It Started with a Battle for a Son’s Health, Now They Dream of the Swedish Championship: Serbian Doctors Found Sloga and Pen the Diaspora's Greatest Basketball Fairytale

The club's entire atmosphere reflects the sheer enthusiasm invested in this journey. Match after match, it offers an opportunity to connect and unite Serbs as well as people from across the former Yugoslavia. Our goal is for the club to serve as a community hub that radiates positive energy, through victories and defeats alike. We started from absolute zero, and reaching the top tier makes every single win immensely rewarding. Our primary objective this season is securing a playoff berth. While our squad is well-constructed, our competitors have strengthened significantly compared to last year. Beyond results, developing young talent and providing a genuine platform for them to establish themselves in senior basketball remains our fundamental mission. — Boris Bajić

In April, we made the call to hand the reins to young Serbian coach Siniša. Instead of bringing in an established name from the ABA League, the club went with him after closely analyzing his coaching methods and basketball philosophy. Through extensive talks regarding player development and coaching ambitions, we knew he was the right fit. Integrating his system requires time and patience, much like developing young prospects, but the club is thrilled with how he is bringing his vision to life. Stevan Peković also brings invaluable support and veteran expertise as an advisor and assistant; his presence means a great deal to the squad. We maintain a culture where constructive and direct critique is welcomed—everyone challenges one another so every facet of the club can improve. Signing the captain from our local rivals reaffirmed that players recognize our vision and the passion driving this project. On the commercial side, our sponsorship pool mainly consists of Balkan entrepreneurs alongside several Swedish businesses. We have a defined three-year plan targeting a league finals appearance, with our five-year goal set on lifting the league title. — Boris Bajić

Beyond working with young players and offering them a springboard to progress, our long-term vision is competing in Europe within the next five to six years, primarily in tournaments like the FIBA Basketball Champions League. We are also open to title naming-rights partnerships, with the option of securing a headline sponsor from Serbia. Interestingly, our official kit supplier is already based in Serbia—Ardu Sport from Užice, run by a childhood friend of mine, making that collaboration especially meaningful to us. — Boris Bajić

It is extremely dynamic. We both want the absolute best for the club and consult each other constantly. Even when we see things differently, decisions are always made in the organization's best interest. The only real tension comes when we play one-on-one on the court—that is where our rivalry truly peaks! — Boris Bajić

We have six or seven guys from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia in the squad. They fully understand our mentality, give their all on the court, and naturally pass that intensity on to our Swedish and American players. The Swedish league caps foreign imports at four, which has proven to be an excellent regulation. The Americans aren't in the majority and have embraced our culture and locker-room standards seamlessly, both on and off the court.

Our defining hallmark is being recognized as a genuine family story that originated out of pure love. Sloga's founding story is very personal: my eldest son Stefan has cystic fibrosis, a condition requiring physical therapy at least twice a day. To make those routines more engaging for him, we created a basketball environment. When he was three or four, we put together the first 'Sloga' team and entered a tournament where the boys won. That sparked huge enthusiasm, and Stefan eventually asked why the adults shouldn't start playing too. We began practicing, entered league competition, and quickly began dominating our way up from Sweden's lowest tiers into the higher divisions. Everything was born from love for a child and for the game of basketball, and that family bond carried over to the entire organization—everyone on the board and around the club feels like family.

It was decisive. Players know all about our team culture; we spend time together before and after training sessions and games. They saw our family dynamic and the vision we were putting into practice, noticed the hard work and heart we pour into everything, and chose to be part of it.

Through our embassy, we connected with the Director for Diaspora Affairs, Vladimir Kokanović, and subsequently with Branko Jovčić. Branko has been incredibly proactive and helped us organize everything. Having the backing of the Federation and visits from legends like Dragan Jakovljević, Mile, and Kuzma means the world to us. It is wonderful to see people acknowledge this authentic, healthy project. We have several smaller partners, but we need a major anchor sponsor—ideally a company from Serbia. That is how we can establish a truly sustainable model. Right now, we navigate things season by season, which works and we will keep pushing forward, but having substantial backing changes everything. You no longer have to worry about mere operational survival; you have stability and can recruit higher-level talent. That, in turn, directly reinvests into Serbian basketball. We aren't bringing in American coaches or American prospects; we are bringing in our own young talent and coaching staff. It is a genuine, sustainable investment. Running a club isn't about making a profit—any potential return is a decade away, if ever. Anyone with experience in sports economics knows it's a bottomless pit; whatever you put in quickly gets absorbed.

We have invested considerable personal funds, alongside contributions from board members and sponsors. We also apply for municipal project grants through our youth development programs, though state-level funding for sports here in Sweden remains minimal. To establish long-term sustainability, we need more partners. While we have a network of smaller sponsors, we need a primary anchor partner—ideally a major Serbian company like MTS. That would give us the financial foundation to stop worrying about basic survival and focus on reaching our higher sporting milestones faster. The money we invest goes straight into developing our young players and coaches rather than generating profit, because club management is a bottomless pit that you fund purely out of passion for the sport.

Stevan's reputation and basketball wisdom are priceless—his advice consistently hits the mark, and he has played an immense role in our achievements. We also work closely with Vlade Đurović, who visits regularly, spends time with us during preseason camps, and supports our head coach in an advisory capacity. Our aim is to continually surround the club with individuals of that stature and expertise while continuing to recruit promising young talent from Serbia.

It is a beautiful, authentic emblem that perfectly represents our Swedish-Serbian identity. Early on, there were skeptics who questioned or dismissed our promotion to the top tier, but today the reception is overwhelmingly positive. Even our sharpest media critics have changed their tune and now cover our results with genuine respect. Interestingly, some of our harshest critics in the media were actually people from our own diaspora. There was one individual who went out of his way to diminish us, much like a Serbian referee who tried overly hard to prove he wasn't favoring us. In the beginning, that negativity went so far it bordered on outright targeting. They were constantly waiting for something to go wrong; we had an isolated on-court scuffle between our own players, and he turned it into a major headline when nobody else even covered it, eager to portray Sloga negatively. It was frustrating. We took all necessary disciplinary measures, but why highlight only that while ignoring everything we built from scratch? The hardest part is seeing someone try so desperately to appear more Swedish than the Swedes themselves.

A winning mentality is something you cultivate and build day in, day out. You have to work at it constantly, just as Novak Djokovic demonstrates so brilliantly. The crucial part is learning to put losses and mistakes behind you as quickly as possible and keeping your focus firmly locked on the ultimate objective.