League Liga ACB Name Marko Popovic Listed weight 190 lb (86 kg) | Listed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Nationality Croatian | |
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Position Point guard / Shooting guard Born 12 June 1982 (age 41)
Zadar, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia ( 1982-06-12 ) College College of Southern Idaho (2000–2001) | ||
Marko Popović (born 12 June 1982) is a Croatian professional basketball player who plays for Fuenlabrada of the Liga ACB. Standing at a height of 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in), and weighing 86 kg (190 lbs.), he plays at the point guard and shooting guard positions.
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Early life
Marko Popović was born in Zadar, the son of Petar Popović, a retired basketball player and a present day basketball coach, whose father (Marko's grandfather) had moved to Zadar from Kraljevo, in 1943. Marko started training in basketball in the youth school of KK Zadar, in 1991, but his family moved to Zagreb in 1994, when the father signed with Benston. Marko then entered the youth system of Cibona Zagreb, where he remained until 1997, when his family moved back to Zadar. Marko's cadet team won the national championship, and he was voted the MVP of the tournament.
College career
After Popović had a successful 2000 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship with Croatia's junior national team, KK Zadar decided to offer him a seven-year contract, but he declined the offer, and instead went to an NCAA Division II college basketball team in the United States. He joined the College of Southern Idaho, where he stayed for a year.
Professional career
Popović played with the youth junior squad of KK Zadar in the 1998–99 season, and also played in 3 games with the club's senior team that season. In the club's youth squad, he scored an average of 25 points per game, which earned him a spot in the top-tier level senior men's team of the club in the following season of 1999–00. After spending a year in the United States, playing college basketball at the College of Southern Idaho (NCAA Division II), he moved back to Croatia and Zadar in 2001.
In the 2002–03 ABA League season, Zadar surprisingly won the ABA League championship, after beating Maccabi Tel Aviv in the finals. Popović played a major role in his team's success, and he was awarded with the MVP title of the leagues' final four tournament, which took place in Ljubljana.
In 2003, he moved Pamesa Valencia of the Spanish ACB League, for the 2003–04 season, where he stayed until February 2004, before moving back to Croatia again, this time to Cibona Zagreb, with which he won the Croatian League championship in the 2003–04 season.
In 2005, Popović was signed by the Turkish League club Efes Pilsen, and the next year, he moved to Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian League, with which he won both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 Lithuanian League season championships. While playing with UNICS Kazan, he was named the Finals MVP of the 2nd-tier level European-wide league, the EuroCup, in 2011.
In 2011, he returned to Žalgiris. After leaving Žalgiris in June 2013, Popović agreed to contract terms with the Russian VTB United League club Khimki Moscow Region, as he signed a two-year deal with the club on 7 August 2013. On 16 June 2015, he left Khimki, after spending two seasons with the club.
On 6 October 2015, he signed with the Spanish club Baloncesto Fuenlabrada.
Croatian national team
Popović played for the Croatian men's junior national basketball teams. With Croatia's junior national team, he won a silver medal at the 2000 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, which was held in his home town of Zadar. Croatia lost that tournament's gold medal game by one point against the junior national team of France, which was led by Tony Parker. Popović led the tournament in assists, with an average of 5.2 assists per game. He also led the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship in both scoring and assists.
Popović joined the senior men's Croatian national basketball team in 2002, and with the senior team, he played at the following EuroBasket tournaments: the EuroBasket 2003, the EuroBasket 2005, the EuroBasket 2007, the EuroBasket 2009, and the EuroBasket 2011. He also played at the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
Career statistics
Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.