FIBA European Champions Cup and Euroleague History - The '80s, Italian and Yugoslav Dominance

The '80s, Italian and Yugoslav Dominance

What could have been the decade of Maccabi Tel-Aviv (six finals appearances, but only one win), eventually became a triumph for Italian League basketball (seven finals appearances, and five wins).

Italy managed to generate three different European champions (Cantù, Roma, and Milano) in only seven years. These ten years were also marked by the definitive emergence of the elegant and inspired Yugoslavian League style of basketball. First, Cibona Zagreb, led by the phenomenal Dražen Petrović, won two times in a row (in 1985 and '86). Then, the up-and-coming Jugoplastika/POP 84 Split, won three consecutive titles (in 1989, '90 and '91), revealing the talent of players such as Dino Rađa, Toni Kukoč, and others, like (Zoran Savić, Zoran Sretenović, Velimir Perasović, Žan Tabak...).

In 1982 and 1983, Cantù, traditional runner-up to the mighty Varese in the Italian League, won its two European titles, thanks to the young and talented Antonello Riva (16, then 18 points in the finals). The former Varese star, Dino Meneghin, who had joined Olimpia Milano, imported his winning tradition to Lombardy, to play in his eleventh European Final (in 1983). But he eventually lost what seemed like a wrestling match, against Wallace Bryant of Cantù, in one of the most physical and "ugliest" finals of all time.

After Cantù's back to back wins, Banco di Roma took over for one year. Its American players, Larry Wright and Clarence Kea, dominated the final, scoring respectively, 27 and 17 points. Then began the reign of Cibona Zagreb, and the marvelous Dražen Petrović.

"Little Mozart", as Petrović was nicknamed, scored 36 points against Real Madrid in the 1985 championship game, and added 22 against Arvydas Sabonis and Žalgiris Kaunas a year later. Italy got back to its back-to-back tradition in 1987, and '88, as Milano, now bearing the sponsorship name of Tracer Milano, beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv twice. Then, in 1989, the wonderful generation of Jugoplastika Split (Kukoč, Rađa, Savić, etc.) took over and dominated European basketball for three years.