Basketball in the Republic of Croatia began to develop during the 1920s and 1930s. There were two dominant influences on the appearance and development of basketball: 1) under the Italian influence, during the 1920s and 1930s, basketball began to be played mainly among high school students and as part of physical education classes and within basketball sections that were gradually being established at existing, mostly Italian sports clubs and societies in cities that were under the administration of the Kingdom of Italy, such as Rijeka, Pula and Zadar; and 2) at the Sokol societies, under the influence of the American Red Cross ambassador William A. Wieland, who stayed in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1923 and promoted the American sports of basketball and volleyball to representatives of the Sokol, physical and health culture teachers and representatives of scout organizations. The first recorded basketball games were played in Rijeka in 1924, Zagreb in 1929, Pula in 1929, Zadar in 1931, etc. Until the Second World War, basketball was predominantly played among high school and university students, at Sokol clubs and basketball sections of sports clubs and societies, whereas basketball clubs were not founded. In that period, the first newspaper articles about „the new American game of basketball” were published, the rules were translated and published, and a new Croatian word “košarka” was created and popularized as the name of the sport of basketball. The Sokol Federation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was admitted to FIBA in 1936, and the first national championships were held in Borovo in 1940.
A period of more dynamic, mass and serious development of basketball began after the Second World War. It was marked by the establishment of a large number of basketball sections at physical culture societies, which gradually grew into independent basketball clubs in the 1950s and 1960s. Zadar Basketball Club, Split Basketball Club, Cibona Zagreb Basketball Club and Trešnjevka Zagreb Women’s Basketball Club and Elemes Šibenik Women’s Basketball Club were some of the more successful clubs.
During the 1970s, the first notable international successes were achieved at the national team and club level in both men’s and women’s divisions. Croatian basketball players on the Yugoslav men’s national team won the gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, 3 gold medals at the World Championships (in 1970, 1978 and 1990) and 5 gold medals at the European Championships (in 1973, 1975, 1977, 1989 and 1991), along with a large number of silver and bronze medals. Basketball players on the Yugoslav women’s national team won 2 Olympic, 1 world and 6 European medals. The greatest success in club competitions, winning the European Champion title (then called FIBA European Champions Cup, and today EuroLeague), was achieved by Cibona Basketball Club (in 1985 and 1986) and Split Basketball Club, formerly known as Jugoplastika and POP 84 (in 1989, 1990 and 1991). In women’s basketball it was Trešnjevka Women’s Basketball Club (formerly known as Monting) that won the Liliana Ronchetti Cup in 1980.
The Basketball Federation of Croatia was founded in 1948. It changed its name to the Croatian Basketball Federation in 1991. It has been a member of FIBA since 1992. Five Croatians have been inducted into The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA: Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Petrović, Mirko Novosel, Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč. Inductees to the FIBA Hall of Fame, established in 1991, are Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Petrović, Toni Kukoč, Mirko Novosel and Danira Nakić Bilić.