Are we gonna get the third Champion?

With Union Olimpija taking the Goodyear League's trophy in the first season and Zadar following it last year, it is very possible that the Final Four in Zagreb will give the third winner in as many seasons since the project of one of the strongest basketball leagues in Europe has been born. Cibona and Crvena zvezda, both in their second attempt to step at the top, does not hide of being hungry for success while Union Olimpija continues its tradition as the only team that has been playing at every Final Four since its success at the inaugural one in Ljubljana 2002. In such a company Reflex is the only debutant at the big event of the season. Nonetheless its history did not give him many trophies, not even a single international one, the ambitions of the club from the suburb of Belgrade are very high. Reflex may be encouraged by last year's success of Zadar which won the dramatic final with Maccabi, proving that favorites are not always those who gain at the end.

The league made big steps forward since its establishment in 2002. It is worth remembering that it expanded from 12 to 14 teams before this season. In its first year four teams form Slovenia (Krka, Slovan, Union Olimpija, Pivovarna Laško) and Croatia (Triglav, Split, Zadar, Cibona), three from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Široki Brijeg, Bosna in Sloboda Dita) and only one from Serbia and Montenegro (Budućnost) participated in the Goodyear League. The next year the national key remained more or less the same with Slovenia loosing one place: 4 Croatian teams (Cibona, Zadar, Split, Zagreb), 3 Slovenian (Pivovarna Laško, Union Olimpija, Krka) and Bosnian (Borac, Bosna, Široki brijeg), 1 from S&M (Crvena zvezda) and Israel (Maccabi). The idea of re-joining best teams from ex-Yugoslavia under the same roof soon proved to be promising. Therefore it is not surprising that already in it's third year the league had to reorganize and extend from 12 to 14 teams.

451 games played so far

This year the regular season ended with the postponed game between Union Olimpija and Crvena zvezda on March 27th what means that all together 451 games has been played since the beginning in 2001. It should have been 452 of them but the game between Crvena zvezda and Maccabi was postponed and then finally cancelled in 2002/03 season as the result would not change anything in the league's standing. But it was definitely Maccabi which confirmed the league has its future and quality sinceit has stepped in last season wanting to play as many quality games as possible beside Euroleague and Israelian National Championship. Unfortunately the club from Tel Aviv decided to freeze up its participation in Goodyear League, explaining that it is too exhausting to play at three fronts, and it will be the Final Four in Zagreb which will give the answer whether it is to expect his come-back for the next season.