FK Borac Čačak

Fudbalski klub Borac 1926 Čačak (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Борац Чачак), or simply Borac Čačak, is a professional football club based in Čačak, Serbia. The home ground is Čačak Stadium, which has seating capacity of 8,000. As of 2020–21 season, the club competes in Second tier Serbian First League.

Borac Čačak
Full nameFudbalski klub Borac 1926 Čačak
Nickname(s)Zebre (The Zebras)
Founded1 May 1926 (1926-05-01)
GroundČačak Stadium
Capacity8,000[1]
PresidentMilenko Kostić
ManagerVladimir Stanisavljević
LeagueSerbian League West
2019–20Serbian League West, 1st

The word Borac in translation means fighter in English. Mainly because of the horizontal stripes, Borac's nickname is "Zebras".

The clubs brighest moment in its history was when they finished the 2007–08 Serbian SuperLiga season in 4th place. Thereby securing a place in European competition for the first time.

In the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, Borac defeated Dacia Chișinău from Moldova 4–2 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, and Lokomotiv Sofia from Bulgaria 2–1 on aggregate in the second qualifying round.

Then came what still stands as the clubs biggest and proudest moment, facing off against a heavyweight of European Football Ajax Amsterdam, Dutch giants Ajax denied Borac entry into the group stage by defeating them twice, 1–4 in Belgrade with the club's home leg of the tie sadly having to be played in Belgrade and not Cacak due to the clubs home ground not meeting UEFA stadium criteria and then losing 0–2 in Amsterdam in the second leg, thus been eliminated 1-6 on aggregate.[2]

History

At the end of World War I, football began to be played in Čačak. According to some sources the first football match took place in 1920. Six years later, a group of union workers who organized on 1 May 1926 founded the club. Initially, the uniform was red and later was changed to red-and-white. The first president of the club was a carpenter, Jovan Jolović. On 6 August 1932, FK Borac had its first night match under stadium floodlights, with the Arsenal football club. Before World War II the club's biggest success was winning 1st place in the West Morava district league in 1934.

After a break during World War II, the club started up again and in 1946 played in the qualifications for the Yugoslav First League against Red Star Belgrade but lost. Its next achievement was to win the Serbian Cup in 1958 (regional Yugoslav Cup back then) and four years later won promotion to the Yugoslav Second League. The first play-off match against OFK Titograd was lost 1–3, but in the home match on 15 July 1962, with six goals in the second half, FK Borac secured a promotion to the Second Federal League.

For many years Borac played in the Second Federal League but the dream of the promotion to the top-tier competition came through in 1994 when Borac got promoted to the First League of FR Yugoslavia. Previously Borac had failed in three attempts to make it to the top flight, losing play-off matches in 1970, 1971, and 1973. The club has been relegated three times since first making the Yugoslav First League but they have also three times managed to win promotion back to the top league, last time in 2003. In the 2005–06 season, Borac finished in 7th place, the club's highest finish at the time.

2006–present

Čačak Stadium, February 2019
Celebration of relegation survival after last round win of Serbian First League, May 2019

In 2006, Serbian SuperLiga was established as top-tier competition in Serbia following the Montenegrin independence from state union. Borac Čačak finished the 2007–08 in 4th place, thereby securing a place in European competition for the first time. In the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, Borac defeated Dacia Chișinău from Moldova 4–2 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, and Lokomotiv Sofia from Bulgaria 2–1 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. However, Dutch giants Ajax denied Borac entry into the group stage by defeating them twice, 1–4 in Belgrade and 0–2 in Amsterdam.[3]

In 2011–12 Serbian SuperLiga, Borac Čačak finished in 15th place and were relegated to the Serbian First League. After mediocre performance in 2012–13 Serbian First League, Borac finished in second place of 2013–14 Serbian First League as runners-up over Metalac Gornji Milanovac, with whom they were tied on points and promoted to the top-tier competition. On 2 August 2014, Borac for the second time in their history played a night match under floodlights, defeating Metalac 1–0 at the reconstructed Čačak stadium.

Borac Čačak finished in 16th place of 2017–18 Serbian SuperLiga and were relegated once again to the Serbian First League.[4] In 2018–19 Serbian First League, Borac had yet another turbulent season, barely escaping the relegation zone in the last round of the competition, following the win over Novi Pazar and Bečej's loss to Trajal.[5] In July 2019, the club was expelled from the Serbian First League due to 1.7 million euros debt in taxes and around 270,000 euros in debts to its former players.[6][7]

Honours

Runner-up: 2011–12
1993–94, 1998–99, 2002–03 (Group West)

UEFA competitions

  • Qualified for Europe in 1 season
Season Competition Round Country Club Home Away Aggregate
2008–09 UEFA Cup QR1 Dacia Chișinău 3–1 1–1 4–2
QR2 Lokomotiv Sofia 1–0 1–1 2–1
R1 Ajax 1–4 0–2 1–6

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Period Kit Manufacturer Shirt Sponsor
2008–present NAAI Škoda

Players

Current squad

As of 1 January 2021[8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  SRB Borivoje Rumenić
3 MF  SRB Nemanja Kovačević
4 DF  SRB Lazar Obradović
5  SRB Stanislav Goldin
7 FW  SRB Dragan Radosavljević
8 MF  SRB Dušan Kuveljić
9 FW  SRB Andrija Ratković
10 MF  SRB Igor Savić
11 FW  SRB Marko Ilić
12 GK  SRB Boško Đurović
13 DF  SRB Jovica Vasilić
14 DF  SRB Zvezdan Đorđilović
16 MF  SRB Luka Maksimović
17 MF  SRB Veljko Kijevčanin
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 DF  SRB Nikola Milekić
19 FW  SRB Stefan Tešić
20 MF  GHA Joseph Bempah
21 MF  SRB Nikola Todosijević
22 DF  GHA Abdul Rashid Obuobi
23 FW  SRB Filip Bajić
24 MF  SRB Savo Veselinović
25 MF  SRB Aleksa Jelić
26  SRB Andrija Sekulić
27 MF  SRB Stefan Bojović
28 MF  SRB Toplica Grbović
29 DF  SRB Miloš Pajević
30 MF  SRB Ivan Pešić
41 GK  SRB Mateja Maslarević

Youth & reserves

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
DF  SRB Srđan Pantelić
MF  KOR Jang Su-min
FW  GHA Kennedy Asamoah
No. Pos. Nation Player
FW  SRB Lazar Jolović
 KOR Park Ji-soo

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
No. Pos. Nation Player

For recent transfers, see List of Serbian football transfers summer 2019.

Notable former players

Former players with senior national team appearances:[9]

For the list of all current and former players with Wikipedia article, please see: Category:FK Borac Čačak players.

Coaching history

A great number of coaches have passed through the club. Before the World War II the main coach was the former BSK Belgrade and national team player Dragomir Tošić. After 1945 the main coaches were Ivan Stevović, Dragoslav Filipović, Prvoslav Dragićević, Kosta Tomašević, Živorad Stanković, Vasilije Šijaković, Gojko Zec, Dragan Bojović, Momčilo Ilić, Žarko Nedeljković, among others. More recently, the club was managed by Dušan Radonjić, Slobodan Ostojić, Mihailo Kolarević, Dušan Marić, Milovan Đorić, Milovan Ćirković, Dušan Spasojević, Nenad Starovlah, Ivan Čančarević, Milorad Kosanović, Dimitrije Mitrović, Branko Smiljanić, Božidar Vuković, Slavenko Kuzeljević, Dušimir Vulović, Radovan Gudurić, Milutin Marušić, Miodrag Božović and Milovan Rajevac.[10]

References

  1. "Ajaks ubedljiv protv Borca - 4:1". b92.net (in Serbian). 18 September 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  2. "Ajaks ubedljiv protv Borca - 4:1". b92.net (in Serbian). 18 September 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  3. "Borac ispao, Radnik siguran, Bačka je živa!". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). 5 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  4. Борац победио Новопазарце и опстао у Првој лиги, Бечеј испао, Златибор у баражу. zurnal.rs (in Serbian). 5 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  5. "Borac Čačak ISTUPIO iz lige, nema dovoljno igrača!". mondo.rs (in Serbian). 29 July 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  6. Živanović, V. (5 August 2019). "Mirko Poledica u Čačku iznosi dokaze o malverzacijama u FK Borac". danas.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  7. "Team roster". Serbian PrvaLiga official website. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  8. FK Borac Čačak at National-Football-Teams.com
  9. History at official website
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