Koà ¡arkaà ¡ki klub Vrà ¡ac Meridianbet ( ÃÂõÃÂøôøðýñõÃÂ), commonly referred to as KK Vrà ¡ac Meridianbet, is a men's professional basketball club based in Vrà ¡ac, Serbia. They are currently competing in the Basketball League of Serbia. Their home arena is the Millennium Centar, with a capacity of 4,400.
Over the years, the club competed under different names, mostly after sponsor companies, carrying for an extended period of time the name of pharmaceutical company Hemofarm.
The club was founded in 1946 under the name KK Jedinstvo. From 1959 to 1967, the club competed under the name KK Mladost until the name got changed to KK Inex Brixol due to sponsorship reasons. In the 1968âÂÂ69 season, they won first place in the Vojvodina lower-league. In 1977, the club changed its name again, this time to KK Agropanonija. Four years later, in 1981, they again became champions of Vojvodina, which won them the right to participate in the First B League, where they competed under the name KK Vrà ¡ac. In 1989, Inex Hemofarm became principal sponsor and club changed its name to KK Inex.
Under the sponsorship of Hemofarm since 1992, the club went from average participants of the lower leagues in Vojvodina to one of the leading clubs in the country. In their first season under the name of KK Hemofarm, they competed in the First League of Vojvodina and regularly improved. In the 1995âÂÂ96 season, the team was led by Marin SedlaÃÂek, a young and ambitious coach, who led the team to a higher league.
Hemofarm's top league status was achieved in the 1997âÂÂ98 season, under the guidance of coach Slobodan LukiÃÂ. The first season among the elite kept their survival, but during the 1999âÂÂ2000 season, they finished fourth in the standings, providing their first trip to Europe in the FIBA KoraàCup. As newcomers, they reached the finals under coach à ½eljko Lukajiàduring the 2000âÂÂ01 season, where they fell short to Spain's Unicaja Málaga, which was headed by Boà ¾idar MaljkoviÃÂ. That same year, the team's quality was confirmed with placement at the National Cup final tournament, which was organized in Vrà ¡ac for the first time, at the opening of the Millennium Centar.
During the 2001âÂÂ02 season, they played the playoff semifinal of the national championship, where they fell short to BuduÃÂnost after five games. In the next season, they played in the final of the National Cup, where they were defeated by FMP, and in the 2003âÂÂ04 season, they once again fell short, playing in the National League finals against Partizan.
The 2004âÂÂ05 season was the most successful in the club's history. As rookies, they won the regional Adriatic League. Hemofarm finished the regular season in first place in the standings, and at the Final Eight in Belgrade, they eliminated Bosna, FMP and Partizan in the final. That same season, Vrà ¡ac was again hosting the final tournament of the National Cup, but the club lost to BuduÃÂnost in the first game. In the ULEB Cup, they reached the semifinals, where they fell short by the Greek team Makedonikos.
In the 2005âÂÂ06 season, they once again played in the ULEB Cup semifinals and took part in the Adriatic League Final Eight. In the 2006âÂÂ07 season, they played in the semifinals of the National Cup and the Adriatic League semifinals.
In the 2008âÂÂ09 season, the team was taken over by Stevan Karadà ¾iàwho led them to the semifinals in all competitions; Radivoj KoraàCup, Basketball League of Serbia, ABA League and Eurocup. Reaching the Eurocup Final Eight in Turin was a major success for Serbian basketball, especially as the club had the youngest team in the whole competition. In the first match of the tournament in Italy, they bested the favored Dynamo Moscow, but lost to Lietuvos rytas, who went on to win the competition.
In the middle of the 2011âÂÂ12 season, Hemofarm stopped financing the club after 20 years because of financial instabilities within the company. All of the players were informed that they were free to leave the club.
In the summer of 2012, the club changed its name back to KK Vrà ¡ac.
A few days after the end of the 2023âÂÂ24 season, on April 16, the club announced that it had signed a title sponsorship agreement with Meridianbet.
The club has had several denominations through the years due to its sponsorship:
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