Nebojša Popović (; 8 February 1923 – 20 October 2001) was a Serbian basketball player, coach and administrator. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally. He is the basketball legend of Red Star Belgrade. In 2007, he was enshrined as a contributor in the FIBA Hall of Fame.FIBA Hall of Fame page on Popović
Early life Popović lived with his family in Rijeka, where he played water polo as a goalkeeper. He learned about basketball from the Yugoslav water polo and a basketball pioneer Božo Grkinić.
Basketball career Crvena zvezda Popović was a co-founder of the Crvena Zvezda basketball club in 1945. He held number 1 membership card. He played for Crvena Zvezda from 1945 to 1951, he also coached men's team at Red Star from 1945 to 1955 and women's Red Star team from 1946 to 1952. In July 1950, he was a member of the Zvezda squad that won an international cup tournament in Milan, Italy.
Popović played for the Italian team Gallaratese in 1951–1952.
Yugoslavia national team As a player for the Yugoslavia national basketball team Popović participated in 1950 World Championship and 1947 European Championship. He scored first point in history of World Championships as player of Yugoslavia.
He coached Yugoslavia national basketball team at the 1950 World Championship and 1953 European Championship.
Administrator Popović served as the president of the Yugoslav Basketball Federation (1985–1987) and president of the Commission for International Competition of FIBA.
Journalism Popović also worked as a journalist, contributing to La Gazzetta dello Sport for four decades.
He was the executive of Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT), the Yugoslav national TV channel. He covered four Summer Olympic Games with JRT.
Career achievements and awards Yugoslav Men's League champion: 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. Yugoslav Women's League champion: 7 (with Crvena zvezda: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952) FIBA Order of Merit (1997), awarded by the FIBA Prize “Sports & Universality”, awarded by the International Olympic Committee
In popular culture In 2015 Serbian sports drama We Will Be the World Champions Popović is portrayed by Strahinja Blažić and his wife Maja Bedeković is portrayed by Iva Babić.Full Cast & Crew of We Will Be the World Champions
Coaching record Legend W Wins L Losses D Draws W% Winning percentage
Yugoslav First Men's Basketball League SeasonTeamGamesWDLW %Result 1946 Crvena zvezda 7 6 0 1 Champions 1947 Crvena zvezda 4 4 0 0 Champions 1948 Crvena zvezda 5 4 0 1 Champions 1949 Crvena zvezda 18 17 0 1 Champions 1950 Crvena zvezda 18 16 0 2 Champions 1951 Crvena zvezda 22 18 2 2 Champions 1952 Crvena zvezda 4 4 0 0 Champions 1953 Crvena zvezda 6 5 1 0 Champions 1954 Crvena zvezda 22 16 0 6 Champions 1955 Crvena zvezda 18 14 1 3 ChampionsCareer124104416
Yugoslav Women's Basketball League SeasonTeamGamesWDLW %Result 1946 Crvena zvezda 3 3 0 0 Champions 1947 Crvena zvezda 4 4 0 0 Champions 1948 Crvena zvezda 5 5 0 0 Champions 1949 Crvena zvezda 4 4 0 0 Champions 1950 Crvena zvezda 5 5 0 0 Champions 1951 Crvena zvezda 10 9 1 0 Champions 1952 Crvena zvezda 3 3 0 0 ChampionsCareer343310
National team TournamentTeamGamesWLW %Result 1950 World Championship Yugoslavia 5 0 5 10th place 1953 EuroBasket Yugoslavia 11 6 5 6th placeCareer16610
See also List of Red Star Belgrade basketball coaches Borislav Stanković Radomir Šaper Aleksandar Nikolić
References
External links Na današnji dan: Rođen Nebojša Popović, mojacrvenazvezda.net Nebojša Popović - Zvezdin broj 1 za sva vremena