Basketball in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Tuzla – where basketball is not just a game

written by Eldar Osmic
Sunday, 05 April 2009 21:36

My story about basketball in Bosnia and Herzegovina will start with Tuzla. The reason might be the fact that Tuzla happens to be my home town. But then again, Tuzla is legitimate basketball center of Bosnia Herzegovina.

Grbavica Court, Tuzla

First of all, Tuzla gave us European Club Champions in women’s basketball. Jedinstvo Aida from Tuzla won the European Champions Cup in 1989. The best basketball player of Bosnia and Herzegovina of all time, Mirza Delibasic, was born in Tuzla and made his first basketball steps on the courts of Tuzla. Tuzla has always been a real basketball center, something like Zadar in Croatia.

Unfortunately good basketball days in Tuzla are “ancient history“. People here have witnessed the first basketball steps of some great names such as Mirza Delibasic, Damir Mulaomerovic, Damir Mrsic, Razija Mujanovic, Mara Lakic and other younger stars, so they understand the game and everything around it. Now, during the times when money talks Jedinstvo Aida, Sloboda Dita can not even make an impact in their own national league. They are far away from being contenders and people here have hard time dealing with that.

Grbavica Court Squad

I won’t cry over our situation here anymore. Sarajevo and basketball team Bosna and European Club title which Bosna won in 1979 are one of the biggest sports stories of all time in Bosnia and Hezegovina. Bosna is now the only team from Bosnia and Herzegovina playing in regional NLB league and is still trying to make some kind of impact. This year some kind of positive result is evident because we will again have 2 teams in NLB league next season.

One of the biggest problems in basketball besides financial situation here is that not all people who are in the front offices and who make plans and deals are in the right place. What I mean is that they weren’t involved in basketball as players nor they had some other significant contact with this sport, so they don’t have what it takes to do a good job without involving their personal interest and putting it in the first place.

Eldar Osmic is CroHoops.com correspondent from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina