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Dvorana KK Split, visitors: 3000
In the history of European basketball, only two clubs can say they have stood tall over the whole continent as champion for three straight seasons. One was the first-ever champion, ASK Riga of present-day Latvia. The other is Split of Croatia. As the only modern club to win a three-peat - as it did at the 1989, 1990 and 1991 Final Fours - the team then known as Jugoplastika and Pop 84 remains a mythical European king. And in 2002-03, one of the legendary players who made that miracle happen returned to lead Split into a new and triumphant era. Since the start of the Croatian League in 1992, no team had been able to dethrone mighty Cibona through 11 successive seasons. No team, that is, until Split swept to the title last spring. It was the reaffirmation of a mighty tradition that stretched well before the European three-peat so well-known outside Croatia, or the four Yugoslav leagues and two Yugoslav cups won almost simultaneously in the late 1980s. Way back in 1972, in fact, Jugoplastika had been on the cusp of a European crown but lost in the final by a single point to the mightiest power of the era, Ignis Varese of Italy. During that decade, Jugoplastika made its name, winning two Yugoslav league titles, three national cup crowns and a pair of Korac Cups, in 1976 and 1977. The taste for consecutive titles was being cultivated even then. After the great successes of 1989-1991, Split did not sleep. It put together a string of three Croatian Cup victories from 1992 to 1994 and tacked on a fourth in 1997. But a league crown was elusive until last season, when legend Dino Radja returned to help complete the effort. Radja then retired to become president of the club, assuring that the name Split will never be far from a discussion of the greatest European teams ever.
TROPHY CASE:
Euroleague
1989, 1990, 1991
Korač Cup
1976, 1977
Croatian National Championship
2003
Croatian National Cup
1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2004
Yugoslavian National Championship
1971, 1977, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
Yugoslavian National Cup
1972, 1974, 1977, 1990, 1991
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