Nebojša Popović
Nebojša Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Небојша Поповић) (born February 8, 1923 in Irig, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes; died October 20, 2001 in Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia) was a Serbian basketball player, coach and administrator. He is the legend of Red Star Belgrade.
He played for Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) (the club which he co-founded in 1945 - number 1 membership card) from 1945 to 1951, he also coached men's team at Red Star from 1945 to 1955 (Red Star won Yugoslav league 10 consecutive times from 1946 to 1955) and women's Red Star team from 1946 to 1952 (won Yugoslav league 7 consecutive times). He played for the Italian team Gallatarese in 1951-1952. As a player for the Yugoslavia national basketball team he participated in 1950 World Championship and 1947 European Championship. He scored first point in history of World Championships. He coached Yugoslavia national basketball team at the 1953 European Championship and 1954 World Championship. He served as the president of the Yugoslav Basketball Federation (1985–1987) and president of the Commission for International Competition of FIBA. He scored first point in history of World Championships as player of Yugoslavia.
He also worked as a journalist, contributing to La Gazzetta dello Sport for four decades. In 2007, he was enshrined as a contributor in the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Career achievements
- Yugoslav League: 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.
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