KK MZT Skopje

	KK MZT Skopje
Nickname	Штркови (storks) ; Металци (metallers)
Founded	March 9, 1966
Hall	Jane Sandanski Arena ; (7,500 seats)
Homepage	mztskopjeaerodrom.mk
president	Kire Donevski
executive Director	Vidoja Sekulovski
Trainer	Aleksandar Jončevski
league	Prva Liga ; 2015/16: 1st place
	ABA League ; 2015/16 : 10th place
Colours	Blue & white
home	Away
	successes
	6 times Macedonian champion (2012 to 2017) ; 8 times Macedonian cup winner (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, ; 0000000000000000000000000002012 to 2014, 2016)

The KK MZT Skopje Aerodrom ( Macedonian КК МЗТ Скопје Аеродром , Košarkaški klub Metalski Zavod Tito Skopje Aerodrom ) is a basketball club from the Opština Aerodrom in the north Macedonian capital Skopje . The club was founded in 1966 and the men's team was one of the leading teams in the Yugoslav republic of SR Macedonia as early as the 1970s . After independence, the team won the last six national championships from 2012 to 2017 and has since been a participant in the supranational Adriatic Basketball League (ABA League) . The men's team has already won the national cup competition eight times, the last five of which in connection with winning the championship as a double .

history

1966 to 1992

The men's team, founded in 1966, quickly made it to the top performance in what was then the Macedonian republic despite competition from four other basketball clubs in Skopje. After two years they were already playing in the top Macedonian league and won the regional league as the best team between 1970 and 1974 five times in a row and again in 1979. However, within Yugoslavia, whose national team had become world champions for the first time at the 1970 World Cup in their own country, it was not possible to advance to the top of the leading clubs. After winning the regional league in 1979, however, the metal factory Metalski Zavod Tito (MZT) got on as a name sponsor and finally incorporated the team into their combine. With the support of the sponsor, the KK MZT was able to establish itself in the second highest Yugoslav division and finally made it to the top division YUBA in 1986 . With the eighth place at the premiere in 1986/87 you even ousted the local rival KK Rabotnički as the best Macedonian team, before you had to relegate again in the following season as penultimate in eleventh place.

1992 to 2006

After independence, local rival KK Rabotnički won 13 titles from the first 14 championships up to and including 2006, with MZT Aerodrom reaching the highest number of runner-up championships in 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004 with six play-off finals. With four titles in the national cup competition by 2000, MZT was in the meantime the record winner of this competition, after losing in the first two finals in the cup in 1994 and 1995. After winning the first cup in 1996, they also took part in the international FIBA EuroCup , the former European Cup Winners' Cup. After failing in the first qualifying round of this competition two years earlier, they achieved five home wins against, among others, the eventual title winner Real Madrid with their Yugoslav star Dejan Bodiroga and the German representative SSV ratiopharm Ulm , against whom the club is already at the first participation in a continental competition in the Korać Cup in 1993/94 , the following knockout. - Round of the best 32 teams in the competition. Adding up the two games, they just lost by two points to FC Porto , who were undefeated in the preliminary round and defeated at home by four points. In the competition of the following season, MZT remained without a win and lost all ten preliminary round matches after the team's top scorer Mark Dean left the club after two years and moved to Germany to the then first division club SV Tally Oberelchingen . In the fourth and last participation in the now called Saporta Cup competition a year later, three wins in ten preliminary round games were not enough to advance. Two years later, MZT took part for the third and last time in the Korać Cup 2000/01 , in which they were eliminated in the second qualifying round as the last Macedonian representative.

since 2006

When KK Rabotnički was unable to defend the championship title for the second time in the country's young history in 2007, it was not the KK MZT that was there, but the third club in the capital with the previous runner-up KK Vardar. As a result, teams from Kavadarci , Ohrid and Strumica reached the finals and won national titles. In the 2008/09 season, a fan boycott finally led to the resignation of the MZT management team in the summer of 2009 at the then highly indebted club. With the support of the municipal administration from Aerodrom, the crash of the club could be prevented and relegation secured in relegation. In the following 2010/11 season, the team returned for the first time in eight years in the final series for the championship, in which they were defeated again by traditional rivals Rabotnički in his first championship since 2006. While their title win meant only a short-term return to their old glory, the U-turn was completed at MZT and in the following season they not only won the national cup competition for the first time in twelve years, but also won the double with their first title win in the championship . MZT was able to defend this in the following four years until 2015, when they only won the championship title. In the supranational ABA league , which was founded in 2001 as the successor to the old YUBA, MZT first took part in the 2012/13 season when they achieved seventh place with a positive balance. Even after the following three participations in the ABA League, this remained MZT's best record in this competition for the time being.