturing improved the ball shape.

The peach baskets were used until 1906 when they were finally replaced by metal hoops with backboards. A further change was soon made, so the ball merely passed through. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, his team would gain a point. Whichever team got the most points won the game. The baskets were originally nailed to the mezzanine balcony of the playing court, but this proved impractical when spectators on the balcony began to interfere with shots. The backboard was introduced to prevent this interference; it had the additional effect of allowing rebound shots. Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, indicate that he was nervous about the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a children's game called "Duck on a Rock", as many had failed before it. Naismith called the new game "Basket Ball". The first official game was played in a YMCA gymnasium on January 20, 1892 with nine players. The game ended at 1–0; the shot was made from , on a court just half the size of a present-day Streetball or National Basketball Association (NBA) court. By 1897–1898 teams of five became standard.

College basketball

Basketball's early adherents were dispatched to YMCAs throughout the United States, and it quickly spread through the USA and Canada. By 1895, it was well established at several women's high schools. While the YMCA was responsible for initially developing and spreading the game, within a decade it discouraged the new sport, as rough play and rowdy crowds began to detract from the YMCA's primary mission. However, other amateur sports clubs, colleges, and professional clubs quickly filled the void. In the years before World War I, the Amateur Athletic Union and the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (forerunner of the NCAA) vied for control over the rules for the game. The first pro league, the National Basketball League, was formed in 1898 to protect players from exploitation and to promote a less rough game. This league only lasted five years.

Dr. James Naismith was instrumental in establishing college basketball. His colleague C.O. Beamis fielded the first college basketball team just a year after the Springfield YMCA game at the suburban Pittsburgh Geneva College. Naismith himself later coached at the University of Kansas for six years, before handing the reins to renowned coach Forrest "Phog" Allen. Naismith's disciple Amos Alonzo Stagg brought basketball to the University of Chicago, while Adolph Rupp, a student of Naismith's at Kansas, enjoyed great success as coach at the University of Kentucky. On February 9, 1895, the first intercollegiate 5-on-5 game was played at Hamline University between Hamline and the School of Agriculture, which was affiliated with University of Minnesota. The School of Agriculture won in a 9–3 game.

In 1901, colleges, including the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, the University of Minnesota, the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Utah and Yale University began sponsoring men's games. In 1905, frequent injuries on the football field prompted President Theodore Roosevelt to suggest that colleges form a governing body, resulting in the creation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). In 1910, that body would change its name to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The first Canadian interuniversity basketball game was played at the YMCA in Kingston, Ontario on February 6, 1904, when McGill University visited Queen's University. McGill won 9–7 in overtime; the score was 7–7 at the end of regulation play, and a ten-minute overtime period settled the outcome. A good turnout of spectators watched the game.

The first men's national championship tournament, the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball tournament, which still exists as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) tournament, was organized in 1937. The first national championship for NCAA teams, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in New York, was organized in 1938; the NCAA national tournament would begin one year later. College basketball was rocked by gambling scandals from 1948 to 1951, when dozens of players from top teams were implicated in match fixing and point shaving. Partially spurred by an association with cheating, the NIT lost support to the NCAA tournament.

High school basketball

Before widespread school district consolidation, most United States highs were far smaller than their present day counterparts. During the first decades of the 20th century, basketball quickly became the ideal interscholastic sport due to its modest equipment and personnel requirements. In the days before widespread television coverage of professional and college sports, the popularity of high school basketball was unrivaled in many parts of America. Perhaps the most legendary of high school teams was Indiana's Franklin Wonder Five, which took the nation by storm during the 1920s, dominating Indiana basketball and earning national recognition.

Today virtually every high school in the United States fields a basketball team in varsity competition Basketball's popularity remains high, both in rural areas where they carry the identification of the entire community, as well as at some larger schools known for their basketball teams where many players go on to participate at higher levels of competition after graduation. In the 2003–04 season, 1,002,797 boys and girls represented their schools in interscholastic basketball competition, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. The states of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky are particularly well known for their residents' devotion to high school basketball, commonly called Hoosier Hysteria in Indiana; the critically acclaimed film ''Hoosiers'' shows high school basketball's depth of meaning to these communities.

There is currently no national tournament to determine a national high school champion. The most serious effort was the National Interscholastic Basketball Tournament at the University of Chicago from 1917 to 1930. The event organized by Amos Alonzo Stagg and sent invitations to state champion teams. The tournament started out as a mostly Midwest affair but grew. In 1929 it had 29 state champions. Faced with opposition from the National Federation of State High School Associations and North Central Association of Colleges and Schools that bore a threat of the schools losing their accreditation the last tournament was in 1930. The organizations said they were concerned that the tournament was being used to recruit professional players from the prep ranks. The tournament did not invite minority schools or private/parochial schools.

The National Catholic Interscholastic Basketball Tournament ran from 1924 to 1941 at Loyola University. The National Catholic Invitational Basketball Tournament from 1954 to 1978 playing at a series of venues at Catholic University, Georgetown and George Mason. The National Interscholastic Basketball Tournament for Black High Schools was held from 1929 to 1942 at Hampton Institute. The National Invitational Interscholastic Basketball Tournament was held from 1941 to 1967 starting out at Tuskegee Institute. Following a pause during World War II it resumed at Tennessee State College in Nashville. The basis for the champion dwindled after 1954 when ''Brown v. Board of Education'' began an integration of schools. The last tournaments were held at Alabama State College from 1964 to 1967.

Professional basketball

Teams abounded throughout the 1920s. There were hundreds of men's professional basketball teams in towns and cities all over the United States, and little organization of the professional game. Players jumped from team to team and teams played in armories and smoky dance halls. Leagues came and went. Barnstorming squads such as the Original Celtics and two all-African American teams, the New York Renaissance Five ("Rens") and (still in existence as of 2010) the Harlem Globetrotters played up to two hundred games a year on their national tours.

In 1946, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) was formed. The first game was played in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between the Toronto Huskies and New York Knickerbockers on November 1, 1946. Three seasons later, in 1949, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). By the 1950s, basketball had become a major college sport, thus paving the way for a growth of interest in professional basketball. In 1959, a basketball hall of fame was founded in Springfield, Massachusetts, site of the first game. Its rosters include the names of great players, coaches, referees and people who have contributed significantly to the development of the game. The hall of fame has people who have accomplished many goals in their career in basketball. An upstart organization, the American Basketball Association, emerged in 1967 and briefly threatened the NBA's dominance until the ABA-NBA merger in 1976. Today the NBA is the top professional basketball league in the world in terms of popularity, salaries, talent, and level of competition.

The NBA has featured many famous players, including George Mikan, the first dominating "big man"; ball-handling wizard Bob Cousy and defensive genius Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics; Wilt Chamberlain, who originally played for the barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters; all-around stars Oscar Robertson and Jerry West; more recent big men Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal and Karl Malone; playmaker John Stockton; crowd-pleasing forward Julius Erving; European stars Dirk Nowitzki and Dražen Petrović and the three players who many credit with ushering the professional game to its highest level of popularity: Larry Bird, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and Michael Jordan. In 2001, the NBA formed a developmental league, the NBDL. As of 2008, the league has 16 teams.

International basketball

The International Basketball Federation was formed in 1932 by eight founding nations: Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Switzerland. At this time, the organization only oversaw amateur players. Its acronym, derived from the French ''Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur'', was thus "FIBA". Men's Basketball was first included at the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics, although a demonstration tournament was held in 1904. The United States defeated Canada in the first final, played outdoors. This competition has usually been dominated by the United States, whose team has won all but three titles, the first loss in a controversial final game in Munich in 1972 against the Soviet Union. In 1950 the first FIBA World Championship for men was held in Argentina. Three years later, the first FIBA World Championship for Women was held in Chile. Women's basketball was added to the Olympics in 1976, which were held in Montreal, Canada with teams such as the Soviet Union, Brazil and Australia rivaling the American squads.

FIBA dropped the distinction between amateur and professional players in 1989, and in 1992, professional players played for the first time in the Olympic Games. The United States' dominance continued with the introduction of their Dream Team. However, with developing programs elsewhere, other national teams started to beat the United States. A team made entirely of NBA players finished sixth in the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis, behind Yugoslavia, Argentina, Germany, New Zealand and Spain. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, the United States suffered its first Olympic loss while using professional players, falling to Puerto Rico (in a 19-point loss) and Lithuania in group games, and being eliminated in the semifinals by Argentina. It eventually won the bronze medal defeating Lithuania, finishing behind Argentina and Italy. In 2006, in the World Championship of Japan, the United States advanced to the semifinals but were defeated by Greece by 101–95. In the bronze medal game it beat team Argentina and finished 3rd behind Greece and Spain. After the disappointments of 2002 through 2006, the U.S. regrouped, reestablishing themselves as the dominant international team behind the "Redeem Team", which won gold at the 2008 Olympics, and the so-called "B-Team", which won gold at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey despite featuring no players from the 2008 squad.

The all-tournament teams at the 2002 and 2006 FIBA World Championships, respectively held in Indianapolis and Japan, demonstrate the globalization of the game equally dramatically. Only one member of either team was American, namely Carmelo Anthony in 2006. The 2002 team featured Nowitzki, Ginobili, Yao, Peja Stojakovic of Yugoslavia (now of Serbia), and Pero Cameron of New Zealand. Ginobili also made the 2006 team; the other members were Anthony, Gasol, his Spanish teammate Jorge Garbajosa and Theodoros Papaloukas of Greece. The only players on either team to never have joined the NBA are Cameron and Papaloukas. The all-tournament team from the 2010 edition in Turkey featured four NBA players—MVP Kevin Durant of Team USA and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Linas Kleiza of Lithuania and the Toronto Raptors, Luis Scola of Argentina and the Houston Rockets, and Hedo Türkoğlu of Turkey and the Phoenix Suns. The only non-NBA player was Serbia's Miloš Teodosić. The strength of international Basketball is evident in the fact that Team USA won none of the three world championships held between 1998 and 2006, with Serbia (then known as Yugoslavia) winning in 1998 and 2002 and Spain in 2006.

Worldwide, basketball tournaments are held for boys and girls of all age levels. The global popularity of the sport is reflected in the nationalities represented in the NBA. Players from all six inhabited continents currently play in the NBA. Top international players began coming into the NBA in the mid 1990's, including Croatians Dražen Petrović and Toni Kukoč, Serbian Vlade Divac, Lithuanians Arvydas Sabonis and Šarūnas Marčiulionis and German Detlef Schrempf. John Hollinger of ESPN has analyzed foreign players' performance in the NBA and his research suggests that players moving from the Euroleague to the NBA experience, on average, a 25 per cent drop in scoring rate, an increase of 18% in their rebound rate, a 31% increase in their assist rate, a drop of 12 per cent in shooting percentage and a 30 per cent drop in Player Efficiency Rating.

In the Philippines, the Philippine Basketball Association's first game was played on April 9, 1975 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. Philippines. It was founded as a "rebellion" of several teams from the now-defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association which was tightly controlled by the Basketball Association of the Philippines (now defunct), the then-FIBA recognized national association. Nine teams from the MICAA participated in the league's first season that opened on April 9, 1975. The NBL is Australia's pre-eminent men's professional basketball league. The league commenced in 1979, playing a winter season (April–September) and did so until the completion of the 20th season in 1998. The 1998/99 season, which commenced only months later, was the first season after the shift to the current summer season format (October–April). This shift was an attempt to avoid competing directly against Australia's various football codes. It features 8 teams from around Australia and one in New Zealand. A few players including Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, Chris Anstey and Andrew Bogut made it big internationally, becoming poster figures for the sport in Australia. The Women's National Basketball League began in 1981.

Women's basketball

In 1891, the University of California and Miss Head's School played the first women's interinstitutional game. Women's basketball began in 1892 at Smith College when Senda Berenson, a physical education teacher, modified Naismith's rules for women. Shortly after she was hired at Smith, she went to Naismith to learn more about the game. Fascinated by the new sport and the values it could teach, she organized the first women’s collegiate basketball game on March 21, 1893, when her Smith freshmen and sophomores played against one another. Her rules were first published in 1899 and two years later Berenson became the editor of A.G. Spalding’s first Women's Basketball Guide. Berenson's freshmen played the sophomore class in the first women's intercollegiate basketball game at Smith College, March 21, 1893. The same year, Mount Holyoke and Sophie Newcomb College (coached by Clara Gregory Baer) women began playing basketball. By 1895, the game had spread to colleges across the country, including Wellesley, Vassar, and Bryn Mawr. The first intercollegiate women's game was on April 4, 1896. Stanford women played Berkeley, 9-on-9, ending in a 2–1 Stanford victory.

Women's basketball development was more structured than that for men in the early years. In 1905, the Executive Committee on Basket Ball Rules (National Women's Basketball Committee) was created by the American Physical Education Association. These rules called for six to nine players per team and 11 officials. The International Women's Sports Federation (1924) included a women's basketball competition. 37 women's high school varsity basketball or state tournaments were held by 1925. And in 1926, the Amateur Athletic Union backed the first national women's basketball championship, complete with men's rules. The Edmonton Grads, a touring Canadian women's team based in Edmonton, Alberta, operated between 1915 and 1940. The Grads toured all over North America, and were exceptionally successful. They posted a record of 522 wins and only 20 losses over that span, as they met any team which wanted to challenge them, funding their tours from gate receipts. The Grads also shone on several exhibition trips to Europe, and won four consecutive exhibition Olympics tournaments, in 1924, 1928, 1932, and 1936; however, women's basketball was not an official Olympic sport until 1976. The Grads' players were unpaid, and had to remain single. The Grads' style focused on team play, without overly emphasizing skills of individual players. The first women's AAU All-America team was chosen in 1929. Women's industrial leagues sprang up throughout the United States, producing famous athletes, including Babe Didrikson of the Golden Cyclones, and the All American Red Heads Team, which competed against men's teams, using men's rules. By 1938, the women's national championship changed from a three-court game to two-court game with six players per team.

The NBA-backed Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) began in 1997. Though it had shaky attendance figures, several marquee players (Lisa Leslie, Diana Taurasi, and Candace Parker among others) have helped the league's popularity and level of competition. Other professional women's basketball leagues in the United States, such as the American Basketball League (1996-1998), have folded in part because of the popularity of the WNBA. The WNBA has been looked at by many as a niche league. However, the league has recently taken steps forward. In June 2007, the WNBA signed a contract extension with ESPN. The new television deal runs from 2009 to 2016. Along with this deal, came the first ever rights fees to be paid to a women's professional sports league. Over the eight years of the contract, "millions and millions of dollars" will be "dispersed to the league's teams." The WNBA gets more viewers on national television broadcasts (413,000) than both Major League Soccer (253,000) and the NHL (310,732). In a March 12, 2009 article, NBA commissioner David Stern said that in the bad economy, "the NBA is far less profitable than the WNBA. We're losing a lot of money amongst a large number of teams. We're budgeting the WNBA to break even this year."

Rules and regulations

Measurements and time limits discussed in this section often vary among tournaments and organizations; international and NBA rules are used in this section.

The object of the game is to outscore one's opponents by throwing the ball through the opponents' basket from above while preventing the opponents from doing so on their own. An attempt to score in this way is called a shot. A successful shot is worth two points, or three points if it is taken from beyond the three-point arc which is from the basket in international games and in NBA games. A one-point shot can be earned when shooting from the foul line after a foul is made.

Playing regulations

Games are played in four quarters of 10 (FIBA) or 12 minutes (NBA). College games use two 20-minute halves, while high school varsity games use 8 minute quarters. 15 minutes are allowed for a half-time break under FIBA, NBA, and NCAA rules and 10 minutes in high school. Overtime periods are five minutes in length except for high school which is four minutes in length. Teams exchange baskets for the second half. The time allowed is actual playing time; the clock is stopped while the play is not active. Therefore, games generally take much longer to complete than the allotted game time, typically about two hours.

Five players from each team may be on the court at one time. Substitutions are unlimited but can only be done when play is stopped. Teams also have a coach, who oversees the development and strategies of the team, and other team personnel such as assistant coaches, managers, statisticians, doctors and trainers.

For both men's and women's teams, a standard uniform consists of a pair of shorts and a jersey with a clearly visible number, unique within the team, printed on both the front and back. Players wear high-top sneakers that provide extra ankle support. Typically, team names, players' names and, outside of North America, sponsors are printed on the uniforms.

A limited number of time-outs, clock stoppages requested by a coach (or sometimes mandated in the NBA) for a short meeting with the players, are allowed. They generally last no longer than one minute (100 seconds in the NBA) unless, for televised games, a commercial break is needed.

The game is controlled by the officials consisting of the referee (referred to as crew chief in the NBA), one or two umpires (referred to as referees in the NBA) and the table officials. For college, the NBA, and many high schools, there are a total of three referees on the court. The table officials are responsible for keeping track of each teams scoring, timekeeping, individual and team fouls, player substitutions, team possession arrow, and the shot clock.

Equipment

The only essential equipment in a basketball game is the basketball and the court: a flat, rectangular surface with baskets at opposite ends. Competitive levels require the use of more equipment such as clocks, score sheets, scoreboard(s), alternating possession arrows, and whistle-operated stop-clock systems.

A regulation basketball court in international games is 91.9 feet long and 49.2 feet wide. In the NBA and NCAA the court is 94 feet by 50 feet. Most courts have wood flooring, usually constructed from maple planks running in the same direction as the longer court dimension. The name and logo of the home team is usually painted on or around the center circle.

The basket is a steel rim 18 inches diameter with an attached net affixed to a backboard that measures 6 feet by 3.5 feet and one basket is at each end of the court. The white outlined box on the backboard is 18 inches high and 2 feet wide. At almost all levels of competition, the top of the rim is exactly 10 feet above the court and 4 feet inside the baseline. While variation is possible in the dimensions of the court and backboard, it is considered important for the basket to be of the correct height – a rim that is off by just a few inches can have an adverse effect on shooting.

The size of the basketball is also regulated. For men, the official ball is 29.5 inches in circumference (size 7, or a "295 ball") and weighs 22 oz. If women are playing, the official basketball size is 28.5 inches in circumference (size 6, or a "285 ball") with a weight of 20 oz.

Violations

The ball may be advanced toward the basket by being shot, passed between players, thrown, tapped, rolled or dribbled (bouncing the ball while running).

The ball must stay within the court; the last team to touch the ball before it travels out of bounds forfeits possession. The ball is out of bounds if touches or crosses over a boundary line, or touches a player who is out of bounds. This is in contrast to other sports such as football, volleyball, and tennis (but not rugby or American football) where the ball (or player) is still considered in if any part of it is touching a boundary line.

The ball-handler may not move both feet without dribbling, an infraction known as traveling, nor may he dribble with both hands or catch the ball in between dribbles, a violation called double dribbling. A player's hand cannot be under the ball while dribbling; doing so is known as carrying the ball. A team, once having established ball control in the front half of the court, may not return the ball to the backcourt and be the first to touch it. The ball may not be kicked, nor be struck with the fist. A violation of these rules results in loss of possession, or, if committed by the defense, a reset of the shot clock (with some exceptions in the NBA).

There are limits imposed on the time taken before progressing the ball past halfway (8 seconds in FIBA and the NBA; 10 seconds in NCAA men's play and high school for both sexes, but no limit in NCAA women's play), before attempting a shot (24 seconds in FIBA and the NBA, 30 seconds in NCAA women's and Canadian Interuniversity Sport play for both sexes, and 35 seconds in NCAA men's play), holding the ball while closely guarded (5 seconds), and remaining in the restricted area below the foul line (the lane, or "key") (3 seconds). These rules are designed to promote more offense.

No player may touch the ball on its downward flight to the basket, unless the ball has no chance of entering the basket (goaltending). In addition, no player may touch the ball while it is on or in the basket; when any part of the ball is in the cylinder above the basket (the area extended upwards from the basket); or when the ball is outside the cylinder, if the player reaches through the basket and touches it. This violation is known as "basket interference". If a defensive player goaltends or commits basket interference, the basket is awarded and the offending team gets the ball. If a teammate of the shooter goaltends or commits interference, the basket is cancelled and play continues with the defensive team being given possession.

Fouls

An attempt to unfairly disadvantage an opponent through physical contact is illegal and is called a foul. These are most commonly committed by defensive players; however, they can be committed by offensive players as well. Players who are fouled either receive the ball to pass inbounds again, or receive one or more free throws if they are fouled in the act of shooting, depending on whether the shot was successful. One point is awarded for making a free throw, which is attempted from a line from the basket.

The referee may use discretion in calling fouls (for example, by considering whether an unfair advantage was gained), sometimes making fouls controversial calls or no-calls. The calling of fouls can vary between games, leagues and even among referees.

A player or coach who shows poor sportsmanship, such as by arguing with a referee or by fighting with another player, can be charged with a more serious foul called a technical foul. The penalty involves free throws (where, unlike a personal foul, the other team can choose any player to shoot) and varies among leagues. Repeated incidents can result in disqualification. Blatant fouls with excessive contact or that are not an attempt to play the ball are called intentional fouls (or flagrant fouls in the NBA). In FIBA, a foul resulting in ejection is called a disqualifying foul, while in leagues other than the NBA, such a foul is referred to as flagrant.

If a team exceeds a certain limit of team fouls in a given period (quarter or half) – four for NBA and international games – the opposing team is awarded one or two free throws on all subsequent non-shooting fouls for that period, the number depending on the league. In the US college and high school games, if a team reaches 7 fouls in a half, the opposing team is awarded one free throw, along with a second shot if the first is made. This is called shooting "one-and-one". If a team exceeds 10 fouls in the half, the opposing team is awarded two free throws on all subsequent fouls for the half.

When a team shoots foul shots, the opponents may not interfere with the shooter, nor may they try to regain possession until the last or potentially last free throw is in the air.

After a team has committed a specified number of fouls, it is said to be "in the penalty". On scoreboards, this is usually signified with an indicator light reading "Bonus" or "Penalty" with an illuminated directional arrow indicating that team is to receive free throws when fouled by the opposing team. (Some scoreboards also indicate the number of fouls committed.)

If a team misses the first shot of a two-shot situation, the opposing team must wait for the completion of the second shot before attempting to reclaim possession of the ball and continuing play.

If a player is fouled while attempting a shot and the shot is unsuccessful, the player is awarded a number of free throws equal to the value of the attempted shot. A player fouled while attempting a regular two-point shot, then, receives two shots. A player fouled while attempting a three-point shot, on the other hand, receives three shots.

If a player is fouled while attempting a shot and the shot is successful, typically the player will be awarded one additional free throw for one point. In combination with a regular shot, this is called a "three-point play" or "four-point play" (or more colloquially, an "and one") because of the basket made at the time of the foul (2 or 3 points) and the additional free throw (1 point).

Common techniques and practices

Positions

Although the rules do not specify any positions whatsoever, they have evolved as part of basketball. During the first five decades of basketball's evolution, one guard, two forwards, and two centers or two guards, two forwards, and one center were used. Since the 1980s, more specific positions have evolved, namely:

# point guard: usually the fastest player on the team, organizes the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time # shooting guard: creates a high volume of shots on offense; guards the opponent's best perimeter player on defense # small forward: often primarily responsible for scoring points via cuts to the basket and dribble penetration; on defense seeks rebounds and steals, but sometimes plays more actively # power forward: plays offensively often with their back to the basket; on defense, plays under the basket (in a zone defense) or against the opposing power forward (in man-to-man defense) # center: uses height and size to score (on offense), to protect the basket closely (on defense), or to rebound.

The above descriptions are flexible. On some occasions, teams will choose to use a ''three guard offense'', replacing one of the forwards or the center with a third guard. The most commonly interchanged positions are point guard and shooting guard, especially if both players have good leadership and ball handling skills.

Strategy

The strategies also evolve with the game. In the 1990s and early 2000s, teams played with more "isolation". Teams that had one superstar would let one player, usually the point guard or shooting guard, run most of the offense while the other four offensive players get out of his/her way. Nowadays, teams tend to play with more teamwork. The "Center" position has evolved to become more of a taller "Small Forward" position. Since teams play more teamwork, ball movement has evolved with the game, and more jump shots have been taken as a result.

There are two main defensive strategies: ''zone defense'' and ''man-to-man defense''. In a zone defense, each player is assigned to guard a specific area of the court. In a man-to-man defense, each defensive player guards a specific opponent. Man-to-man defense is generally preferred at higher levels of competition, as it is intuitively easier to understand and avoids mismatches between players who play different positions. However, zone defenses are sometimes used in particular situations or simply to confuse the offense with an unexpected look.

Offensive plays are more varied, normally involving planned passes and movement by players without the ball. A quick movement by an offensive player without the ball to gain an advantageous position is a ''cut''. A legal attempt by an offensive player to stop an opponent from guarding a teammate, by standing in the defender's way such that the teammate cuts next to him, is a ''screen'' or ''pick''. The two plays are combined in the ''pick and roll'', in which a player sets a pick and then "rolls" away from the pick towards the basket. Screens and cuts are very important in offensive plays; these allow the quick passes and teamwork which can lead to a successful basket. Teams almost always have several offensive plays planned to ensure their movement is not predictable. On court, the point guard is usually responsible for indicating which play will occur.

Defensive and offensive structures, and positions, are more emphasized in higher levels in basketball; it is these that a coach normally requests a time-out to discuss.

Shooting

Shooting is the act of attempting to score points by throwing the ball through the basket. Methods can vary with players and situations.

Typically a player faces the basket with both feet facing the basket. A player will then allow the ball to rest on the fingertips of the dominant hand (the shooting arm) slightly above the head, with the other hand supporting the side of the ball. The ball is typically shot by jumping (though not always) and straightening the shooting arm. The shooting arm, fully extended with the wrist fully bent is held stationary for a moment following the release of the ball, known as a follow-through. Players often try to put a steady backspin on the ball to deaden its impact with the rim. The ideal trajectory of the shot is somewhat arguable, but generally coaches recommend a proper arch. Players may shoot directly into the basket or may use the backboard to redirect the ball into the basket.

The two most common shots that use the above described setup are the ''set shot'' and the ''jump shot''. The set shot is taken from a standing position, with neither foot leaving the floor, typically used for free throws. The jump shot is taken while in mid-air, when the ball is released near the top of the jump. This provides much greater power and range, and it also allows the player to elevate over the defender. Failure to release the ball before the feet return to the ground is considered a traveling violation.

Another common shot is called the ''layup''. This shot requires the player to be in motion toward the basket, and to "lay" the ball "up" and into the basket, typically off the backboard (the backboard-free, underhand version is called a ''finger roll''). The most crowd-pleasing and typically highest-percentage accuracy shot is the ''slam dunk'', in which the player jumps very high and throws the ball downward, straight through the hoop.

Another shot that is becoming common is the "circus shot." The circus shot is a low-percentage shot that is flipped, heaved, scooped, or flung toward the hoop while the shooter is off-balance, airborne, falling down, and/or facing away from the basket.

A shot that misses both the rim and the backboard completely is referred to as an air ball. A particularly bad shot, or one that only hits the backboard, is jocularly called a brick.

Rebounding

The objective of rebounding is to successfully gain possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw, as it rebounds from the hoop or backboard. This plays a major role in the game, as most possessions end when a team misses a shot. There are two categories of rebounds: offensive rebounds, in which the ball is recovered by the offensive side and does not change possession, and defensive rebounds, in which the defending team gains possession of the loose ball. The majority of rebounds are defensive, as the team on defense tends to be in better position to recover missed shots.

Passing

A pass is a method of moving the ball between players. Most passes are accompanied by a step forward to increase power and are followed through with the hands to ensure accuracy.

A staple pass is the ''chest pass''. The ball is passed directly from the passer's chest to the receiver's chest. A proper chest pass involves an outward snap of the thumbs to add velocity and leaves the defence little time to react.

Another type of pass is the ''bounce pass''. Here, the passer bounces the ball crisply about two-thirds of the way from his own chest to the receiver. The ball strikes the court and bounces up toward the receiver. The bounce pass takes longer to complete than the chest pass, but it is also harder for the opposing team to intercept (kicking the ball deliberately is a violation). Thus, players often use the bounce pass in crowded moments, or to pass around a defender.

The ''overhead pass'' is used to pass the ball over a defender. The ball is released while over the passer's head.

The ''outlet pass'' occurs after a team gets a defensive rebound. The next pass after the rebound is the ''outlet pass''.

The crucial aspect of any good pass is it being difficult to intercept. Good passers can pass the ball with great accuracy and they know exactly where each of their other teammates prefers to receive the ball. A special way of doing this is passing the ball without looking at the receiving teammate. This is called a ''no-look pass''.

Another advanced style of passing is the ''behind-the-back pass'' which, as the description implies, involves throwing the ball behind the passer's back to a teammate. Although some players can perform such a pass effectively, many coaches discourage no-look or behind-the-back passes, believing them to be difficult to control and more likely to result in turnovers or violations.

Dribbling

Dribbling is the act of bouncing the ball continuously with one hand, and is a requirement for a player to take steps with the ball. To dribble, a player pushes the ball down towards the ground with the fingertips rather than patting it; this ensures greater control.

When dribbling past an opponent, the dribbler should dribble with the hand farthest from the opponent, making it more difficult for the defensive player to get to the ball. It is therefore important for a player to be able to dribble competently with both hands.

Good dribblers (or "ball handlers") tend to bounce the ball low to the ground, reducing the distance of travel of the ball from the floor to the hand, making it more difficult for the defender to "steal" the ball. Good ball handlers frequently dribble behind their backs, between their legs, and switch directions suddenly, making a less predictable dribbling pattern that is more difficult to defend against. This is called a crossover, which is the most effective way to move past defenders while dribbling.

A skilled player can dribble without watching the ball, using the dribbling motion or peripheral vision to keep track of the ball's location. By not having to focus on the ball, a player can look for teammates or scoring opportunities, as well as avoid the danger of having someone steal the ball away from him/her.

Blocking

A block is performed when, after a shot is attempted, a defender succeeds in altering the shot by touching the ball. In almost all variants of play, it is illegal to touch the ball after it is in the downward path of its arc; this is known as ''goaltending''. It is also illegal under NBA and Men's NCAA basketball to block a shot after it has touched the backboard, or when any part of the ball is directly above the rim. Under international rules it is illegal to block a shot that is in the downward path of its arc or one that has touched the backboard until the ball has hit the rim. After hitting the rim the ball it is again legal to touch the ball even though it is no longer considered as a block performed.

To block a shot, a player has to be able to reach a point higher than where the shot is released. Thus, height can be an advantage in blocking. Players who are taller and playing the power forward or center positions generally record more blocks than players who are shorter and playing the guard positions. However, with good timing and a sufficiently high vertical leap, even shorter players can be effective shot blockers.

Height

At the professional level, most male players are above and most women above . Guards, for whom physical coordination and ball-handling skills are crucial, tend to be the smallest players. Almost all forwards in the men's pro leagues are or taller. Most centers are over tall. According to a survey given to all NBA teams, the average height of all NBA players is just under , with the average weight being close to . The tallest players ever in the NBA were Manute Bol and Gheorghe Mureşan, who were both tall. The tallest current NBA player is Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, who stands at .

The shortest player ever to play in the NBA is Muggsy Bogues at . Other short players have thrived at the pro level. Anthony "Spud" Webb was just tall, but had a 42-inch (1.07 m) vertical leap, giving him significant height when jumping. The shortest player in the NBA (and second shortest ever in the NBA) as of the 2009–10 season is Earl Boykins at 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m). While shorter players are often not very good at defending against shooting, their ability to navigate quickly through crowded areas of the court and steal the ball by reaching low are strengths.

Variations and similar games

Variations of basketball are activities based on the game of basketball, using common basketball skills and equipment (primarily the ball and basket). Some variations are only superficial rules changes, while others are distinct games with varying degrees of basketball influences. Other variations include children's games, contests or activities meant to help players reinforce skills.

There are principal basketball sports with variations on basketball including Wheelchair basketball, Water basketball, Beach basketball, Slamball, Streetball and Unicycle basketball. An earlier version of basketball was Six-on-six basketball played until the end of the 1950s. Horseball is a game played on horseback where a ball is handled and points are scored by shooting it through a high net (approximately 1.5m×1.5m). The sport is like a combination of polo, rugby, and basketball. There is even a form played on donkeys known as Donkey basketball, but that version has come under attack from animal rights groups.

Games using basketball skills and equipment include popular versions of the half-court game played in informal settings without referees or strict rules. Perhaps the single most common variation is the ''half court'' game. Only one basket is used, and the ball must be "cleared" – passed or dribbled outside the half-court or three-point line -each time possession of the ball changes from one team to the other. Half-court games require less cardiovascular stamina, since players need not run back and forth a full court. Half-court games also raise the number of players that can use a court, an important benefit when many players want to play. Half court games are also played when there is an insufficient number of players to form full 5-on-5 teams.

There are also other basketball sports, such as:

21 (also known as American, cutthroat and roughhouse)

42

Around the world

Bounce

Firing Squad

Fives

H-O-R-S-E

Hotshot

Knockout

One-shot conquer

Steal The Bacon

Tip-it

Tips

"The One"

Basketball War.

One-on-One, a variation in which two players will use only a small section of the court (often no more than a half of a court) and compete to play the ball into a single hoop. Such games tend to emphasize individual dribbling and ball stealing skills over shooting and team play.

;Wheelchair basketball: Wheelchair basketball, created by disabled World War II veterans, is played on specially designed wheelchairs for the physically impaired. The world governing body of wheelchair basketball is the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF).

;Water basketball: Water basketball, played in a swimming pool, merges basketball and water polo rules.

;Beach basketball: A modified version of basketball, played on beaches, was invented by Philip Bryant. Beach basketball is played in a circular court with no backboard on the goal, no out-of-bounds rule with the ball movement to be done via passes or 2½ steps, as dribbling is next to impossible on a soft surface. Beach basketball has grown to a very popular, widespread competitive sport. 15 Annual World Championships have been organized.

;Dunk Hoops: Dunk Hoops (aka Dunk Ball) is a variation of the game of basketball, played on basketball hoops with lowered (under basketball regulation 10 feet) rims. It originated when the popularity of the slam dunk grew and was developed to create better chances for dunks with lowered rims and using altered goaltending rules.

;Slamball: Slamball is full-contact basketball, with trampolines. Points are scored by playing the ball through the net, as in basketball, though the point-scoring rules are modified. The main differences from the parent sport is the court; below the padded basketball rim and backboard are four trampolines set into the floor which serve to propel players to great heights for slam dunks. The rules also permit some physical contact between the members of the four-player teams.

;Streetball: Streetball is a less formal variant of basketball, played on playgrounds and in gymnasiums across the world. Often only one half of the court is used, but otherwise the rules of the game are very similar to those of basketball. The number of participants in a game, or a ''run'', may range from one defender and one person on offense (known as ''one on one'') to two full teams of five each. Streetball is a very popular game worldwide, and some cities in the United States have organized streetball programs, such as midnight basketball. Many cities also host their own weekend-long streetball tournaments.

;Unicycle Basketball: Unicycle basketball is played using a regulation basketball on a regular basketball court with the same rules, for example,, one must dribble the ball whilst riding. There are a number of rules that are particular to unicycle basketball as well, for example,, a player must have at least one foot on a pedal when in-bounding the ball. Unicycle basketball is usually played using 24" or smaller unicycles, and using plastic pedals, both to preserve the court and the players' shins. In North America, popular unicycle basketball games are organized.

Spin-offs from basketball that are now separate sports include:

Korfball (Dutch: Korfbal, ''korf'' meaning 'basket') started in the Netherlands and is now played worldwide as a mixed gender team ball game, similar to mixed netball and basketball

Netball (formerly known as Women basketball but now played by both males and females), a limited-contact team sport in which two teams of seven try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a high hoop.

Social forms of basketball

Basketball has been adopted by various social groups, which have established their own environments and sometimes their own rules. Such socialized forms of basketball include the following.

Recreational basketball, where fun, entertainment and camaraderie rule rather than winning a game;

Basketball Schools and Academies, where students are trained in developing basketball fundamentals, undergo fitness and endurance exercises and learn various basketball skills. Basketball students learn proper ways of passing, ball handling, dribbling, shooting from various distances, rebounding, offensive moves, defense, layups, screens, basketball rules and basketball ethics. Also popular are the basketball camps organized for various occasions, often to get prepared for basketball events, and basketball clinics for improving skills.

College and University basketball played in educational institutions of higher learning.

* This includes National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) intercollegiate basketball.

Disabled basketball played by various disabled groups, such as

Bankshot basketball,

* Deaf basketball,

* Wheelchair basketball, a sport based on basketball but designed for disabled people in wheelchairs and considered one of the major disabled sports practiced.

Ethnic and Religion-based basketball: Examples of ethnic basketball include Indo-Pak or Russian or Armenian leagues in the United States or Canada, for example, or Filipino expatriate basketball leagues in the Gulf or the United States. Religion-based basketball includes, most notably, church-related Christian basketball leagues, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu basketball leagues, and so on. or denominational leagues like Coptic, Syriac/Assyrian basketball leagues in the United States or Canada.

Gay basketball played in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities in gay basketball leagues. The sport of basketball is a major part of events during the Gay Games, World Outgames and EuroGames.

Midnight basketball, a basketball initiative to curb inner-city crime in the United States and elsewhere by keeping urban youth off the streets and engaging them with sports alternatives to drugs and crime.

Mini basketball played by underage children.

Maxi Basketball played by more elderly individuals.

Prison basketball, practiced in prisons and penitentiary institutions. Active religious basketball missionary groups also play basketball with prisoners. Some prisons have developed their own prison basketball leagues. At times, non-prisoners may play in such leagues, provided all home and away games are played within prison courts. Film director Jason Moriarty has released a documentary relating to the sport, entitled Prison Ball.

Rezball, short for reservation ball, is the term used to describe the avid Native American following of basketball and, in some areas, the style of play of Native American teams.

School or High school basketball, the sport of basketball being one of the most frequently exercised and popular sports in all school systems.

Show basketball as performed by entertainment basketball show teams, the prime example being the Harlem Globetrotters. There are even specialized entertainment teams, including

* Celebrity basketball teams made of celebrities (actors, singers, and so on.) playing in their own leagues or in public, often for entertainment and charity events;

* Midget basketball teams made up of athletes of short stature offering shows using basketball;

* Slamball offered as entertainment events.

Fantasy basketball

Fantasy basketball was inspired by fantasy baseball. Originally played by keeping track of stats by hand, it was popularized during the 1990s after the advent of the Internet. Those who play this game are sometimes referred to as General Managers, who draft actual NBA players and compute their basketball statistics. The game was popularized by ESPN Fantasy Sports, NBA.com, and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. Other sports websites provided the same format keeping the game interesting with participants actually owning specific players.

See also

Basketball moves

Basketball at the Summer Olympics

Continental Basketball Association

Hot hand fallacy

National Basketball Association

Premier Basketball League

ULEB Union des Ligues Européennes de Basket, in English Union of European Leagues of Basketball

Professional#Sports

References

;General references

Further reading

External links

;Historical

Naismith Museum & Basketball Hall of Fame – Almonte, ON

Basketball Hall of Fame – Springfield, MA

Hoopedia – The Basketball Wiki (hosted by the NBA)

Hometown Sports Heroes

New Rule Changes for High School Basketball

;Organizations

Basketball at the Olympic Games

International Basketball Federation

National Basketball Association

Women's National Basketball Association

Continental Basketball Association (oldest professional basketball league in the world)

National Wheelchair Basketball Association

;Other

Basketball.com website

Eurobasket website

Basketball-Reference.com: Basketball Statistics, Analysis and History

Ontario historical plaque – Dr. James Naismith

Historical List of American Professional Basketball Teams

Category:1891 introductions Category:Canadian inventions Category:Sports originating in the United States Category:Team sports

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Name	Dražen Petrović
Position	Shooting Guard
Height ft	6 |height_in 5
Weight lbs	200
Number	44, 3 ,4, 10, 5
Birth date	October 22, 1964
Birth place	Šibenik, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Death date	June 07, 1993
Death place	Denkendorf, Germany
Debutyear	1979
Finalyear	1993
Draft	60th overall
Draftyear	1986
Draftround	3
Draftpick	60
Draftteam	Portland Trail Blazers
Career start	1979
Career end	1993
Teams	KK Šibenka (1979–1983) BC Cibona (1984–1988) Real Madrid (1988–1989) Portland Trail Blazers (1989–1991) New Jersey Nets (1991–1993)
Stats league	NBA
Stat1label	Points
Stat1value	4,461
Stat2label	Assists
Stat2value	701
Stat3label	Rebounds
Stat3value	669
Letter	p
Bbr	petrodr01
Highlights	6× European Player of the Year: 4× Euroscar Award(1986, 1989, 1992, 1993) 2× Mr. Europa Award(1986, 1993) All-NBA Third Team (1993)
Hof player	drazen-petrovic }}

Dražen Petrović (October 22, 1964 – June 7, 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s before joining the American NBA in 1989. Petrović's life and career were cut short by a car accident in Germany when he was 28.

A star on multiple stages, Petrović earned two silver medals and one bronze in Olympic basketball, a gold and a bronze in the FIBA World Championship, a gold and a bronze in the FIBA European Championship, earned six European Player of the Year awards (four Euroscar Awards, and was named Mr. Europa in basketball twice). In 1985 he received the golden badge award for best athlete of Yugoslavia.

Seeking a bigger arena after his career start in Europe, Petrović joined the National Basketball Association in 1989 as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. After playing mostly off the bench that year, Petrović experienced a break-out following a trade to the New Jersey Nets. While starting for the Nets, he became one of the league's best shooting guards.

Petrović is considered the crucial part of the vanguard to the present-day mass influx of European players into the NBA. Petrović's #3 was retired by the Nets in 1993 and in 2002, he was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Early years

Born in Šibenik, Yugoslavia (today Croatia), Dražen Petrović was the second child of Jovan and Biserka Petrović. His father was born in the village of Zagora, near Trebinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of Serb origin. His mother was born in Bilica, near Šibenik, of Croat origin. The couple's first child, Aleksandar, would be the first one to tread the basketball path, providing a lead for young Petrović to follow.

His family is distantly related to that of Dejan Bodiroga, the Serbian basketball player. Bodiroga's paternal grandfather and Petrovic's paternal grandmother are brother and sister.

Šibenka

At the age of thirteen, Petrović started playing in the youth selections of the local BC Šibenka; at the age of fifteen he had already made the first team, just as Šibenka earned a place in the national first division. With young Petrović as the star of the team, Šibenka reached the final of the Radivoj Korać Cup twice (1982 and 1983), losing to CSP Limoges both times. In 1983 the 18 year-old Petrović hit two free throws for Šibenka's victory over BC Bosna Sarajevo in the final playoff game of the Yugoslavian club championship, but the title was taken away from Šibenka the next day by the national basketball federation with irregularities in refereeing cited as the reason, and awarded to Bosna after Šibenka refused to show up for the repeat match.

Rise to European stardom

Cibona

After spending a year serving the mandatory time in the military, Petrović followed his brother's footsteps and moved to BC Cibona Zagreb to form, at that time, the best backcourt duo in Europe. The very first year in Cibona he won both the Yugoslav championship and the national cup. To top it all off, the 87-78 victory over Real Madrid, to which Petrović contributed with 36 points, brought him and Cibona their first European Cup title. The second came the following year, as Petrović scored 22 points and Cibona defeated BC Žalgiris Kaunas, which starred the legendary Arvydas Sabonis. The same year brought another national cup title for Cibona, seeing Petrović score 46 against the old rival Bosna. In 1987 Petrović earned his third European trophy: a European Cup Winners Cup title against Scavolini Pesaro, whose net he filled with 28 points.

Petrović's scoring average during the four years with Cibona stood at 37.7 points in the Yugoslavian first division and 33.8 in European competitions, with personal one-time bests of 112 and 62 points, respectively. His scoring sheet was often known to show 40, 50, even 60 in a single game; in an 1986 European League game against Limoges, Petrović scored ten 3-pointers, including seven in a row during a first half stretch, for a final tally of 51 points and 10 assists; the same season he scored 45 points and dished out 25 assists against the reigning Italian champions Simac. Self-admittedly, Petrović needed new challenges, which Cibona and the Yugoslavian league could not offer. Across the Atlantic, the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA had already used their third round pick on young Petrović in 1986. However, he decided to postpone his departure to the United States and in 1988 signed with Real Madrid instead, for at that time a hefty sum of around US$ 4 million.

Real Madrid

The 1988–1989 season saw Petrović wear the colors of the Spanish basketball club Real Madrid Baloncesto. Although the national championship barely escaped them, as they lost to Barcelona in the fifth and decisive game of the final series, Petrović helped Real to the national cup title over their Catalonian rivals. Petrović also led the club to victory in the European Cup Winners Cup final against Snaidero Caserta by tying his previous best scoring performance in European competitions (62 points). His first season in the ACB was also his last, but he still holds ACB single performance bests in a final series game in points made (42) and three-pointers made (8).

Motivated by the challenge and pressured by the Portland Trail Blazers, who had drafted him 60th overall back in 1986, Petrović finally stood firm in the decision to try to establish himself in the NBA. He left Spain rather abruptly at the end of the season; the Blazers assisted in buying out his contract with Real (for as much as US$ 1.5 million) and Petrović joined the Blazers for the 1989–1990 season.

NBA period

Portland

In his many statements prior to arriving in Portland, Petrović voiced lack of playing time as the only possible obstacle to his success in the NBA; in his first season with the Blazers, those concerns were realized. With Portland's starting backcourt of Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter already established, the reigning La Gazzetta dello Sport Euroscar European Player of the Year was reduced to playing 12 minutes per game - minutes collected largely in "garbage time" - allowing him a mere 7.4 points per game. The beginning of the 1990-1991 season brought Petrović's frustration to a climax, as his playing time dropped to 7 minutes a game. At his insistence, 38 games into the season (in 20 of which Petrović didn't see any playing time), a three-way trade with the Denver Nuggets sent him to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for a first-round pick in the following draft.

New Jersey

On January 23, 1991, Petrović became a member of the New Jersey Nets. Petrović was now a part of a team that featured two of the best young prospects in the league, Kenny Anderson and Derrick Coleman - but a team that had not reached the playoffs since 1986. He immediately responded to increased playing time (20.5 minutes per game), holding a scoring average of 12.6 points per game in 43 games with the Nets. In the 1991-1992 season, his first full season with the Nets, ''Petro'', as the Americans had dubbed him, averaged 20.6 points in 36.9 minutes on the floor, nearly leading all NBA guards in field goal percentage (51%). He did not miss a single game; he established himself as the team leader; and he was named team MVP. More significantly, his success translated into team success, as the Nets recorded 14 more wins than the season before and made the playoffs. The following, 1992-1993 season, Petrović increased his scoring average (22.3, 11th best that season) and repeated his three-point field goal percentage from the previous season (45%), again nearly leading all guards in field goal percentage (52%). American media honored him with a selection to the All-NBA 3rd Team. However, a failure to receive an invitation to the 1993 All-Star game came as a great disappointment to Petrović; among the top 13 scorers in the NBA that season, he was the only one not invited.

National teams

}} }} Petrović's national team debut came at the age of 15, at the U-18 Balkan Championship in Turkey, where the Yugoslavian junior team won the bronze. The young man regularly played for the Yugoslavian national team in the Balkan Championships, also winning gold with the junior team and silver with the senior team. In 1982 he also brought back the silver from the European Championship for Junior Men in Greece.

The 1984 Summer Olympics were Petrović's first competition of a grand scale with the senior national team, and the bronze medal won in Los Angeles that summer became his first Olympic trophy. Third place was also earned at the World Championship in 1986, remembered for the last minute thriller in the semi-final game against the Soviet Union. From the European Championship in 1987 Petrović again returned with bronze, as Yugoslavia lost to the hosts and gold medalists Greece. The University Games, held in Zagreb in 1987, saw the Yugoslavian squad with Petrović win the gold. In the 1988 Summer Olympics Yugoslavia with Petrović earned 2nd place, as they lost once more to the Soviet powerhouse.

An excellent club season with Real Madrid was topped by Petrović's 1989 accomplishment with the national team: at the Eurobasket in Zagreb the young Yugoslavian team went all the way, defeating Greece more than comfortably in the championship game. Petrović was the tournament's second leading scorer and most valuable player. The very next year, the summer in between the two most frustrating seasons of his professional career, as he struggled for playing time with the Trail Blazers, Petrović was again making history with the national team, as Yugoslavia became world champions, beating the Soviet Union for the gold in Buenos Aires.

The 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona marked the first summer olympiad featuring the independent Croatia, and Petrović was the leader of the Croatian national basketball team at the Olympic basketball tournament. Losing only to the American Dream Team in round-robin play, a strong and inspired Croatian team emerged victorious from the semi-final against the revamped Soviet team thanks to clutch free throws executed by Petrović, and faced off against the Americans for the gold. Urged on by Petrović's competitiveness and confidence, the Croatians fared well in the first ten minutes of the game, taking a 25-23 lead on a Franjo Arapović dunk and the subsequent free throw. As the game progressed, however, the now-legendary team composed of NBA stars proved too tough for Croatia: the Americans won 117-85, sending Petrović, the game's leading scorer with 24 points, and his teammates home with silver medals.

In the period during which Petrović played for the Croatian national team (from 1992 to 1993), he appeared in 40 games and scored 1002 points. His highest point tally came against Estonia on May 31, 1993 (48 points).

Death and posthumous glory

In the summer of 1993, after his best NBA season and the Nets' first-round elimination by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Petrović traveled to Poland, where the Croatian national team was playing a qualification tournament for the 1993 Eurobasket. He was contemplating departure from the Nets, disappointed with tension between himself and, to his belief, envious teammates, as well as the fact that the Nets had not yet extended his contract. He told American reporters that the lack of recognition in the league had him also considering leaving the NBA completely and playing club basketball in Greece; there were at least two Greek clubs ready to offer Petrović three-year contracts worth US$ 7.5 million. It was rumored that Petrović verbally agreed on terms with Panathinaikos BC; these rumors gave rise to the story of PAO's owner, Pavlos Giannakopoulos, allegedly offering the Nets' star a signed contract with blank salary terms, which became a part of Petrović's legend. Petrović decided to skip the connection flight back to Zagreb and drive with his girlfriend back to Croatia.

Petrović died as a passenger in a car involved in a traffic accident on the rain-drenched Autobahn 9 when a semi truck cut the car he was travelling in off at Denkendorf, near Ingolstadt, in the German state of Bavaria, at approximately 17:20 on June 7, 1993, four and a half months before his 29th birthday.

According to the report of the Ingolstadt police, that afternoon a truck broke through the Autobahn median; the truck driver was trying to avoid a collision with a personal vehicle in his own lane and lost control of the truck, crashing through the median barrier and finally coming to a stop blocking all three lanes of traffic in the opposite direction (Munich). It was seconds later that the VW Golf carrying a sleeping Petrović in the passenger seat crashed into the truck, killing only him, and leaving the driver - Klara Szalantzy, a German model and female basketball player with whom Petrović was romantically involved - and Hilal Edebal, a female Turkish basketball player, with grave injuries. It was established that visibility on the road was very poor and that Petrović was not buckled with a seatbelt.

Petrović's tomb at Mirogoj Cemetery had instantly become a sanctuary for his compatriots. The Cibona stadium was renamed the Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall on October 4, 1993, and the city of Zagreb dedicated a square in his name. The Nets retired his number 3 jersey on November 11, 1993. Since 1994, the MVP award at the McDonald's Championship has borne the name Drazen Petrovic Trophy. On April 29, 1995, a statue commemorating Petrović's significance to the world of sports was erected in front of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, thus making him only the second athlete to receive this honor. On July 9, 2001, having defeated Patrick Rafter to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon, Croatian tennis player Goran Ivanišević dedicated the win to his late friend Petrović; Ivanišević wore Petrović's Nets jersey amidst the 100,000 strong crowd celebrating his victory in Split. Petrović was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2006, the 13th anniversary of Petrović's death was marked with the opening of the Dražen Petrović Memorial Center in Zagreb, a grand temple dedicated to Petrović's person and achievements, with ten themed galleries of multimedia content outlining his entire career. In 2007, he was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame.

The 2010 documentary ''Once Brothers'' (part of the ESPN ''30 for 30'' series) portrays the achievements of the Yugoslavia national basketball team in the late 1980s and early 1990s and how the Yugoslav Wars tore the team apart. It explores Petrović's broken friendship with Serbian/Yugoslav player Vlade Divac.

Reactions

Accomplishments and awards

Club competitions

FIBA Korać Cup Korać Cup Euroleague Yugoslavian Championship Yugoslavian Cup Euroleague Yugoslavian Championship Yugoslavian Cup Saporta Cup Yugoslavian Cup Korać Cup Copa del Rey de BaloncestoAsociación de Clubs de Baloncesto European Cup Winners Cup NBA Playoffs

Year	Competition	Achievement	Club
1982	Korać Cup ||	Finalist	BC Šibenka
1983	|	Finalist	BC Šibenka
1985	European Champions Cup ||	Winner	KK Cibona>BC Cibona
1985	|	Winner	BC Cibona
1985	|	Winner	BC Cibona
1986	European Champions Cup ||	Winner	BC Cibona
1986	|	Finalist	BC Cibona
1986	|	Winner	BC Cibona
1987	European Cup Winners Cup ||	Winner	BC Cibona
1988	|	Winner	BC Cibona
1988	|	Finalist	BC Cibona
1989	Spanish Cup ||	Winner	Real Madrid Baloncesto>Real Madrid
1989	Spanish Championship ||	Finalist	Real Madrid
1989	|	Winner	Real Madrid
1990	|	Finalist	Portland Trail Blazers

YUBA most points scored by an individual in a league game (112)

ACB most points scored by an individual in a final series game (42)

ACB most 3PT field goals made by an individual in a final series game (8)

NBA 1991-92 second highest 3PT field goal percentage (.444)

NBA 1991-92 fourth highest field goal percentage among guards (.508)

NBA 1992-93 second highest 3PT field goal percentage (.449)

NBA 1992-93 second highest field goal percentage among guards (.518)

NBA third best career 3PT field goal percentage (.437)

National teams

Balkan Championship for Junior Men Balkan Championship for Cadets Balkan Championship for Junior Men European Championship for Junior Men Universiade Balkan Championship 1984 Summer Olympic GamesBasketball World Championship University Games Eurobasket Olympic Games Eurobasket World Championship Olympic Games

Year	Event	Host	Placement	Country
1980	|	Istanbul, Turkey	3rd	SFR Yugoslavia
1981	|	Thessaloniki, Greece	1st	SFR Yugoslavia
1982	|	Patras, Greece	1st	SFR Yugoslavia
1982	|	Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria>Dimitrovgrad and Haskovo, Bulgaria	2nd	SFR Yugoslavia
1983	University Games ||	Edmonton, Canada	2nd	SFR Yugoslavia
1984	|	Athens, Greece	2nd	SFR Yugoslavia
1984	Olympic Games ||	Los Angeles, California>Los Angeles, United States	3rd	SFR Yugoslavia
1986	World Championship ||	Madrid, Spain	3rd	SFR Yugoslavia
1987	|	Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia	1st	SFR Yugoslavia
1987	|	Athens, Greece	3rd	SFR Yugoslavia
1988	|	Seoul, South Korea	2nd	SFR Yugoslavia
1989	|	Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia	1st	SFR Yugoslavia
1990	|	Buenos Aires, Argentina	1st	SFR Yugoslavia
1992	|	Barcelona, Spain	2nd	Croatia

Balkan Championship for Junior Men 1982 Best Player

World Championship 1986 MVP

European Championship 1989 MVP

Dražen Petrović Memorial Center

A museum named "The Dražen Petrović Memorial Center" was founded in his honor, and constitutes a co-operative effort led by the Dražen Petrović Foundation in conjunction with the Croatian government, the city of Zagreb and the Croatian Museum of Sports. The memorial center idea originated from Petrović's parents, Biserka and Jole Petrovic, and was supported with the contributions of Croatian architects Andrija Rusan and Niksa Bilic. All of the articles presented in the center have been collected and categorized by the Croatian Museum of Sports. The organization and operations of the center have been provided by the Dražen Petrović Foundation, which is led by Petrović's family. The Center contains his No. 3 New Jersey Nets jersey and the watch that stopped when he died in a car crash. The center features 1,000 memorabilia items and a video of his basketball highlights.

The official opening of the museum was held on June 7, 2006, while the official opening of the center to the public began at the end of December 2006. The square on which the center is operated upon has been renamed to ''Plaza Dražen Petrović'' in his honor.

See also

List of basketball players who have scored 100 points in a single game

Notes

References

External links

Drazen Petrovic Official Web Site

nba.com historical playerfile

Drazen Petrovic at the Basketball Hall of Fame

Euroleague.net 50 greatest contributors

Drazen Petrovic at basketball-reference.com

In Honor of Dražen Petrović

FIBA Hall of Fame profile

Dražen Petrović Player Profile (InterBasket)

Career basketpedya.com

Drazen Petrovic Museum

Arvydas Sabonis | years= 1986 | after= Nikos Galis}} Toni Kukoč | years= 1993 | after= Saša Đorđević}}

Category:1964 births Category:1993 deaths Category:People from Šibenik Category:Expatriates in Spain Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Category:FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Category:Yugoslav basketball players Category:Croatian basketball players Category:Croatian expatriate basketball people in the United States Category:Olympic basketball players of Yugoslavia Category:Olympic basketball players of Croatia Category:Olympic silver medalists for Croatia Category:Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Category:Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Category:Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Category:Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Category:KK Cibona players Category:National Basketball Association players with retired numbers Category:New Jersey Nets players Category:Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Category:Portland Trail Blazers players Category:Liga ACB players Category:Real Madrid Baloncesto players Category:Road accident deaths in Germany Category:Shooting guards Category:Eurobasket-winning players Category:Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Category:Olympic medalists in basketball Category:Road accident deaths in Germany

bs:Dražen Petrović ca:Dražen Petrović cs:Dražen Petrović de:Dražen Petrović el:Ντράζεν Πέτροβιτς es:Dražen Petrović eo:Dražen Petrović eu:Dražen Petrović fr:Dražen Petrović gl:Dražen Petrović hr:Dražen Petrović it:Dražen Petrović he:דראז'ן פטרוביץ' lv:Dražens Petrovičs lt:Dražen Petrović nl:Dražen Petrović ja:ドラゼン・ペトロビッチ no:Dražen Petrović pl:Dražen Petrović pt:Dražen Petrović ru:Петрович, Дражен sq:Drazhen Petroviq sl:Dražen Petrović sr:Дражен Петровић sh:Dražen Petrović fi:Dražen Petrović sv:Dražen Petrović tr:Dražen Petrović uk:Дражен Петрович bat-smg:Dražen Petrović zh:德拉任·彼得罗维奇

Width	200px
Position	Center
Number	12, 21
Height ft	7|height_in1
Weight lbs	260
Birth date	February 03, 1968Prijepolje, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Debutyear	1983
Finalyear	2005
Draftyear	1989
Draftround	1
Draftpick	26
Teams	KK Sloga (1983–1986) KK Partizan (1986–1989) Los Angeles Lakers (1989–1996) Charlotte Hornets (1996–1998) KK Crvena zvezda (1999) Sacramento Kings (1999–2004) Los Angeles Lakers (2004–2005)
Stats league	NBA
Stat1label	Points
Stat1value	13,398
Stat2label	Rebounds
Stat2value	9,326
Stat3label	Blocks
Stat3value	1,631
Letter	d
Bbr	divacvl01
Highlights	1989–90 NBA All-Rookie First Team 1x NBA All-Star (2001) J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (2000) Euroleague's 50 Greatest Contributors European Player of the Year: Mister Europa (1989) #21 Retired by Sacramento Kings FIBA Hall of Fame
Hof player	}}

}} }}

Vlade Divac (, ) (born February 3, 1968 in Prijepolje, Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a retired Yugoslav and Serbian professional basketball player who spent most of his career in the NBA. At , he played center and was known for his passing skills. Divac was among the first group of European Basketball players to transfer to the NBA in the late 1980s and was named as one of Euroleague's 50 greatest contributors. Divac is one of six players in NBA history to record 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocked shots, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon. (The NBA hasn't always kept track of blocked shots, so some other players, such as Bill Russell, probably also had similar career achievements.) Divac is also the only NBA player born ''and trained'' outside of the United States to play in over 1,000 games in the NBA. On August 20, 2010, Divac was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his play in international competition.

Aside from being noticed for his basketball abilities, Divac is also known as a humanitarian, helping children in his native country of Serbia, as well as in Africa. On October 16, 2008, Divac was appointed as a government adviser in Serbia for humanitarian issues. On February 24, 2009, he was elected as the President of the Serbian Olympic Committee for a 4-year term. Divac received a prestigious honor from the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

Basketball career

He began playing basketball in his home town Prijepolje for the team KK Elan. He began his professional career in Yugoslavia playing for KK Sloga from Kraljevo, and was immediately noted for scoring 27 points against KK Crvena zvezda. In summer 1986, he was the top star of the transfer season, signing for KK Partizan for DM14,000.

In the same year, at the age of 18, he made his debut for the senior Yugoslavia national basketball team in the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Madrid, on invitation by the selector Krešimir Ćosić. However, the excellent rookie's performance was spoiled by the event in the semi-finals against Soviet Union. 45 seconds before the end, Yugoslavia had a comfortable lead of 9 points, but Soviets scored two three-pointers within a few seconds and cut the difference to 3 points. Yugoslavia tried to hold the ball for the remaining time, opting to continue the play with throw-ins instead of free throws following fouls, but with only 14 seconds left, Divac committed a double dribble, the Soviets were awarded the ball, and tied the score with another three-pointer. In the overtime, the Soviets easily prevailed against the shocked Yugoslavs, who had to be content with the bronze.

The next year, Divac participated in the team that took the gold at the FIBA Junior World Championship (since split into separate under-19 and under-21 events) in Bormio, Italy. That event launched the young generation of Yugoslavian basketballers, also featuring stars like Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč, regarded as likely the best in history. Before the breakup of Yugoslavia, they would also take the titles at EuroBasket 1989 and the 1990 FIBA World Championship in Argentina, where they were led by Dražen Petrović, as well as the EuroBasket 1991 title, with Aleksandar Đorđević at point guard.

In 1987, with Divac, Đorđević, Paspalj, Obradović, and Dušan Vujošević at the helm, Partizan had a "dream team", which took the Yugoslavian league title, but failed to reach the Euroleague top the next season, having lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel in the semi-finals in Belgian Ghent. Jugoplastika with Rađa and Kukoč was a stronger team in the subsequent 3 years, reigning both in Yugoslavia and in Europe.

Divac had an unusual style for centers of the time: despite the height, he possessed good mobility, had good control of the ball and was a good shooter from distance. On occasion, he would also act as a playmaker. His trademark moves included a midrange shot at the top of the key and flip shots around the rim while facing the complete opposite direction. His quirky moves complemented how he liked playing gags on the field: in the 1989 Eurobasket, he lifted teammate Zoran Radović for a slam dunk. In just 4 professional seasons in Europe, he became the most sought-after tall player in the continent after Arvydas Sabonis.

When Yugoslavia won the gold in the 1990 FIBA World Championship, fans rushed the court. One of them was holding a Croatian flag, one of the six republics that made up Yugoslavia. Divac claims that he told the man that he should not be waving that flag, since this was a win for Yugoslavia. Divac claims the man made a derogatory remark about the Yugoslav flag, at which point Divac took his flag from him. This happened during a very tense time where nationalistic pride was threatening to tear Yugoslavia apart and ignite a war. The taking of the flag made Divac a hero to Serbs, and a villain to Croatians. Divac has stated that he did not mean it as an act against Croatia and he would have taken away a Serbian flag if a Serb fan had done the same.

This action, along with the Yugoslav Wars, alienated Divac from many of his former Croatian friends, particularly Dražen Petrović, whom he considered his best friend. When Yugoslavia won EuroBasket 1995, and Croatia won bronze, Croatia, still at war with Serbs from Croatia (sponsored by Yugoslavia), walked off the podium during the medal ceremony. The teams never faced each other in the tournament.

NBA

Drafted into the NBA in 1989 by the Los Angeles Lakers, Divac became the Lakers' first-ever Serbian draft pick; Croatian Kresimir Cosic had been previously selected by the Lakers in 1973. He was also one of the first European players to have an impact in the league. Under the mentorship of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, he improved his play and adapted to the American style of the game. Despite the fact that he didn't speak any English, he quickly became popular among the teammates and the public for his charm and joviality. In the 1989/90 season, he was selected into the NBA All-Rookie Team. During his time with the Lakers, Divac's popularity and marketing potential, in addition to his entertaining and good-natured personality, were picked up on by the American TV industry. As a result he appeared quite a few times on Los Angeles-based late night programmes such as ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' and ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''. In 1990, he was featured in a commercial with Laker teammates A. C. Green and Mychal Thompson for the Schick brand razors company. He also appeared in American sitcoms ''Married... with Children'' and ''Coach'', as well as in the short lived ''Good Sports'' sitcom starring Farrah Fawcett. On the big screen Divac took part in basketball based movies ''Eddie'', ''Space Jam'' and ''Juwanna Mann''. Later in his career, he appeared on ''Larry King Live'' in 1999 and ''The Late Late Show'' in 2002.

Divac earned a reputation for flopping, or deceiving the officials into calling a foul on the other team by purposely falling to the floor upon contact with an opposing player. Veteran NBA forward P.J. Brown claimed that Divac might have been the best of all time at flopping. Divac freely admitted doing so, adding that he usually did it when he felt like the officials had missed some calls and owed him.

He was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant in 1996 and spent two seasons playing there. During the lockout period, in January 1999, he played 2 games for Partizan's "eternal rival" KK Crvena zvezda in the 1998–99 Euroleague season. He then signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings where he would play for six seasons alongside fellow countryman Predrag Stojaković. Along with Stojaković, Chris Webber and Mike Bibby, Divac revitalized the Sacramento Kings franchise. The Kings rose in the NBA ranks, becoming a perennial playoff contender and later on a championship contender and was at one point the best team in the NBA, leading the league in number of wins in 2001–02. The Kings however, could not get past the Los Angeles Lakers, who beat them in a 7-game series in 2002.

After the 2003–04 NBA season, he became a free agent. He signed a deal to return to the Lakers and was part of a grand plan to overhaul Laker basketball. The Lakers, following a defeat in the NBA Finals, had traded away or released most of their players, including Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Derek Fisher and more; Divac was supposed to fill that void. However, Divac suffered back problems and was unable to play for most of the season, and even when he returned, was only able to play about nine minutes per game, averaging 2.3 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game in 15 games, he played 8 games early in the season and 7 more in the final month of the season. On 14 July 2005, Divac announced his retirement, ending his sixteen-year NBA basketball career.

The Kings retired his No. 21 jersey in a ceremony on March 31, 2009.

Over his 16 years in the NBA, Divac made over $93,000,000 in salary.

Post-basketball career

Through the twilight of his playing career and afterwards, Divac focused on three fields: humanitarian work, sport management, and investment.

Sport management

KK Partizan

In late 2000, following the overthrow of the Milošević regime, Divac and former teammate Predrag Danilović took over their former club KK Partizan. They did so on initiative by Ivica Dačić, the club's outgoing president and, more importantly at that moment, a suddenly marginalized politician who due to his association with Milošević's regime got forced into leaving his post at the club. Seeing that various state-owned companies and community property were being taken over in dodgy fashion during the power vacuum that resulted from the regime overthrow, Dačić saw it prudent to bring the club's two former greats as a safe guard against the same happening to KK Partizan. Divac became the club's president while Danilović took the vice-president role. Freshly retired from playing, Danilović was actually running the club's day-to-day operations since Divac was still very actively involved with the Sacramento Kings at the time. The head coach they inherited, Darko Russo, finished out the 2000-01 season before they decided in summer 2001 to bring back their mentor Duško Vujošević to be the new head coach.

Though the duo never stated so outright, their additional motivation in getting involved with KK Partizan again was perceived to be gaining the upper hand on club's eventual privatisation process once the new Law on Sports gets passed in Serbian parliament. Since the exact ownership structure of publicly owned KK Partizan wasn't and still isn't really clear, potential investors decided to stay away, at least until the law appears. Divac and Danilović appeared pretty much out of nowhere in this regard but enjoyed plenty of fan and public support because most preferred to see their beloved club owned and operated by its former stars rather than a faceless corporation or a group of politicians, managers or businessmen close to the ruling coalition. However, after few years the duo ran out of patience and pulled out of the venture in late 2004 because it became too much of a financial burden with no end goal in sight. While he stopped performing any official functions at the club, Divac continues to be involved with it in lesser capacity.

LA Lakers

From 2005 to 2006, Divac was employed as European scout for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Real Madrid

In June 2006, through his friendship with Predrag Mijatović, Divac linked up with Ramón Calderón as part of the lawyer's candidate bid for the presidency of Real Madrid polideportivo. When Calderón closely won the club elections on July 2, 2006, Divac was introduced as the head of operations at Real Madrid basketball club.

However, Divac's role in the club's day to day operations was largely symbolic, and even he himself admitted as much in a March 2007 interview for Croatian weekly ''Globus'': "I literally do nothing and I only serve as part of the ''royal club'''s image. I only accepted the job because of Mijatović, who is currently the football director at Real".

Serbian Olympic Committee

In February 2009 Divac ran for presidency of the Olympic Committee of Serbia against incumbent president Ivan Ćurković. He won the race after Ćurković withdrew just before the scheduled voting.

Investments

Divac has been involved in many non-basketball endeavors while still actively playing in the NBA, and more so after he retired. He is an active restaurant investor in the Sacramento, California area. However, his attempts to make major investments in Serbia failed, for a variety of reasons.

The most notable affair was a highly publicized business venture—takeover bid of profitable beverage producer Knjaz Miloš. Divac's company "Apurna" in a joint venture with French dairy giant Danone ostensibly proposed the best bid, but the takeover was aborted by the Serbia's Securities Commission, because Danone/Apurna allegedly offered extra money to small shareholders. In the repeated bid, Divac and Danone eventually withdrew and the sale went to FPP Balkan Ltd., a privatization fund from Cayman Islands. The entire messy affair caused great friction within the Serbian government, wide speculation about corruption, resignation of the Securities Commission chief, and even police investigation.

Another similar, though less spectacular, episode happened with 2005 Divac's attempt to take over the ''Večernje novosti'', a Serbian high-circulation daily. He made an agreement with small shareholders to take over the company by means of registering a new company with joint capital, which would increase the share capital. However, the Serbian Government intervened and halted what should have been a mere technical move. While the attempted takeover was a "backdoor" one indeed, it was legal and similar cases had already happened. The government ostensibly feared lack of control over the influential daily. Even through the Supreme Court of Serbia eventually ruled in Divac's favor, he withdrew from the contest, citing "friendly advice" by unnamed persons. Embittered, he decided to stop his attempts to invest in Serbia: "All of this is ugly and I'm very upset... I realized that there's no place for me in Serbia and my friends can meet me in Madrid from now on... In Serbia, some different rules are in effect, and I can't conceive them".

However, that turned out not to be true, as in October 2007 Divac got legally registered as 100% owner of Voda Voda, a bottled water brand previously owned by businessman Vojin Đorđević. That transaction was also followed by a stir of controversy, as Đorđević publicly accused Divac of deceit, asserting that he broke a gentlemen's agreement they had, and questioning the validity of the contract that Divac presented to the Serbian Business Registers Agency. The circumstances surrounding the deal (as of November 2007) are still unclear: Divac claims that he indeed loaned some money to the Đorđević's Si&Si; company, which was in financial troubles, and after Đorđević failed to fulfill his part of the deal, just used the contract, already properly signed by Đorđević, to claim ownership of the company.

Humanitarian work

Divac is a proactive humanitarian worker, focusing on aid to children worldwide and refugees in his home country. Along with six Serbian basketball teammates, Divac established the charity called Group Seven, later renamed to "Divac's Children Foundation", and works closely with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), helping them to raise around US$500,000 for humanitarian assistance in Serbia since 1997. Divac's own foundation, presided by his wife Snežana, provided over $2,500,000 in humanitarian assistance through 1998–2007.

In late 2007 Divac has founded a humanitarian organization, "You Can Too" (Serbian: ''Можеш и ти/Možeš i ti''), bent on assisting the refugees in Serbia. Serbia has around 500,000 refugees from the 1990s Yugoslav wars, making it the country with the largest refugee problem in Europe. Around 7,800 of those people still live in collective centers under poor conditions, so the organization has vouched itself to buy abandoned countryside houses, in an attempt to finally solve their accommodation problem.

On 21–23 September 2007, Divac organized an official farewell from active basketball career in his hometown Prijepolje and Belgrade, simultaneously promoting the "You Can Too" campaign. The spectacle culminated in gathering of Divac and his worldwide friends in front of 10,000 people outside the National Assembly building.

Domestic fame

In the early 1990s, the song "Vlade Divac" by Belgrade band Deca Loših Muzičara, devoted to his transfer to Lakers, was a big hit; the band finally got to personally meet Divac and perform the song with him on his farewell party in 2007.

Divac regularly appears in commercials pitching products ranging from Atlas Beer to Societe Generale Bank mortgage credit plans. He appeared in a national TV commercial in the United States alongside former NBA star Darryl Dawkins for Taco Bell.

Divac appeared as a special guest on Eurovision 2008. He threw a ball into audience, and that was sign for the beginning of televoting.

Divac appears in the ESPN ''30 for 30'' documentary ''Once Brothers'', where he discusses the exploits of the Yugoslavia national basketball team in the late 1980s and early 1990s and how the Yugoslav Wars tore them apart, especially in context of his broken friendship with Croatian player Dražen Petrović.

Divac appears in Boris Malagurski's documentary film ''The Weight of Chains'', in which he talks about the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

Personal life

Divac and his wife, Snežana , have two sons, Luka and Matija, and an adopted daughter Petra, whose parents were killed on their way to the market by the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Major career achievements

KK Partizan

Yugoslav Championship in 1987

Final-four of Euroleague 1988

National Cup Winner 1989

Korać Cup Winner 1989

Yugoslavia national team

Earned gold medal with Yugoslavia's under-18 nationals at the European Cadet Championships in Rousse, Bulgaria in 1985

Earned gold medal with Yugoslavia's under-21 nationals at the European Junior Championships in Gmunden, Austria in 1986

Earned gold medal with Yugoslavia's under-21 nationals at the FIBA Junior World Championships of Basketball in Bormio, Italy in 1987, defeating the U.S. team twice in that tournament

Earned silver medals in 1988 (for SFRY) and 1996 Olympics (for FRY)

Earned gold medals with SFRY at the 1990 (Argentina) and with FRY at the 2002 FIBA World Championship (U.S.)

Earned gold medals at European Championships in Zagreb 1989 and Rome 1991 (with SFRY), and in Athens 1995 (with FRY)

NBA

Named to the 1989–90 NBA All-Rookie First Team after averaging 8.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg for the Lakers

Appeared in the 1991 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls and averaged 12.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 2.4 apg in 121 career NBA Playoff games

Ranks 4th in Lakers franchise history with 830 blocked shots

Ranked 2nd on the Kings in scoring (14.3 ppg), rebounds (10.0 rpg, 10th in the NBA), assists (4.3 apg) and blocked shots (1.02 bpg) in 1998–99

Ranked 12th in the NBA in field-goal percentage (.503) in 1999–2000

Named NBA All-Star, 2001

Only basketball player born and trained in Europe to play at least 1,000 NBA games (1,134)

One of only two basketball players born and trained in Europe (Dražen Petrović is the other) to have his number retired by an NBA team

See also

List of National Basketball Association players with 1000 games played

List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders

List of National Basketball Association career blocks leaders

List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders

List of National Basketball Association career playoff blocks leaders

List of National Basketball Association players with 10 or more blocks in a game

Filmography

Movies

''The Weight of Chains'' (2010) -Himself

''We are No Angels 3: Rock & Roll Fight Back'' (2008) -God

''Crossover'' (2004) -Himself

''Juwanna Mann'' (2002) -Beat Player Morse

''Driving Me Crazy'' (TV) (2000) -Viglione, Gene

''Space Jam'' (1996) -Himself (Los Angeles Lakers)

''Eddie'' (1996) -Himself (Los Angeles Lakers)

Television

''Želite li da postanete milioner?'' - Serbia, New Year's 2008 celebrity charity edition – Himself (Answered 13 questions, won RSD1,250,000)

''Crni Gruja'', "Kolac" (2003) -Vampir Toza

''Rachel Gunn, R.N''., "Rachel Sees Red" (2000)

''Married... with Children'', " A Tisket, a Tasket, Can Peg Make a Basket?" (1993) – Himself

''Coach'', "Dateline-Bangkok" (1992) -Delivery Man

''Good Sports'', "The Reviews are in" (1991) -Himself

''Once Brothers'' -Documentary about Dražen Petrović and Vlade Divac on ESPN - October 2010

Notes

External links

Vlade Divac playerfile @ NBA.com

Divac's Charity

Euroleague.net 50 greatest contributors

Vlade Divac Statistics @ Basketball-Reference.com

Šarūnas Marčiulionis | years= 1989 | after= Toni Kukoč}}

Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Category:Serbian expatriate basketball people in the United States Category:Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Category:Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Category:KK Partizan players Category:Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Category:Los Angeles Lakers players Category:Charlotte Hornets players Category:KK Crvena zvezda players Category:Sacramento Kings players Category:Yugoslav basketball players Category:Serbian basketball players Category:National Basketball Association players with retired numbers Category:Olympic basketball players of Yugoslavia Category:Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Category:Centers (basketball) Category:Serbian businesspeople Category:Eurobasket-winning players Category:Olympic medalists in basketball Category:People from Prijepolje

ca:Vlade Divac de:Vlade Divac es:Vlade Divac fr:Vlade Divac hr:Vlade Divac id:Vlade Divac it:Vlade Divac he:ולאדה דיבאץ lv:Vlade Divacs mk:Владе Дивац nl:Vlade Divac ja:ブラデ・ディバッツ no:Vlade Divac pl:Vlade Divac ru:Дивац, Владе sr:Владе Дивац sh:Vlade Divac fi:Vlade Divac tr:Vlade Divac zh:弗拉德·迪瓦茨