25 Years of ABA League – Interesting Facts

As the ABA League enters its 25th season, a milestone that honours a generation of regional basketball, we are set to remember some of the remarkable moments that we have witnessed throughout the period. Let’s take a look back at all of the important milestones, records and other just simply astonishing facts from the history of the basketball in the region, that has always been known as the cradle of basketball.

The first ever game of the regional competition took place on 29 September 2001, with the game in Morača Sports Hall in Podgorica, between Budućnost and Cibona VIP. Cibona VIP won (78:81), thus becoming the first ever team to win a single game in the top-tier regional competition, at that time named the Goodyear League.

Union Olimpija became the first ever team to lift the regional competition trophy, that same season. After finishing on top of the standings in the Regular Season, ahead of Krka, Cibona VIP and Pivovarna Laško, the Dragons went on to eliminate Pivovarna Laško (69:56) in the Semifinal of the Final Four Tournament in Tivoli Sports Hall and Krka in the Final (73:59). This is still the only trophy in the top-tier regional competition for the Ljubljana squad, that later merged with Cedevita Zagreb and is now named Cedevita Olimpija.

Partizan Mozzart Bet is the team that holds the highest number of trophies in the regional competition – 8 in total (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2023, 2025), followed by Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet, that have won 7 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024).

There are 9 teams, that have so far won the ABA League trophy (Partizan Mozzart Bet (8), Crvena zvezda Meridianbet (7), FMP Soccerbet (2), Budućnost VOLI (1), Cedevita Olimpija (1), Zadar (1), Cibona (1), Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv (1) and Hemofarm (1). Once (in the 2019/20 season), the trophy has not been awarded due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Partizan Mozzart Bet is the team that participated in the Finals the highest number of times (12), followed by Crvena zvezda Meridianbet (10). Cedevita Olimpija follows in the third place (6).

Before the forthcoming season, teams from 11 countries have participated in the regional competition (BiH, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates). The number will rise to 13 with the forthcoming season, as teams from Austria (BC Vienna) and Romania (U-BT Cluj-Napoca), join the regional elite.

The first division of the ABA League has so far featured 4420 matches in the first 24 seasons, the ABA League 2 890 matches, the ABA Super Cup 33 and the U19 ABA League Championship 191. Together there have been 5534 games played in all of the competitions under the umbrella of the ABA League j.t.d. so far.

693,861 points have been scored throughout the entire history of the top-tier regional club competition, alongside 261,923 rebounds and 127,524 assists.
Cedevita Olimpija (either Olimpija Ljubljana or Cedevita Olimpija after the merger of Olimpija Ljubljana and Cedevita Zagreb) and Cibona have been the only two clubs so far that have participated in each season of the top-tier regional club competition (24 times so far). From the 2025/26 season, Cedevita Olimpija remains the only team with a place in each of the 25 seasons, as Cibona will participate in the ABA League 2. Crvena zvezda Meridianbet and Zadar have participated in 23 seasons, Budućnost VOLI in 22, Partizan Mozzart Bet in 21 and Krka in 19.

Two coaches shared the honour of becoming the ABA League champions the highest number of times. Both Dejan Radonjić (former Crvena zvezda Meridianbet head coach) and Duško Vujošević (former Partizan Mozzart Bet head coach), have lifted the trophy with their teams 5 times.

Former Crvena zvezda Meridianbet and FMP player Branko Lazić has lifted the ABA League trophy the highest number of times amongst all players. He did it 7 times (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024), each time with Crvena zvezda Meridianbet.

Throughout its history, the ABA League j.t.d. has had 4 different competitions under its umbrella – ABA League, ABA League 2, U19 ABA League Championship and the ABA Super Cup. Currently, the first three are still taking place.

The ABA Super Cup was organized on four occasions (2017, 2018, 2019, 2023), with Cedevita Zagreb, Crvena zvezda Meridianbet, Partizan Mozzart Bet and SC Derby winning one trophy each.

The second-tier regional competition, the ABA League 2, will be entering its 9th edition in the forthcoming season. Krka is the team with the highest number of trophies won in the ABA League 2 (two trophies), while Koper Primorska, SC Derby, Zlatibor Mozzart, Spartak Office Shoes and Bosna Visit Sarajevo follow with one trophy grabbed each.

ABA League Regular Season MVP trophy has been officially awarded 10 times so far to 9 different players. The first player to win the ABA League Regular Season MVP trophy has been Nikola Jokić of Mega Leks in the 2014/15 season. Luka Božić is the only player to receive the award twice (2022/23 and 2023/24). The other players that have received the award are Miro Bilan (2015/16), Nikola Janković (2016/17), Luka Žorić (2017/18), Goga Bitadze (2018/19), Filip Petrušev (2020/21), Nikola Kalinić (2021/22) and McKinley Wright (2024/25).

The ABA League Playoffs MVP (2013/14 – 2023/24) and Finals MVP (2024/25) award has been awarded 11 times so far, with none of the players being able to obtain two such trophies so far. The players winning the award are Dario Šarić, Boban Marjanović, Stefan Jović, Charles Jenkins, Nemanja Gordić, Billy Baron, Landry Nnoko, Ognjen Dobrić, Kevin Punter, Yago dos Santos and Tyrique Jones.

The ABA League Top Prospect award has been haned out 11 times so far, with 11 different players having an honour to receive the award so far – Dario Šarić, Nikola Jokić, Ante Žižić, Jonah Bolden, Džanan Musa, Goga Bitadze, Filip Petrušev, Nikola Jović, Nikola Đurišić, Nikola Topić and Bogoljub Marković.

Nemanja Gordić is the player with the highest number of points scored in total in the top-tier regional club competition, having scored 3,404 points in 378 games played (9 points per game).

Alen Omić is the player with the highest number of rebounds grabbed in total in the top-tier regional club competition, having collected 1,423 points so far in 226 games played (6.3 per game).

Nemanja Gordić is also the all-time passer in the top-tier regional club competition, having dished out 1,224 assists in 378 games played (3.2 per game).

Nebojša Joksimović is the player that delivered the most steals among single players in the history of the top-tier regional club competition with 401 steals made over 308 games played (1.3 per game).

Uroš Luković is the all-time king of blocks in the top-tier regional club competition, as he has collected 283 blocks so far in 155 games played (1.8 per game).
Suad Šehović has scored the highest number of three-pointers in the entire history of the first ABA League. As he has been successful in 406 number of attempts from beyond the arc, playing for Bosna Sarajevo, Union Olimpija and Budućnost VOLI.

Daron Fatts Russell is the player, that achived the highest single-game amount of points scored in the entire ABA League history, having scored 47 points in the game of Mornar-Barsko zlato, for which he used to play back in the times, against Zadar on 9 October 2022. In the forthcoming season, we will again have the pleasure of watching Russell play in the regional basketball courts, as he joined the ranks of newcomers U-BT Cluj-Napoca ahead of the season.

Two players share the record for the number of rebounds grabbed in a single game. They are Tommy Smith (Split CO – Reflex (FMP), 4 October 2003) and Boris Savović (Hemofarm STADA – Radnički, 22 October 2011) - 23.

Žan Mark Šiško holds the record for the number of assists made in a single game in the top-tier regional club competition, as he dished out 19 assists on 9 December 2019 in the game of his Koper Primorska against Zadar. In the forthcoming season, we will be watching Šiško play in the ABA League 2 for Cibona.

Karlo Matković is the player, that delivered the highest number of blocks in a single game in the elite regional club competition. He had 9 blocks in the game of his Cedevita Olimpija against Krka on 16 December 2023.

Teemu Rannikko and Josip Sesar are the players with the record-number of three-pointers scored in a single game in the top-tier regional club competition, with 10 three-pointers made each. Interestingly enough, both of them did it in 2005, Rannikko on 18 December in the game of his Union Olimpija on the road against Zagreb and Sesar on 19 November in the game of his Široki ERONET against Union Olimpija. Rannikko did it with a better percentage, though, having hit 10/12 three pointers in that game (83%), while Sesar scored 10 out of 15 attempts (66.6%).

Partizan Mozzart Bet fans hold the record for the highest attendance in a single game in the top-tier regional club competition. In the game against Mega MIS on 22 January 2024, there has been no less than 23,021 fans in the stands of the Belgrade Arena.

Crvena zvezda Meridianbet is the team with the highest number of victories grabbed in the entire history of the top-tier regional competition (486), followed by Partizan Mozzart Bet (439) and Budućnost VOLI (401).

Crvena zvezda Meridianbet is the team with the highest number of victories achieved in a row. They did it between 1 February 2016 and 30 January 2017, during which they achieved a 30 games long winning streak.

The highest number of points in a single game in the ABA League first division is 234. This happened in a game between Budućnost and Split CO (118:116) in Morača Sports Hall in Podgorica on 8 November 2003.

The highest number of points in a single Playoffs game in the ABA League first division is 223. This happened in the game between Reflex (FMP) and Crvena zvezda (113:110) on 16 April 2004.

Zadar is the team with highest number of points scored in a single game of the top-tier regional club competition (122). They did that in the game against Bosna ASA on 8 March 2003.

Crvena zvezda Meridianbet are the team with the highest number of points scored in total in the entire top-tier regional club competition history (55,768). Partizan Mozzart Bet comes second (49,849) and Cibona third (49,744). 

Speaking in terms of the highest average number of points scored per game, Dubai Basketball are at the top with just 36 games, over which they have been averaging 87.83 points per game (3,162 in total). Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv comes second with an average of 87.32 points per game (4,366 in 50 games played) and Cedevita Olimpija third with an average of 85.13 points scored per game in 169 games played (14,387 in total).