Yugoslavia (1989–1991) Bodiroga first started playing structured basketball at the age of 13. He enrolled in Zrenjanin's Mašinac (Servo Mihalj) basketball section, under supervision of local basketball enthusiast Rade Prvulov. At the age of fifteen, he sprung up to 2.05m, and was quickly incorporated into the first team squad, coached by
Miodrag Nikolić, a former
OKK Belgrade and
SFR Yugoslav national team player in the 1960s. His domestic career took off when, at 17, he was noticed by
Krešimir Ćosić at a friendly youth tournament that featured Mašinac and
Zadar among others, where Bodiroga scored 32 points in a game that pitted two teams. Ćosić then brought Bodiroga for a week-long basketball camp in Zadar and eventually persuaded Bodiroga's family to allow their son to move away to Zadar. In the meantime Bodiroga signed a pre-contract with
Vojvodina so that when he finally went to Zadar in autumn 1989 he wasn't right away eligible for the first team, meaning that he first worked with coach Josip Grdović in the club's youth sections while simultaneously attending high school. After a year he was allowed to be moved into the full squad, then under head coach Slavko Trninić. After just one season in the first team, Bodiroga's stay in Zadar came to a premature end due to the impending war. Ćosić, his mentor, did everything in his power to help Bodiroga find a new club.
Italy (1992–1996) Originally, trials were arranged with
AEK and
Olympiacos, with both clubs offering a contract solely on the condition that Bodiroga become a naturalised
Greek citizen. He ultimately refused the conditions and ended up traveling to Italy instead, joining a
Stefanel Trieste emerging team, coached by
Bogdan Tanjević and financially backed by the
Stefanel clothing empire. In Trieste, he first captured the attention of the wider basketball public. Shortly after his arrival in the summer of 1992, he made an impact, averaging 21.3 points per game over 30 league matches and leading his team to the playoffs. There, however, they were quickly disposed of in the second round by the more experienced
Clear Cantù. He had a stellar season for Trieste in 1993–94, this time leading his team deeper into the playoffs. In the semifinals game 3 against
Scavolini Pesaro,
Carlton Myers' buzzer beater clinched a 2–1 series victory for Pesaro. Trieste also reached the
FIBA Korać Cup final, where they surrendered to
PAOK from Thessaloniki, who starred
Zoran Savić,
Walter Berry and
Bane Prelević. After that season, Stefanel changed its backing to
Olimpia Milano, sparking an exodus of Trieste players and coaches to
Lombardy (coach Tanjević, Bodiroga,
Gregor Fučka, Alessandro De Pol, Davide Cantarello, and
Ferdinando Gentile). Bodiroga's leading role remained unchanged as he developed into an all-around player. In 1994–95, Olimpia reached the
Korać Cup final, with players that also reached it the previous year in Trieste. However, they lost to
Alba Berlin, coached by
Svetislav Pešić, who would later play a big role in Bodiroga's career. On the home front, the team made it to the playoff semi-finals but lost 3–2 to the eventual champions,
Buckler Bologna, led by another Serbian superstar,
Predrag Danilović. The two Serbs turned the series into a personal duel, with Danilović's experience prevailing in the end. The summer of 1995 Bodiroga joined
FR Yugoslavia squad that returned after years of international exile. The team included players such as
Aleksandar Đorđević,
Vlade Divac,
Žarko Paspalj, Danilović and Savić. Yugoslavia won the gold medal in the
EuroBasket finals against
Lithuania that featured the likes of
Arvydas Sabonis,
Šarūnas Marčiulionis,
Rimas Kurtinaitis, and
Artūras Karnišovas. That same summer, Bodiroga was drafted by the
Sacramento Kings in the
1995 NBA draft (second round, #51 overall). One year later, the Kings selected his younger countryman
Peja Stojaković. However, unlike Stojaković, Bodiroga declined the offer to play in the NBA, choosing instead to remain in Europe. In 1995–96, Bodiroga won his first trophy in Milan, but the Korać Cup was again lost, this time to
Efes Pilsen. In the league, Bodiroga led the way with 23.3 points per game in 32 regular season matches. During the playoffs, they beat Virtus 3–1 in the semi-finals (Danilovic left for the
Miami Heat in the summer), and
Teamsystem Bologna led by Myers, Đorđević and
Alessandro Frosini. He took his place in the
FR Yugoslav national team for the
1996 Olympics in Atlanta and he brought home a silver medal, with
Dream Team III winning the gold.
Real Madrid (1996–1998) For the 1996–97 season, Bodiroga joined
Real Madrid after an offer of $1 million per season, and teaming up with coach
Željko Obradović, whom he knew well from his national team stints. The squad also featured veteran
Joe Arlauckas as well as established internationals
Alberto Herreros and
Mikhail Mikhaylov. In the
Spanish ACB League finals, they faced an
FC Barcelona team that boasted Aleksandar Đorđević,
Jerrod Mustaf, and Artūras Karnišovas. FC Barcelona prevailed 3–2, winning the deciding 5th game 82–69 away, as Madrid settled with the
European Cup trophy. On the national basketball front, Yugoslavia rolled over the competition with considerable ease
en route to another EuroBasket gold in
1997, with Bodiroga again playing an integral role. In the group stages, the Serbs faced
Croatia, in the first meeting in basketball between the two nations since the breakup of the old Yugoslavia. The game carried much political tension and was low-scoring, with Đorđević winning it for FR Yugoslavia (by then comprising only Serbia and Montenegro) with a dramatic 3-pointer at the end. In Bodiroga's next and final season with Real Madrid, (and without Obradovic, who had moved to
Benetton Treviso) there were no improvements, as the team was ousted in the league's semifinals by
TDK Manresa. He did achieve
league MVP honours for the 1997–98 season. That summer's national team duty was happier, as it brought another
World Championship title for FR Yugoslavia, the first for Bodiroga. Now 25, Bodiroga was, together with Đorđević (who suffered knee problems and played few minutes) and
Željko Rebrača, one of the team leaders.
Panathinaikos (1998–2002) The same summer of 1998 also saw Bodiroga move to the Greek powerhouse
Panathinaikos, where club chairman
Pavlos Giannakopoulos began assembling a team to conquer Europe. As such, Bodiroga was the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle that already included
Dino Rađa,
Fragiskos Alvertis,
Michael Koch,
"Nando" Gentile,
Pat Burke and coach
Slobodan Subotić. The
Greens won the
Greek League, but the
EuroLeague ended in a disappointing note, leading to the departures of Radja and Subotić, with the latter's replacement being old acquaintance
Željko Obradović, who brought along
Željko Rebrača from
Benetton Treviso,
Johnny Rogers from
Olympiacos and
Oded Kattash from
Maccabi Tel Aviv. After such an investment, Panathinaikos captured both the 1999–00 Greek League and the
EuroLeague trophies, the latter coming in a final versus
Maccabi Tel Aviv. In 2001, Panathinaikos again won the Greek Championship and also reached the
SuproLeague final in Paris. A year later, Bodiroga was named the
EuroLeague Final Four MVP, as the Greeks beat hosts
Kinder Bologna, and their star player
Manu Ginóbili 89–83. In the international front, Bodiroga, as the team's undisputed leader, helped FR Yugoslavia win the
EuroBasket 2001 in Turkey and the
2002 FIBA World Championship in
Indianapolis. In this competition, the national side defeated
Team USA in the quarterfinals and the
Argentine national team in the final, in
overtime.
Barcelona (2002–2005) In the summer of 2002, Bodiroga returned to the Spanish league's FC Barcelona, which was managed by
Svetislav Pešić and had players like
Šarūnas Jasikevičius,
Gregor Fučka and
Juan Carlos Navarro. He won the
EuroLeague with
Barça (the first time the team achieved this), and also added two domestic league titles with them.
Virtus Roma (2005–2007) In the 2005–06 season, Bodiroga came back to the Italian League, this time with
Lottomatica Roma, re-joining coach Pešić, as the team played in the
ULEB Cup (now called EuroCup). After getting eliminated from European contention in the round of 16 and losing the Italian Cup final (83–85) to
Carpisa Napoli, Virtus finished the season in 6th place with a 22–12 record in the national league. Bodiroga finished the year with a 15.7 points-per-game regular season scoring average. The playoff first round pitted Roma against favorites
Montepaschi Siena. After dropping the first game, Bodiroga dominated the series in a 3–1 victory. During the 2006–07 season's playoffs, however, both teams played again, with the exact opposite outcome. After the fourth and final game, Bodiroga announced his retirement from professional basketball in June 2007. ==National team career==