Nebojša Popović
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 8 February 1923 Irig, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes | |||||||||||||||||
| Died | 20 October 2001 (aged 78) Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia | |||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Yugoslav | |||||||||||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1945–1952 | |||||||||||||||||
| Number | 8, 16 | |||||||||||||||||
| Coaching career | 1945–1955 | |||||||||||||||||
| Career history | ||||||||||||||||||
| As player: | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1945–1951 | Crvena zvezda | |||||||||||||||||
| 1951–1952 | Gallaratese | |||||||||||||||||
| As coach: | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1945–1955 | Crvena zvezda Men | |||||||||||||||||
| 1946–1952 | Crvena zvezda Women | |||||||||||||||||
| 1950–1953 | Yugoslavia | |||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||||||
As a player:
As a coach:
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Career Yugoslav League statistics | ||||||||||||||||||
| Points | 518 (8.9 ppg) | |||||||||||||||||
| FIBA Hall of Fame as coach | ||||||||||||||||||
Medals
| ||||||||||||||||||
Nebojša Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Небојша Поповић; 8 February 1923 – 20 October 2001) was a Serbian basketball player, coach and administrator. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally. He is the basketball legend of Red Star Belgrade. In 2007, he was enshrined as a contributor in the FIBA Hall of Fame.[1]
Early life[edit]
Popović lived with his family in Rijeka, where he played water polo as a goalkeeper. He learned about basketball from the Yugoslav water polo and a basketball pioneer Božo Grkinić.
Basketball career[edit]
Crvena zvezda[edit]
Popović was a co-founder of the Crvena Zvezda basketball club in 1945. He held number 1 membership card.[1] He played for Crvena Zvezda from 1945 to 1951, he also coached men's team at Red Star from 1945 to 1955 and women's Red Star team from 1946 to 1952.[1] In July 1950, he was a member of the Zvezda squad that won an international cup tournament in Milan, Italy.[2]
Popović played for the Italian team Gallaratese in 1951–1952.[1]
Yugoslavia national team[edit]
As a player for the Yugoslavia national basketball team Popović participated in 1950 World Championship and 1947 European Championship.[3] He scored first point in history of World Championships as player of Yugoslavia.[1]
He coached Yugoslavia national basketball team at the 1950 World Championship and 1953 European Championship.
Administrator[edit]
Popović served as the president of the Yugoslav Basketball Federation (1985–1987) and president of the Commission for International Competition of FIBA.
Journalism[edit]
Popović also worked as a journalist, contributing to La Gazzetta dello Sport for four decades.[1]
He was the executive of Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT), the Yugoslav national TV channel. He covered four Summer Olympic Games with JRT.[1]
Career achievements and awards[edit]
- Yugoslav Men's League champion: 10 (with Crvena zvezda: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955) as coach/player until 1951 and as coach only, until 1955.
- Yugoslav Women's League champion: 7 (with Crvena zvezda: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952)
- FIBA Order of Merit (1997), awarded by the FIBA
- Prize “Sports & Universality”, awarded by the International Olympic Committee
In popular culture[edit]
- In 2015 Serbian sports drama We Will Be the World Champions Popović is portrayed by Strahinja Blažić and his wife Maja Bedeković is portrayed by Iva Babić.[4]
Coaching record[edit]
| Legend | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | Wins | L | Losses | D | Draws | W% | Winning percentage | ||||||
Yugoslav First Men's Basketball League[edit]
| Season | Team | Games | W | D | L | W % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Crvena zvezda | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | .857 | Champions |
| 1947 | Crvena zvezda | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Champions |
| 1948 | Crvena zvezda | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | .800 | Champions |
| 1949 | Crvena zvezda | 18 | 17 | 0 | 1 | .944 | Champions |
| 1950 | Crvena zvezda | 18 | 16 | 0 | 2 | .889 | Champions |
| 1951 | Crvena zvezda | 22 | 18 | 2 | 2 | .818 | Champions |
| 1952 | Crvena zvezda | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Champions |
| 1953 | Crvena zvezda | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .833 | Champions |
| 1954 | Crvena zvezda | 22 | 16 | 0 | 6 | .727 | Champions |
| 1955 | Crvena zvezda | 18 | 14 | 1 | 3 | .778 | Champions |
| Career | 124 | 104 | 4 | 16 | .839 | ||
Yugoslav Women's Basketball League[edit]
| Season | Team | Games | W | D | L | W % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Crvena zvezda | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Champions |
| 1947 | Crvena zvezda | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Champions |
| 1948 | Crvena zvezda | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Champions |
| 1949 | Crvena zvezda | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Champions |
| 1950 | Crvena zvezda | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Champions |
| 1951 | Crvena zvezda | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | Champions |
| 1952 | Crvena zvezda | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | Champions |
| Career | 34 | 33 | 1 | 0 | .971 | ||
National team[edit]
| Tournament | Team | Games | W | L | W % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 World Championship | Yugoslavia | 5 | 0 | 5 | .000 | 10th place |
| 1953 EuroBasket | Yugoslavia | 11 | 6 | 5 | .545 | 6th place |
| Career | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | ||
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g FIBA Hall of Fame page on Popović
- ^ "Daba: Kad je Zvezda osvajala Milano…". kosmagazin.com. September 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "Nebojsa Popovic's profile | 1947 European Championship for Men | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM". Archived from the original on 2016-11-21.
- ^ Full Cast & Crew of We Will Be the World Champions
External links[edit]
- Na današnji dan: Rođen Nebojša Popović, mojacrvenazvezda.net
- Nebojša Popović - Zvezdin broj 1 za sva vremena
| History | |
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| Home arenas |
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| Personnel |
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| Retired numbers | |
| Saporta Cup winners | |
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| Affiliates | |
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| Culture and lore | |
| Other sports | |
- 1923 births
- 2001 deaths
- People from Irig, Serbia
- Sportspeople from Srem District
- 1950 FIBA World Championship players
- FIBA Hall of Fame inductees
- KK Crvena zvezda players
- KK Crvena zvezda head coaches
- ŽKK Crvena zvezda coaches
- Basketball player-coaches
- Serbian basketball executives and administrators
- Expatriate basketball people in Italy
- Serbian journalists
- Serbian men's basketball players
- Serbian men's basketball coaches
- Yugoslav men's basketball players
- Yugoslav basketball coaches
- 20th-century journalists
- 1942 Belgrade Basketball Championship players
- Yugoslav expatriate basketball people
- Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Italy
- Basketball coaches of international teams