Zoran Čutura reflects on Cibona’s history and Zagreb’s transformation

Former basketball player Zoran Čutura has reflected on the history of the Zagreb-based club Cibona, noting that the team’s rise to European dominance in the 1980s was a municipal project supported by the Communist Party.

Čutura, who played alongside Dražen Petrović during Cibona’s most successful era, described the club’s achievements—including two European championships and three Yugoslavian titles—as part of a broader transformation of Zagreb. He noted that before the Universiade, Zagreb functioned more like a provincial town, but the period of urban development also facilitated the growth of the basketball powerhouse under the guidance of Mirko Novosel.

Reflecting on his former teammate Dražen Petrović, Čutura described him as an ‘impeccable basketball machine’ who broke barriers for future generations of players.