When a country of 2 million people generates as many great players as Slovenia, there has to be some magic at work. In the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, the magicians wear the green of Union Olimpija, a club that has become known as something of a talent farm. The basketball club today is called Union Olimpija, was founded in 1946 as a section of the Svoboda Physical Culture Society. The first basketball game was played the same year against Udarnik and Olimpija came out on top with the score of 37-14. Late in 1946, the club was renamed Enotnost and was known by that name until 1954 when it assumed the name ASK Olimpia. Since 1997, the club has been called by it current name, Union Olimpija. Olimpija conquered its first national title of then Yugoslavia in 1957. In one of the world's best emerging leagues, Olimpija went on to dominate the next 15 years, winning the Yugoslav title five more times, in 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966 and 1970. A new era for the club began with Slovenia's independence, when dominance took on another meaning, namely 10 consecutive years of winning both the league and cup trophies in Slovenia. In the international arena, 1993-94 was the club's best season as they took home the European Cup against Spain's Tau Ceramica under the direction of coach Zmago Sagadin. Over the past few seasons, Olimpija has stood out as one of the most ambitious clubs in Europe, competing in three or four separate competitions. In 2001-02, the Slovenian team won the triple crown, taking the Slovenian League championship, Slovenian National Cup and the Adriatic League. Last season, Olimpija fielded a team composed mainly of home grown talent and young players. The results in the Euroleague were amazing and inspirational to smaller clubs in Europe: Olimpija secured a spot in the Top 16 after just 11 games despite being grouped with the likes of Barcelona, Maccabi, and Panathinaikos. They proved disbelievers wrong again in the Top 16, as they won three of the first four games and held hopes of making the Final Four up until the final day, when they were stopped in Barcelona by the champs-to-be. The amazing Euroleague run may have drained the team of its energy, as it failed to repeat as champions in the Slovenian League and Adriatic League. The club did add to its trophy collection in 2002-03, though, winning both the Slovenian Cup. Lesson: don't ever count out this homegrown superpower.

TROPHY CASE:

European Cup Winners Cup
1994

Goodyear League
2002

Slovenian National Championship
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004

Slovenian National Cup
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005

Slovenian Supercup
2003
2004

Yugoslavian National Championship
1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1970

 

2004/05		overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
1	@Laško	88	61.8	31	46	67.4	3	9	33.3	17	20	85.0	22	9	7	14	18	1	1	21	18	95
2	Budućnost	83	54.2	21	34	61.8	11	25	44.0	8	16	50.0	19	13	15	6	12	2	2	22	19	86
3	@Zvezda	84	48.3	20	43	46.5	9	17	52.9	17	26	65.4	17	7	11	14	10	0	7	29	23	70
4	@Šibenka	74	52.9	22	35	62.9	5	16	31.3	15	19	78.9	26	6	9	8	7	2	1	22	22	89
5	Cibona	68	45.6	15	29	51.7	11	28	39.3	5	8	62.5	22	3	15	11	9	0	4	24	17	65
6	@Široki	80	57.7	21	34	61.8	9	18	50.0	11	21	52.4	22	7	15	5	12	0	5	20	24	84
7	Split	87	55.7	24	40	60.0	10	21	47.6	9	9	100.0	12	11	14	8	8	1	3	20	18	93
8	@Slovan	92	66.7	27	37	73.0	5	11	45.5	23	32	71.9	14	3	1	7	7	0	1	30	32	86
9	Hemofarm	71	45.8	21	33	63.6	6	26	23.1	11	17	64.7	22	8	15	7	10	3	2	24	24	76
10	@Partizan	88	52.7	23	34	67.6	6	21	28.6	24	31	77.4	10	6	12	18	9	1	1	25	25	92
11	Helios	80	52.0	14	27	51.9	12	23	52.2	16	20	80.0	20	4	10	8	13	2	1	24	26	84
12	@Zagreb	75	44.1	18	36	50.0	8	23	34.8	15	21	71.4	26	15	12	8	16	3	2	25	25	82
13	Bosna	78	44.6	19	36	52.8	6	20	30.0	22	30	73.3	22	6	12	10	9	7	3	22	27	89
14	@Reflex	79	50.0	16	29	55.2	9	21	42.9	20	28	71.4	12	5	9	8	14	0	3	26	27	64
15	Zadar	70	35.7	16	36	44.4	4	20	20.0	26	30	86.7	18	11	10	6	12	1	2	22	26	66
16	Laško	81	60.0	25	40	62.5	5	10	50.0	16	22	72.7	27	8	16	10	15	2	1	20	25	107
17	@Budućnost	85	59.6	28	37	75.7	6	20	30.0	11	18	61.1	21	5	11	10	4	0	4	23	24	95
18	Zvezda	77	47.1	16	29	55.2	8	22	36.4	21	28	75.0	15	4	13	6	15	1	2	21	25	69
19	Šibenka	73	47.5	21	32	65.6	7	27	25.9	10	16	62.5	15	10	15	10	17	3	0	22	18	68
20	@Cibona	118	48.5	13	27	48.1	19	39	48.7	35	42	83.3	25	8	20	14	19	2	0	35	31	123
21	Široki	87	54.2	25	34	73.5	7	25	28.0	16	23	69.6	24	7	16	10	7	4	0	22	21	106
22	@Split	97	54.9	14	26	53.8	14	25	56.0	27	34	79.4	19	5	22	7	17	2	0	22	28	111
23	Slovan	88	51.6	24	41	58.5	8	21	38.1	16	21	76.2	26	8	21	3	13	3	2	26	23	96
24	@Hemofarm	96	57.9	23	33	69.7	10	24	41.7	20	27	74.1	15	6	15	7	7	2	0	19	23	107
25	Partizan	92	61.4	22	32	68.8	13	25	52.0	9	13	69.2	14	5	19	12	11	5	1	23	22	108
26	@Helios	80	55.1	14	24	58.3	13	25	52.0	13	14	92.9	21	4	14	13	12	1	2	22	20	94
27	Zagreb	75	43.5	20	40	50.0	7	22	31.8	14	19	73.7	19	12	14	6	9	0	1	19	21	78
28	@Bosna	88	47.1	21	38	55.3	11	30	36.7	13	18	72.2	18	6	16	6	5	0	0	31	22	79
29	Reflex	80	54.2	17	29	58.6	9	19	47.4	19	24	79.2	26	5	13	10	16	2	0	27	26	92
30	@Zadar	66	37.5	16	36	44.4	8	28	28.6	10	15	66.7	16	11	14	17	11	2	4	20	18	64
31	Reflex	80	53.3	20	30	66.7	4	15	26.7	28	35	80.0	11	3	15	18	14	0	0	29	27	83
31	20:11 Total	2560	51.4	627	1057		263	676		517	697		596	221	421	297	358	52	55	737	727	2701
	Average	82.6	51.4	59.3			38.9			74.2			19.2	7.1	13.6	9.6	11.5	1.7	1.8	23.8	23.5	87.1
	Season max	118	66.7	75.7%			56.0%			100.0%			27	15	22	18	19	7	7	35	32	123

2004/05				overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		GP	Min	Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
4	Mali, G.	8	09:45	5	50.0	0	0	0	1	2	50.0	2	2	100.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	4
5	Baždarić, M.	28	822:00	421	47.0	70	126	55.6	62	155	40.0	95	115	82.6	80	18	60	38	38	0	2	61	115	462
6	Bocevski, D.	27	586:00	280	51.6	71	120	59.2	25	66	37.9	63	88	71.6	58	29	14	14	32	10	9	91	87	245
7	Boisa, V.	30	894:30	439	50.7	111	196	56.6	39	100	39.0	100	150	66.7	112	44	35	26	45	9	10	106	124	432
8	Mihalič, J.	5	08:15	4	100.0	0	0	0	1	1	100.0	1	2	50.0	1	0	2	0	2	0	0	1	1	4
9	McLinton, D.	15	270:15	104	47.1	12	24	50.0	20	44	45.5	20	22	90.9	13	1	34	10	10	0	2	21	19	110
9	Johnson, N.	10	74:45	6	20.0	0	1	0.0	2	9	22.2	0	2	0.0	2	1	3	3	5	0	0	7	2	-5
10	Rodriguez, A.	30	828:00	154	42.3	36	70	51.4	16	53	30.2	34	58	58.6	65	17	114	76	49	0	3	100	85	264
11	Markoišvili, M.	25	380:30	122	45.3	22	40	55.0	17	46	37.0	27	34	79.4	27	12	16	22	21	1	1	59	33	98
12	Mance, M.	29	599:00	252	52.0	55	96	57.3	35	77	45.5	37	41	90.2	70	12	26	15	33	0	5	57	40	233
13	Pavič, S.	25	356:15	153	64.5	69	104	66.3	0	3	0.0	15	22	68.2	40	28	7	5	27	16	8	60	27	136
14	Drobnjak, D.	28	587:30	223	62.1	82	123	66.7	5	17	29.4	44	63	69.8	61	46	37	30	32	9	7	76	76	295
21	Marolt, L.	3	04:45	5	100.0	1	1	100.0	1	1	100.0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	2	0	3
31	Ožbolt, S.	27	853:30	387	52.7	97	155	62.6	38	101	37.6	79	98	80.6	63	13	73	57	59	7	8	90	117	420
40	Jeršin, B.	3	25:00	5	100.0	1	1	100.0	1	1	100.0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	5	0	0

FG2, FG3 - Field Goals; FT - Free Throws; Min - Minutes; Pts - Points; M - Made; A - Attempted; Blck - Blocks; Fv - in Favoure of; Ag - Against; Foul - Foul; Cm - Committed; Rv - Received; Rebs - Rebounds; D - Defensive; O - Offensive; Ass - Assists; St - Steals; To - Turnover; Val - rank Value;