The History of
BC Buducnost Podgorica

BC Buducnost Podgorica was founded in 1949. That year Sports Club Buducnost formed the men basketball section. Buducnost took part in its first competition in the first part of June 1949., at the third Montenegrin Championship. The Championships took place in Cetinje, and among Buducnost three other teams from Montenegro participated.

the first success came two years later - in 1951., when Buducnost took the first place in the First Championships of the Cities, which was held in Herceg - Novi.
In the year of 1957. the new basketball stadium opened in the City Park, on the banks of river Moraca.

The first time that the Montenegrin basketball champion came from Podgorica was in the year of 1958. It was the team of Buducnost. This success came as a result of long term systematic and organized team training. The Championship was played in 3 zones, and a lot more teams took part this year, which only made the success bigger. All credit for this achievement goes to: Martinovic, Pavlovic, Vujovic, Djukic, Golubovic, Lekic, Belada, Djurisic, Tamindzic and Vukcevic. Because of this result, Buducnost got the chance to play in the qualifications for the First League. The qualifications did not took place, because of the decision of Yugoslav Basketball Federation that the team of Zastava Kragujevac should play in the First League, without any matches being played.

In the year of 1960. Buducnost became the Montenegrin basketball champion for the second time. Five more teams took part in the competition. the Qualifications for the First League were played in Podgorica, and the teams of Dinamo Pancevo and Rabotnicki Skoplje took part. Dinamo qualified for the First League.Buducnost became the Montenegrin basketball champion for the third time (second time in a row) in the year of 1961.
Because of the financial problems, the championships were reduced to a tournament played in Podgorica, and the home team easily won all of its matches.

Buducnost had to wait until 1969. for the new success. That year the team managed to win two trophies. In the Republic League Buducnost won the first place and again became the Montenegrin basketball champion. The team also won the Championships of the Cities, for the third time in its history. Buducnost played the qualifications for the Second League group East once more, but in the very strong competition from clubs from Serbia and Macedonia they failed to qualify.
The year of 1970. was the turning point for the Montenegrin basketball. The championships were played in the united league for the first time in history, without any zones. Buducnost became the Montenegrin basketball champion, but like in the previous years team failed to qualify for the First League. The club managed to repeat the same success in the next year, and became the Montenegrin basketball champion for the second time in a row (sixth overall). Buducnost had 9 wins and only one loss. In the same year team managed to qualify for the Second League.
Qualifications were played in Podgorica, and the home team showed its superiority. But, because of the bad physical training team only played for one year in the Second League. In the year of 1973. the Montenegrin Championships were much more interesting than the previous years. At the end of the regular season two teams had the same number of points - Buducnost and Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje. In the tie-breaker played on the neutral court, Buducnost proved that it had the best team in Montenegro that year. Both clubs took part in the qualifications for the bigger League, but neither managed to qualify. The tournament was played in Skoplje.
Next year Buducnost had only one loss in the Montenegrin League, and became the Montenegrin basketball champion once again. In the same year the tournament of the Republics took place. The Buducnost players who played for Montenegrin national team were: Blazevic, Begovic, Pavicevic and Popovic. The team managed to qualify for the Second League group South this year.

Even tough it had to play its games outside Podgorica, the team achieved major success and was by far the best team in the Second League group South. That year the fusion of the clubs Akademik and Buducnost took place. Buducnost had 11 wins and only 3 loses this season, and they average points scored per game was over 90. Team roster for this year was: Begovic, Brajovic, Blazevic, Scepanovic, Latkovic, Djuraskovic, I. Popovic, M. Popovic, Vukicevic, Lekovic, Sarkic, Pavicevic, Kazic and Martinovic, and the head coach was Petar Blazevic. The team achieved its first bigger success in Yugoslav Cup, qualifying for the Last 16 stage.

In the season of 1975./'76. the Second League was once again dominated by Buducnost. At the end of the regular season the team was tied with the team of Buducnost Pec, with 13 wins and 5 lost games. In the tie-breaker that took place in Belgrade, the team from Podgorica was much better and won. The new players this season were Garic and Begovic.
Next year the team was tied for the first place with the team of Kumanovo, but this Buducnost lost in the deciding tie-breaker.

In the season of 1977./'78. Buducnost achieved their biggest success in the Yugoslav Cup until then, qualifying for the quarter-finals, where it was beaten by Bosna. That year the team won the Montenegrin Cup. The 1979./'80 season was very successful for Buducnost. The club took the first place in the Second League and automatically qualified for the First National League. After 15 years the First League again had a representative from Montenegro. It was the team from Podgorica, and the players were: Antic, Dragan Ivanovic, Dusko Ivanovic, Vukicevic, Sutulovic, Vukosavljevic, Petrovic, Djurovic, Bojanic, Garic, Rakocevic, Nesevic and Dragovic. The team was coached by Rusmir Halilovic. Sports center Moraca was opened that year and Team played all of its official matches there. In its debut season in the First League, the team scored a significant success finishing 8th. Team roster for this year was: Dragan and Dusko Ivanovic, Antic, Knezevic, Kovacevic, Rakocevic, Goran and Milorad Bojanic, Garic, Petrovic, Milatovic. The coach was Cedomir Djuraskovic.

Next year the team managed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the play-off after beating the team of Jugoplastika Split. In the quarter-finals the team met with Crvena Zvezda from Belgrade and won in Podgorica but lost two times in Belgrade.

The season of 1985./'86 was the season of the club's greatest success untill then. Even tough Sasa Radunovic, Zarko Djurisic, Zdravko Radulovic, Luka Pavicevic, Goran Bojanic and Goran Rakocevic had left the team, the young coach Milutin Petrovic with players like Antic, Paspalj, Milatovic, Vujacic, the Ivanovic brothers and Scepanovic, managed to finish third in the League. During this season most of the best Yugoslav teams (Cibona, Crvena Zvezda, Bosna..…) were beaten in "Moraca".

Buducnost competed in European Cups for the first time in the season of 1986./'87. Third place in the League last year, gave team a chance to play in the Radivoje Korac Cup. In its European debut season Buducnost won three games and lost five.
The season of 1987./'88 was very bad for the team because it was relegated. But, next year Buducnost managed to return to the First League.

In the next few seasons BC Buducnost did not play a major role in Yugoslav basketball. But in the season of 1995./'96. the club achieved its biggest success until then. Buducnost won in the finals of the Yugoslav Cup, beating Partizan Belgrade. The tournament took place in Niksic. The team managed to repeat the same success two years later (the season of 1997./'98.), also in Niksic, beating Beobanka Belgrade in the final this time.

In the season of 1998./'99. the team achieved the biggest success in the club history, becoming the Yugoslav League Champion. That was the first time ver that one Montenegrin basketball team became the champion of Yugoslavia. Buducnost qualified for the European strongest club competition (Euro League) for the first time in its history. The club achieved another major success this season - they qualified for the Raymondo Saporta Cup semifinals. The team that won the first YU Champion trophy is: Vlado Scepanovic, Gavrilo Pajovic, Goran Boskovic, Dejan Radonjic, Djuro Ostojic, Blagota Sekulic, Dragan Vukcevic, Sasa Radunovic, Dragan Ceranic, Nikola Bulatovic, Balsa Radunovic and Zeljko Topalovic. The team was coached by head coach Miroslav Nikolic.

National Championship
Yugoslavia
1998/99

National Cup
Yugoslavia
1995/96
1997/98

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