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Milan Vasojević
Personal information
Born	27 December 1932; Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died	24 December 1996 (aged 63); Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Coaching career	1960–1994
Career history
As coach:
1960–1962	Radnički Beograd
1962–1967	Crvena zvezda
1967–1970	Recoaro Vicenza
1970–1976	Standa Milano
1976–1978	Radnički Beograd Men
1978–1979	Vojvodina
1981–1982	UFO Schio
1989–1991	Italmeco Bari
1991–1992	Viterbo
1992–1994	Beton Berica Thiene
Career highlights and awards
	3× Yugoslavian League champion (1961–1963); 3× Italian League champion (1968, 1969, 1973); 2× Yugoslavian Cup winner (1960, 1962); Ivković Award for Lifetime Achievement (2000);
	FIBA Hall of Fame
Head Coach for Yugoslavia
Women's basketball
Head Coach for Yugoslavia
Summer Olympics
EuroBasket
Universiade
Under-19 World Championship
Under-18 European Championship
European Championship for Cadettes

Milan "Ciga" Vasojević (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан "Цига" Васојевић; 27 December 1932 – 24 December 1996) was a Serbian professional basketball coach and administrator. He led the national team of Yugoslavia during the greatest successes of women's basketball.

Coaching career

Women's basketball

Vasojević coached two Belgrade-based teams Radnički and Crvena zvezda during the 1960s, winning three Yugoslavian League championships as well as two Yugoslav Cup titles in 1960 and 1962.

After leaving Crvena zvezda, Vasojević moved to Italy to coach Recoaro Vicenza from 1967 to 1970, leading the team to two Italian League championships in 1968 and 1969. He then joined Standa Milano, where he stayed for six years, winning an Italian League in 1973. In 1976, Vasojević returned to Yugoslavia, where he coached the men's teams until 1979.

In 1981, Vasojević joined UFO Schio for a year before moving to Italmeco Bari from 1989 to 1991. He then coached Viterbo for one year in the 1991–92 season before ending his coaching career with Beton Berica Thiene from 1992 to 1994.

Men's basketball

Vasojević coached Radnički Belgrade for two seasons: 1976–77 and 1977–78. In 1977, Radnički reached the Cup Winners' Cup Finals where they lost to Forst Cantù by a single point margin, 86–87.^[1] Also, he coached Vojvodina in the 1978–79 season.

National team coaching career

The arrival of Vasojević as a head coach of the Yugoslavia women's national team in 1980 was almost revolutionary move. The greatest achievements of our women’s Yugoslav national team were to follow. On his debut at the 1980 European Championship in Banja Luka, Vasojević won the bronze medal, and only one month later the same success was achieved at the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow.^[2]^[3]

The change of generations took place under Vasojević. He offered an opportunity to the younger players he fully believed in such as Anđelija Arbutina, Danira Nakić, Razija Mujanović, Jelica Komnenović, Olivera Krivokapić, Bojana Milošević, Slađana Golić.

At the 1987 Summer Universiade held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia won the gold medal, the only gold ever in women’s senior international competitions. The same year, at the European Championship in Cadiz, Yugoslavia won the silver medal in a tough final game against the Soviet Union which ended with an 83–73 win of the Soviet girls.^[2]

The 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul were the crown of one splendid generation. A memorable moment of the semi-final game against Australia is a score of Anđelija Arbutina one second before the game end (57–56) for a place in the Olympic finals. The final game for the Olympic gold medal against the United States national team ended with a 77–70 win of the American girls, but the Yugoslavs showed all their talent and strongly resisted the USA team until the very end of the game.^[2]