Legendary basketball player Mirza Delibasic gets a monument in Sarajevo

Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)

A monument to legendary basketball player Mirza Delibasic was unveiled on Wednesday at the Sarajevo's Skenderija square in presence of numerous citizens.

The statue created by Adis Lukac was installed in front of the iconic Skenderija sports hall.

Speaking at the ceremony, Delibasic's son Danko Delibasic said “Mirza was a good man of pure heart”, a “Bosnian”.

When he spoke about Bosnia he did not speak about the politics but about love, not about the state institutions but about “precisely us.”

“This country will be saved by people of pure hearth and there is enough of us. Mirza was a man of pure heart,” Delibasic said, quoting Bosnian writer Semezdin Mehmedinovic.

Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
N1/F.Z.
N1/F.Z.
N1/F.Z.
N1/F.Z.
N1/F.Z.
N1/F.Z.
Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
Spomenik Mirzi Delibašiću (N1/F.Z.)
N1/F.Z.

Mirza Delibasic, who is considered one of the best shooters in the history of European basketball, was born in the northern Bosnian city of Tuzla and died in Sarajevo aged 47.

He played his first games with the basketball team Sloboda Dita and then signed for the Bosna basketball team, which he led to EuroLeague Championship in 1979.

Delibasic resumed his career in the Spanish Primera Division, considered to be one of the best players to ever play for Real Madrid.

He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991 and was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007. He was also named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors.