Formation and early years Cibona's history dates to late autumn of 1945 when
Sloboda (
Freedom) was founded as a sports society of bank workers, craftsmen, traders, and clerks. On April 24, 1946, thanks to basketball enthusiast Branimir Volfer and his friends Ljubo Prosen and Joso Miloš, basketball section of Sloboda, the predecessor of today's Cibona, was formed. Its first game was against local rival Slavija on May 7, 1946. Sloboda did not last too long under that name as in November 1946, it merged with Tekstilac, Amater and Grafičar into
Sportsko društvo Zagreb (
Sports Society Zagreb). Name changing continued through the next four years. In late 1948 it was known as
Vihor (
Vortex) and already in 1949 as
Polet (
Elan). Finally, in June 1950, the club changed the name to
Lokomotiva (
Locomotive) and that name is going to stick for the next 25 years. Lokomotiva competed in
Yugoslav top division since 1951, with only two years (1952 and 1960) spent in the second division.
First trophies Lokomotiva's first major trophy came in 1969, when they won the
Yugoslav Cup, led by legendary
Hall of Famer Mirko Novosel. The final game against
AŠK Olimpija was played in Lokomotiva's new basketball hall "Kutija šibica" (literally meaning
Matchbox). Led by phenomenal trio Većeslav Kavedžija,
Nikola Plećaš and Milivoj Omašić, Lokomotiva won the game 78:77. Their first European trophy came in 1972 when Lokomotiva won the premier edition of
FIBA Korać Cup. Their opponent in finals was
OKK Beograd and the first game was played in
Belgrade. OKK Beograd won the first game 83:71 but in a return match Lokomotiva, led by great
Nikola Plećaš (nicknamed
Sveti Nikola) who scored 40 points, trashed the Belgrade side by 94–73.
Cibona's glory years In November 1975, the basketball club split away from the Lokomotiva sports society and came under the direct control of the municipal authorities of the city of Zagreb. Politicians such as
Slavko Šajber became very influential in the club during this period and set about getting the club some financial support. In that regard, the club's main sponsors became four
SR Croatia-based food industry giants (all of them state-owned at the time):
Kraš,
Franck,
Badel and Voće. The club took the name
Cibona, taken from the
Latin cibus bonus, which translates to
good food. For the first trophy under the new name Cibona, they had to wait until 1980, when they won the
Yugoslav Cup. The Final match was played in
Borovo, and Cibona's opponent was mighty
Bosna, led by
Bogdan Tanjević on the bench, and
Mirza Delibašić on the court. But Cibona, led by impressive
Andro Knego, managed to beat them 68:62. This trophy marked the beginning of Cibona's golden era, influenced by two great basketball players and
Hall of Famers –
Krešimir Ćosić and
Dražen Petrović. Between 1980 and 1988, Cibona won 14 major trophies: 3
Yugoslav League championships (1982, 1984, 1985), 7
Yugoslav Cups (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988), 2
FIBA European Champions Cups (1985, 1986), and 2
Cup Winners' Cups (1982, 1987). At the beginning of the war in the Former Yugoslavia in 1991, the team was forced to emigrate in order to play their games, and in an area with the minimum guarantees required by FIBA. For this reason, the club played in Spain for two years (seasons 1991–92 and 1992–93), specifically in
Puerto Real (Cádiz).
Croatian powerhouse In independent Croatia, Cibona became a dominant force strongly backed both politically and economically. The crisis of traditionally powerful Dalmatian clubs
Split,
Zadar and
Šibenik also came in hand and Cibona won 11 national titles in a row (from 1992 to 2002). They were also regular
Euroleague participant, reaching quarterfinals in 1996/97 and
1999/00. Cibona's dominance in the national championship was broken in 2003 when
Split CO led by coach
Petar Skansi, legendary
Dino Rađa and revived talent
Josip Sesar won the championship. Cibona regained the title next season but was beaten in finals by
Zadar season after. In 2005–06 and 2006–07 Cibona won championships beating Zadar in the final series twice but then shockingly missed the final series in 2007/08 after Split eliminated them in semifinal series. In 2001 regional basketball league called
Adriatic League was formed and Cibona took part in it. After disappointing first and second season, Cibona hosted Final Four and reached the final game in
2003/04 but was defeated on the home court by
FMP Reflex.
Recent seasons Recent seasons have been a mixture of success and failure for Cibona. In national championship, Cibona won four out of five recent league titles but this dominance is seriously put on test by the rise of
large company backed
Cedevita. In European competitions, Cibona lost its Euroleague license for the
2011/12 season after competing in Euroleague since its formation. During
2011/12 and
2012/13 seasons Cibona competed in
Eurocup but failed to win any game. In regional ABA League Cibona had a great
2009/10 season. Cibona entered the Final four held in
Arena Zagreb as a top-seeded team. After beating
Union Olimpija in semifinals, Cibona faced
Partizan in the final game. Partizan won the title thanks to an off-the-glass three-pointer by
Dušan Kecman from half-court at the buzzer, bringing the celebration of Cibona players and staff (who already invaded the floor as
Bojan Bogdanović scored a corner three-pointer for Cibona with just 0.6 seconds left on the clock) to an abrupt end. The final score was 75–74 and Cibona once again didn't manage to win a title at the home court. The next three seasons in the regional league were disappointing for Cibona, finishing 12th, 7th, and 11th. In the 2013–14 season, under head coach
Slaven Rimac, Cibona won the
ABA League championship, despite huge financial problems the club was facing. As a champion of the league, Cibona had direct spot in the
Euroleague, but withdrew from it in order to stabilize financially. Eventually,
Crvena Zvezda, as third in the standings, took its spot in the Euroleague. ==Honours==