Košarkaški klub Cedevita, also known as Cedevita Zagreb, was a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia.
Founded in 1946, the club had won 5 consecutive Croatian Championships, seven national cup titles, three national supercup titles, and one ABA League Supercup title. In July 2019, they merged with Olimpija Ljubljanja, forming a new club Cedevita Olimpija.
Contents
History
Botinec
The club was established in Zagreb in 1991 as KK Botinec, later becoming KK Hiron Botinec for sponsorship reasons. From season to season, the club moved up from the lowest levels of competition until it reached the Premijer liga (Croatian basketball) in 2002. In its first season of elite competition, it took 5th place in Croatia, behind the well-known clubs KK Cibona, KK Zadar, KK Zagreb and KK Split.
New name
A change was made in 2005 when Atlantic Grupa, a regional company, became the main sponsor of the club, after which the club was renamed to KK Cedevita. The board of directors raised the ambitions of the club, which achieved success first in the 09–10 Season when it finished at 3rd place in the Croatian league (in the semi-final playoffs Zadar-Cedevita 2–1), played the semi-finals of the Croatian Cup along with taking 7th place in the regional Adriatic League as a newcomer. Cedevita played EuroCup Final Four. After a regular 1st place in the Croatian league, Cedevita won the semi-final playoffs, but lost the finals. Also, Cedevita again took 7th place in Adriatic League. First trophies came in 11–12 season with Cup Dražen Petrović and Croatian National Cup Krešimir Ćosić, also with the finals of the ABA league. First Croatian Champions title Croatian league came in the 13–14 season, also with the second Cup Krešimir Ćosić title and the second finals in the ABA league. Cedevita took two U–18 and one Under-16 Croatian championship titles.
The first national titles (2011–2013)
The season with the greatest success was from 2011–12, with first-ever trophies for the team. After winning the Cup Dražen Petrović (Croatian Supercup) against Zagreb, Cedevita took Croatian Cup Krešimir Ćosić for the first time in history, playing against Zagreb again in the finals. After 2nd place in the Croatian league, Cedevita won split in semi-final playoffs but ultimately lost the finals against Cibona.
The new coach was Božidar Maljković, Dražen Anzulović, who led Cedevita in season, 2011–12. Over the past few years, former Croatian and Bosnian National team members played for the team, including Slaven Rimac, Jurica Žuža, Damir Milačić, Krešimir Novosel, Mate Miliša, Milan Parezanović, Pero Dujmović, Stipe Modrić, Frano Čolak, alongside several excellent American players such as A. J. Guyton, Marlon Garnett, Adam Harrington, God Shammgod, Vonteego Cummings or Ramel Bradley.
The 2012–13 season was marked by the arrival of the four times European Champion, coach Božidar Maljković for the first time ever participation of the club in the EuroLeague. Three national team members, Marko Tomas, Lukša Andrić and Luka Babić joined the club, as well as stars like Mickaël Gelabale or Vlado Ilievski. Cedevita achieved its first victories at the highest level in Europe, but without passing to the TOP 16. After Maljković left the club, Aleksandar Petrović became the new coach, but he also left the club. Cedevita won the 6th place, enough for the participation in the EuroCup's next season. Before leaving, coach Petrović played the Cup finals, and interim coach Jakša Vulić reach the semifinals of the Croatian A-1 League play off. In younger selections, juniors became vice champions of Croatia and cadets, young cadets and Under-12 team played in Final four.
Five Croatian League titles (2013–2019)
The 2013–14 season started with big change on the bench, with the arrival of Jasmin Repeša. He had 19-year-old Jusuf Nurkić and 16-year-old Lovro Mazalin, with main players from season before, and newly signed Ante Delaš, Tomislav Zubčić, Ivan Ramljak, Nolan Smith and Allan Ray. Cedevita has won the national cup. In Final four tournament of ABA league in Belgrade, Cedevita defeated Partizan, but lost in the final to Cibona. The best came at the end of the season, with the first Croatian title and great 3–0 victory in the series against Cibona. Cedevita has won the new title in junior competition and became U–18 Croatian champion.
In the 2014–15 season Cedevita became Croatian champion again, with a win 3–1 in the playoffs final vs Cibona, won Krešimir Ćosić Cup again and played ABA league final.
The 2015–16 season brought a new coach, Veljko Mršić and Gianmarco Pozzecco as assistant, bringing more domestic titles. In 2016–17, they became 4th-time champions with 5th time Croatian Cup. Miro Bilan, Marko Arapović, Filip Krušlin and Luka Babić played at the Olympic Games in Rio. In 2017–18 season, the club started with the coach Jure Zdovc and assistant Slaven Rimac winning the first ever ABA League Supercup. This season is a record in Croatia because Cedevita won the 2017–18 A-1 League, also the cup title. After top-16 in Eurocup, Cedevita reaches semifinals of 2017–18 ABA League. Džanan Musa was EuroCup Basketball Rising Star 2017–18 EuroCup Basketball and ABA League Top Prospect 2017–18 ABA League First Division. In 2018-2019 season, first coach was Sito Alonso. The season was one of the worst in club history - poor results in the ABA League and the EuroCup lead to Alonso's firing and the hiring of former player Slaven Rimac. While the results improved, Cedevita was eliminated in EuroCup and the semifinals of the ABA League. Cedevita won Krešimir Ćosić Cup, but suffered a complete fiasco in the 2018–19 A-1 League, barely qualifying to the finals and getting swept by KK Cibona.
Merge with Olimpija Ljubljana
On June 4, 2019, it was announced that Cedevita is about to merge with Slovenian team Olimpija Ljubljana and form Cedevita Olimpija. Some departments of the club, such as the youth academy, are planned to stay in Zagreb and continue as KK Cedevita Junior. In June 2019, Cedevita had applied for a change of headquarters to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Upon the decision of resettlement, followed by the confirmation of both assemblies, Cedevita Zagreb and Olimpija Ljubljana made the association of clubs. KK Cedevita Olimpija was established on July 8 in Arena Stožice. The club was a founding member of the Adriatic Basketball Association. In December 2020, the club's shares were transferred to Cedevita Olimpija.
Home arenas
Since the summer of 2019, the club has played their home games at the Cedevita Basketball Dome, which is located in the Zagreb Fair in Zagreb.
Honours
KK Cedevita
Total titles: 16
Identity
After the company Cedevita changed its brand colors from red to orange in 2015, the basketball club also re-branded and adopted orange as its main color for the 2016–17 season.