Legendary Split basketball club brings back Jugoplastika name

(Photo: KK Split/Facebook)

Legendary Split basketball club KK Split has put back the former name of the club on its jerseys after 30 years. 

This year, KK Split is celebrating its 75th birthday and in honour of the club’s golden era it has brought back Jugoplastika to their jerseys.  

“Since the contract with general sponsor Tommy has expired, KK Split has decided to return the name Jugoplastika to the until further notice in honour of the club’s 75th anniversary and in honour of three European titles. As a sign of respect for the most glorious days in the history of our club, we return that name to the jersey to the place reserved for the general sponsor of the club,” KK Split said. 

Over the past 75 years, KK Split has been one of the most successful clubs in European basketball history, winning a number of European and domestic titles and producing NBA stars like Toni Kukoč and Dino Rađa.

The club was established on 6 November 1945 in Hajduk sports society’s basketball section. In 1948, the club established its own organisational structure known as KK Hajduk and the next year, 1949, the club changed its name to KK Split.

The club first made it to the Yugoslav top-tier level league in the 1963–64 season, and it stayed there until the breakup of Yugoslavia. In 1967, the club adopted – for sponsorship reasons – the name Jugoplastika (Jugoplastika was a clothing, accessories, and footwear factory, and kept it until the end of the 1989–90 season.

Jugoplastika celebrate (Photo credit: Maršal Marmont / Public Domain)

In the 1990–91 season, the club participated in the worldwide, national domestic, and European competitions, under the sponsorship of POP 84 (an Italian clothes company from Ancona).

KK Split is among the most successful clubs in European basketball history. They are, together with the first champions of the competition, Rīgas ASK, the only team to win the EuroLeague trophy three times in a row. In the years 1989, 1990, and 1991, the team, which was known back then as Jugoplastika and Pop 84, with players like Rađa, Kukoč, Žan Tabak, Velimir Perasović and Zoran Savić, won the European top-tier level basketball trophy.

Apart from these successes, the club also reached the FIBA European Champions Cup final in 1972 and the FIBA European Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1973. It lost both finals against the 1970s Italian League superpower Ignis Varese, and the Soviet Union League club Spartak Leningrad. KK Split also won back-to-back FIBA Korać Cups in 1976, against Chinamartini Torino, and in 1977, against Alco Bologna.