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Football in Serbia

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Football in Serbia is the most popular team sport. It has been played from the beginning of the 20th century and there were a number of very successful Serbian football players and coaches throughout history. One of Serbia's top football clubs FK Crvena Zvezda has won the prestigious European Champions Cup in the season 1990-1991 and has also won the Intercontinental Cup the same year.

History

Football first came to Serbia in the spring of 1896. Jewish student Hugo Buli, after he returned from his studies in Germany, brought the first football to Belgrade. He brought the ball to his friends from the Belgrade gymnastics society "Soko", and founded the football section on 12 May.
The inaugural meeting of the Serbian Football Society took place on 1st May 1899, at the restaurant "Trgovačka kafana", at initiative of Mr. Hugo Buli, and with support of Mr. Andra Nikolić, who was then Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Feti Bey, the Turkish consul in Belgrade was elected as President, and the lawyer Mr. Mihailo Živadinović as the Vice-President.
The first football club was founded in the beginning of the 20th century. On 3 May 1901 in Subotica the Sports Athletic Club "Bačka" was founded. More than two years later, notably on 14 September 1903, the football club "Šumadija" was founded in Kragujevac. It is obvious that the Subotica club was older, however, at the time of the foundation of "Bačka", the city of Subotica was part of Austro-Hungary. Kragujevac, however, was on the territory of Serbia. Therefore "Bačka" is the oldest club in Serbia, and "Šumadija" the oldest Serbian club.
The national team of Serbia has played its first match on 19 May 1911, and lost to HAŠK by 0:8. The next day, on 20 May, they played the second match, which they also lost, by 0:6. The Zagreb newspapers reported from these matches with credits to the Serbian team for its efforts and braveness to challenge the much better rival. The Serbian newspapers already then showed that the Serbian public does not easily accept defeat, although it is part of the game.
After the First World War the boundaries of Balkan countries were changed. The Yugoslavian Football Association ("Jugoslovenski nogometni savez") was founded at a meeting in Zagreb, on 18 April 1919. The founding assembly in Zagreb was presided by Mr. Danilo Stojanović, legendary "Čika Dača", founder of football club "Šumadija", the "BSK" football club and some other football clubs, which is a fact proving Serbia as the strongest pillar of the state football association.
The first state championship was launched in 1923. The championships were played, with occasional interruptions, until 1940, and in this period the best Serbian clubs won seven state championship titles: FC BSK five and FC SK Jugoslavija two. The interruptions of the championship occurred due to disagreements between the sub-associations, which culminated in 1929 when the YFA Assembly was dissolved. The differences were resolved in February 1930, after three months of crisis. An extraordinary Assembly was convened, and it took place in Zagreb on 16 May 1930. It was voted that the association's headquarters be moved to Belgrade, and that the name of the association will be changed into Yugoslav Football Association ("Fudbalski savez Jugoslavije").
BSK dominated the state scene until the beginning of World War II. The end of the war was the beginning of the reconstruction, and the devastated football grounds and stadia, as well as the football clubs needed to be restored. On 25 February 1945, the football club Metalac was founded, later its name was changed into BSK, and then into OFK Beograd, as successor to the tradition of the glorious pre-war Belgrade sports club (BSK). The Red Star (FK Crvena Zvezda) shined on 4th March 1945, and FK Partizan on 4th October of the same year. The football clubs of Vojvodina of Novi Sad, Borac of Čačak, Sloboda of Užice, and many other clubs were also restored.
In almost half the century of the existence of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, and later Serbia and Montenegro, the football clubs of Serbia have always dominated. Besides the seven pre-war titles of the football clubs BSK (5) and Jugoslavija (2), until its independence, Serbian clubs won 46 more titles of the state champion (FC Red Star 24, FC Partizan 19, FC Vojvodina 2, FC Obilić 1) and 36 national Cup trophies (FC Red Star 21, FC Partizan 9, OFK Beograd 4, FS Sartid 1, FC Železnik 1), as well as the most valuable trophy - European Champion's Cup, that FC Red Star won in 1991.
After the dissolution of the federation, and the separation of Montenegro, on 26 June 2006, the Football Association of Serbia was admitted to the membership of FIFA and UEFA, as legal successor to all the previous national associations whose part it was. By this the world and European federations have acknowledged the continuity of football in the territory of Serbia, and the decisive role of Serbia in creating the history of the game in Western Balkans since the end of 19th century. In recent years, many top Serbian players such as Dejan Stanković and Nemanja Vidić have gone on to forge successful careers in top European leagues. Serbia is currently at the top of their qualifying group for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, ahead of France. The U-21 team were runners-up at the 2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship having lost to the Netherlands in the final.

Competitions

The governing body of football in Serbia is the Football Association of Serbia. It oversees the organization of:

  • Football league system for 09/10 season

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Note: the aforementioned competitions are for men if not stated differently. Women's football exists but is much less developed or popular.

Teams

Main article: List of football clubs in Serbia

By far the two most popular clubs in the country are Crvena Zvezda and Partizan, both from Belgrade.

Names

Many Serbian teams have names which are prefixed by a name of a profession, by Communist era slogans, names of historical figures or geographical landmarks, as the following list explains.

Name explanation:

  • borac = fighter
  • mladi borac = young fighter
  • bratstvo = brotherhood
  • jedinstvo = unity
  • sloboda = freedom
  • sloga = harmony
  • mladost = youth
  • napredak = progress
  • zmaj = dragon
  • polet = enthusiasm
  • turbina = turbine
  • policajac = policeman
  • postar = postman
  • pekar = baker
  • lokomotiva = locomotive
  • trudbenik = worker
  • rudar = miner
  • omladinac = young man
  • železničar = railway worker
  • zastava = flag
  • radnički = labour
  • budućnost = future
  • cement = cement
  • radnik = worker
  • mladi radnik = young worker
  • trgovacki = commercial
  • lasta = swallow
  • Sindjelić, Obilić, Karadjordje = Serbian historical persons
  • Car Konstantin = historical person
  • kablovi = cables
  • metalac = metal-worker
  • pobeda = victory
  • Kolubara, Drina, Morava, Ibar, Jablanica, Ribnica, Veternica = names of rivers
  • Dunav = Danube (river)
  • Kopaonik, Goc, Zlatar, Zlatibor, Jastrebac, Juhor, Rtanj, Ozren = names of mountain
  • bezbednost = safety
  • zadrugar = cooperator
  • hajduk = ruffian, rebel
  • putevi = ways, roads

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