2020–21 ABA League Second Division

ABA League Second Division
Season	2020–21
Duration	9 November 2020 – 6 May 2021
Teams	14
TV partner(s)	Arena Sport
Regular season
Top seed	Studentski centar
Finals
Champions	Studentski centar (1st title)
Runners-up	Spars
Semifinalists	Mladost Podgorica
Finals MVP	Marko Tejić
Statistical leaders
Points Blaž Mahkovic 21.2 Rebounds Kenan Kamenjaš 10.4 Assists Daniel Vujasinović 7.1 Index Rating Kenan Kamenjaš 26.2
Records
Highest scoring	Mladost 101–107 Zlatibor (4 March 2021)
Winning streak	9 games Studentski centar
Losing streak	10 games Helios Suns
← 2019–20 2021–22 → All statistics correct as of March 28, 2020.

The 2020–21 ABA League Second Division was the 4th season of the ABA Second Division with 14 teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia participating in it. The season has started on 9 November 2020.

The season was the first to be played after the previous season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] In accordance with the COVID-19 situation, it has been determined that the season will be played in new competition format and new calendar.

A total of 14 teams contested the league, including two representatives from all six ABA League countries. In cases where a club from an individual country does not apply for the 2020–21 season, the empty spot will be filled by awarding wild cards. The first two teams from the previous season, Borac Čačak and Split, were awarded wild cards to compete in the 2020–21 ABA League First Division.^[1] On 29 June 2020, the ABA League Assembly confirmed the final list of the 2020–21 season participants.^[2]

Helios Suns

Gorica

Široki

Spars

Borac

Lovćen

Sutjeska

Sloboda

Zlatibor

MZT

Rabotnički

Mladost

Podgorica

Podgorica clubs:

Podgorica
Studentski centar

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Location of teams in the 2020–21 ABA League Second Division

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

• 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.: National League position
• WC: Wild card
• Abd-: League positions of abandoned season due to the COVID-19 pandemic as determined by the leagues

Regular season[2]
Sutjeska (Abd-1st)	Široki (Abd-2nd)	Sloboda Užice (2nd)	MZT Skopje (Abd-1st)
Lovćen 1947 (Abd-2nd)	Spars (Abd-3rd)	Zlatibor (3rd)	Rabotnički (Abd-2nd)
Studentski centar (WC)	Borac Banja Luka (WC)	Mladost Zemun (WC)
Podgorica (WC)	Gorica (Abd-4th)	Helios Suns (Abd-4th)

In early June 2020, seven clubs contested for four wild cards.^[3][4] Later that month, Serbian club Novi Pazar withdrew its bid following failure to meet financial requirements.^[5] On 29 June, the ABA League Assembly announced four wild cards recipients, including Sloboda Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Studentski centar (Montenegro), Podgorica Bemax (Montenegro) and Mladost Zemun (Serbia).^[2] Teams Borac Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Gostivar (North Macedonia) did not receive the wild card.

Reportedly, Borac Banja Luka received an invitation on 6 October 2020, after Sloboda Tuzla withdrawal.^[6][7] On 13 October, the League officially confirmed Borac Banja Luka as the final participant in the 2020–21 season.^[8]

Team	Home city	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Borac	Banja Luka	Dragan Nikolić		Kelme	MMS Code
Gorica	Velika Gorica	Josip Sesar	Ivan Majcunić		—
Helios Suns	Domžale	Dejan Jakara	Aljaž Bratec	Spalding	Helios, Triglav
Lovćen 1947	Cetinje	Petar Jovanović	Nikola Borilović	Macron	—
Mladost MaxBet	Belgrade	Dragan Jakovljević	Marko Milenković	Champion	MaxBet
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	Skopje	Darko Radulović	Damjan Stojanovski	Givova	UNIBanka
Podgorica	Podgorica	Zoran Kašćelan		—	Master, Bemax
Rabotnički	Skopje	Dimitar Mirakovski	Kiril Nikolovski		—
Sloboda	Užice	Oliver Popović	Stefan Simić	Ardu Sport	mts
Spars	Sarajevo	Miodrag Kadija		No1	Number 1
Studentski centar	Podgorica	Nenad Trajković		Spalding	VOLI, Moj Lab
Sutjeska	Nikšić	Velimir Gašić	Boris Lalović		EP CG
Široki	Široki Brijeg	Damir Vujanović	Jure Zubac	Ardu Sport	Kandit
Zlatibor	Čajetina	Strajin Nedović	Bogdan Riznić		Boje i fasade Maxima

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced with	Date of appointment	Ref.
Podgorica	Vladan Radović	May 2020	Off-season	Zoran Kašćelan	May 2020	[9]
Sutjeska	Zoran Glomazić	17 July 2020		Velimir Gašić	17 July 2020	[10]
Lovćen 1947	Zoran Kašćelan	May 2020		Petar Jovanović	3 August 2020	[9][11]
Široki	Hrvoje Vlašić	August 2020		Damir Vujanović	6 August 2020	[12]
Sloboda	Vladimir Lučić	1 November 2020		Oliver Popović	1 November 2020	[13]
Borac Banja Luka	Marko Šćekić	3 December 2020	6th (2–2)	Dragan Nikolić	3 December 2020	[14][15]
Spars	Nedim Džemić	31 December 2020	7th (2–2)	Miodrag Kadija	2 January 2021	[16][17]
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	Gjorgji Kočov	14 March 2021	4th (6–4)	Darko Radulović (interim)	14 March 2021	[18]

The Regular season was divided in four tournaments. The first tournament was held in Čajetina, Serbia.^[19] The second tournament was held in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[20] The third tournament was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina while the fourth was held in Čajetina.^[21] The playoffs will be held in Podgorica, Montenegro.^[22]

Zlatibor, Čajetina	Čajetina Banja Luka Sarajevo Podgorica 2020–21 ABA League Second Division (Yugoslavia)		Sarajevo
STC Zlatibor – Wai Tai			Arena Hills Sports Hall
Capacity: 2,500[23]			Capacity: N/A
Banja Luka			Podgorica
Borik Sports Hall			Morača Sports Center
Capacity: 3,060[24]			Capacity: 6,000

The Regular season was split in four tournaments with two tournaments featuring four rounds and the last one five rounds. It will be played in a round-robin system and after 13 rounds there will be Playoffs with eight teams and Play-out with four teams.^[19]

The first tournament of four rounds took place between 9 November and 18 November 2020 in Čajetina, Serbia. The Croatian club Gorica missed the first tournament due to records of several COVID-19 positive players within their team.^[25] The second tournament of three rounds took place between 18 January and 24 January 2021 in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[20] The Macedonian club Rabotnički missed the second tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic situation and the restrictions.^[26]

The third tournament of three rounds was held from 1–7 March 2021 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[21]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Studentski centar	13	12	1	1119	966	+153	25	Advance to the Playoffs
2	Spars	13	10	3	1013	934	+79	23
3	Borac Banja Luka	13	9	4	1051	980	+71	22
4	Mladost MaxBet	13	8	5	1077	1030	+47	21
5	MZT Skopje Aerodrom	13	8	5	1048	986	+62	21
6	Podgorica	13	7	6	991	1023	−32	20
7	Zlatibor	13	6	7	960	1002	−42	19
8	Sloboda Užice	13	6	7	988	1002	−14	19
9	Široki	13	5	8	959	986	−27	18
10	Gorica	13	5	8	619	658	−39	18
11	Rabotnički	13	5	8	774	871	−97	18	Advance to the Playout
12	Lovćen 1947	13	5	8	990	1072	−82	18
13	Sutjeska	13	4	9	1037	1064	−27	17
14	Helios Suns	13	1	12	900	952	−52	14

Source: ABA2

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Studentski centar	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Spars	7	2	3	7	5	2	6	4	4	3	3	3	2
Borac Banja Luka	8	4	2	6	6	8	4	2	3	2	2	2	3
Mladost Maxbet	5	7	11	8	8	7	5	3	6	5	5	5	4
MZT Skopje Aerodrom	9	6	4	2	2	3	7	5	2	4	4	4	5
Podgorica	6	9	6	4	3	5	8	9	8	9	7	6	6
Zlatibor	3	3	7	5	4	6	3	7	5	7	8	8	7
Sloboda Užice	11	8	5	3	7	4	2	6	7	6	6	7	8
Široki	2	5	9	12	13	10	9	8	9	8	9	9	9
Gorica	13	14	14	14	14	14	12	12	13	11	11	11	10
Rabotnički	14	11	8	9	10	12	13	13	11	13	13	13	11
Lovćen 1947	4	10	12	13	9	11	11	10	10	12	12	12	12
Sutjeska	12	12	13	10	11	9	10	11	12	10	10	10	13
Helios Suns	10	13	10	11	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14

Based on the results and position of the clubs in the standings after the regular season, Playoffs will take place with teams from 1st to 8th position. The Quarterfinals will be played in knockout pairs 1–8, 2–7, 3–6, 4–5. The winners of the Quarterfinals will qualify to the Semifinals and the winners of the Semifinals will play the Final.^[19]

The playoff tournament will be held in Podgorica, Montenegro between 19 April and 6 May 2021.^[22]

	Quarterfinals						Semifinals						Finals
	19–21 April
	3 Borac Banja Luka	90	65	155
							23–25 April
	6 Podgorica	86	77	163
							6 Podgorica	64	59	123
	19–21 April
							2 Spars	72	74	146
	2 Spars	79	82	161
													4–6 May
	7 Zlatibor	82	74	156
													2 Spars	89	72	161
	20–22 April
													1 Studentski centar	99	71	170
	4 Mladost MaxBet	95	86	181
							24–26 April
	5 MZT Skopje Aerodrom	75	92	167
							4 Mladost MaxBet	85	66	151
	20–22 April
							1 Studentski centar	86	76	162
	1 Studentski centar	96	90	186
	8 Sloboda Užice	92	80	172

Based on the results and position of the clubs in the standings after the regular season, Playout would take place with teams from 11th to 14th position. The Playout would be played in knockout pairs 11–14, 12–13. The defeated teams would play for the final 13th and 14th places in the standings.^[19] On 3 April 2021, the playout tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[22]

Four clubs, Lovćen 1947, Rabotnički, Sutjeska, and Helios Suns, were qualified for the tournament.

The 13th placed team of the First Division season and the runners-up of the Second Division season will play in the Qualifiers for a spot in the next First Division season.^[27]

Qualified clubs

Leagues	Clubs
First Division	Split
Second Division	Spars

Team 1	Series	Team 2	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
Split	2–1	Spars	70–76	84–64	90–60

Round	Player	Team	PIR
1	Miloš Popović	Lovćen 1947	33
2	Kenan Kamenjaš	Spars	33
3	Femi Olujobi	MZT Skopje Aerodrom	33
4	Trey Drechsel	Mladost Zemun	46
5	Nikola Tanasković	Borac Banja Luka	29
6	Đorđe Milošević	Sutjeska	32
7	Trey Drechsel	Mladost Zemun	43
8	Dario Drežnjak	Široki	50
9	Amar Gegić	Spars	40
10	Aaron Thomas	Široki	27
11	Miloš Popović	Lovćen 1947	35
12	Filip Bundović	Rabotnički	37
13	Amar Gegić	Spars	30
QF1	Dušan Tanasković	Mladost Zemun	31
QF2	Novak Musić	Podgorica	38
SF1	Kenan Kamenjaš	Spars	26
SF2	Kenan Kamenjaš	Spars	35
F1	Marko Tejić	Studentski centar	27
F2	Kenan Kamenjaš	Spars	26

Source: ABA 2 League

• List of current ABA League Second Division team rosters
• 2020–21 ABA League First Division

2020–21 domestic competitions

• 2020–21 Basketball Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 2020–21 HT Premijer liga
• 2020–21 Prva A liga
• 2020–21 Macedonian First League
• 2020–21 Basketball League of Serbia
• 2020–21 Slovenian Basketball League

• Official website
• ABA League at Eurobasket.com