Aco Petrović about leaving the stage in 1995.

In 1995, on July 2nd, Croatians made one of the most shameful moves in the history of basketball. Yugoslavia became the European champion in Athens by defeating Lithuania 96-90, and the Croatians, who had earlier secured the bronze by defeating Greece, left the winner’s podium after their medals were awarded.

They refused to listen to the Yugoslav anthem or acknowledge the success of the “blue” basketball players. Since then, they have not won any medals!

At the time, Croatia’s coach Aco Petrović revealed that the decision to leave the podium was politically motivated. “I remember our leaving the podium… And if you ask me if it was a mistake – yes, but if you look at it from the perspective of 2024.

But if we go back to 1995, we all know what the situation was like… The fact is that some kind of telephone bridge had been established between the arena in Athens and Zagreb.

The fact is that there was some signal to leave the podium, and it happened. But I think it was a big mistake that was made,” Petrović said in an interview with N1.