FK Radnički Niš

"The Fists", one of the monuments in memory of the victims of the Bubanj massacre

The club was founded on April 24, 1923, in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. One of its founders was the communist activist Miloš Marković (who also founded Sloboda Užice in 1925). In the same year, the club played its first unofficial matches. Two years later, in the 1925–26 season, the club became part of the professional league of the Morava Banovina, and won the championship on two occasions, in the 1924–25 and 1927–28 seasons. Following the proclamation of the royal dictatorship in 1929, the government began to persecute leftist activists, and Radnički changed its name to Građanski. As Građanski Niš, the club played in the 1935–36 Yugoslav Football Championship which was played in a straight-knockout competition format, and was eliminated in the round of sixteen by Građanski Skoplje.[2] At the end of that season the club reinstated its original name, and played until 1941, when, because of the war, the club ceased its activities and its members and players joined the resistance.[2]

At the beginning of World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941, the club terminated the activities, which were renewed in 1945, one year after the liberation from the occupation of Nazi Germany.[3]

In 1962, Radnički Niš were promoted to the Yugoslav First League for the first time in the club's history. On 23 September 1962, Radnički fans displayed their first big choreography on the first league match against Red Star Belgrade. A large banner reading "Real sa Nišave", which translates to "Real from Nisava" was raised on the east stand, and the club bears this nickname to this day. The banner could be seen at every home game throughout the 1960s.[4] In following years, the club underwent major development and became one of the most stable football clubs in the country. In 1963, the club founded its youth school, through which many of the Radnički players passed. In 1975, Radnički beat Turkish club Eskişehirspor (1–0, 2–1) and won its first trophy of European importance, the Balkans Cup.[3]

In 1980, Radnički finished the national championship in 3rd place, the best placement thus far, and played for the first time in the UEFA Cup in the following season, during which Radnički reached the round of sixteen, but lost against Dutch club AZ Alkmaar. In 1981, the club was again third and qualified for the 1981–82 UEFA Cup season. In the first round, Radnički Niš were drawn against Napoli. In the first leg, the club from South Serbia achieved a 2–2 draw in front of 70.000 spectators at Stadio San Paolo, which was enough for Radnički to progress after a goalless match in Serbia because of the away goals rule. After eliminating the Azzurri, Radnički played the second round against Grasshopper Club Zürich. The Swiss club won the first match in Zürich by 2–0, but Radnički had equalized with a 2–0 and won convincingly 3–0 in the penalty shoot-out. In the third round, the club played against Feyenoord from Rotterdam. In the first leg in Niš, the result was 2–0 for Radnički and at De Kuip the result was 1–0 for the Dutch club. However, it was a 2–1 victory on aggregate for the Serbian club and in the quarter-finals Radnički were drawn against Dundee United from Scotland. In the first leg, played in Dundee, Radnički suffered a 2–0 defeat. Although they were not seen as the favourites in the return leg, the Real from Nišava pulled off a convincing 3–0 win in front of its spectators, and with an aggregate score of 3–2 they eventually achieved their greatest success by reaching the semi-finals of this prestigious tournament.

Radnički Niš players: goalkeeper Dragan Pantelić, Obradović and coach Dušan Nenković in Heiloo before the match against AZ Alkmaar.

The semi-finals provided a football holiday at Čair Stadium, due to the fact that German top club Hamburger SV, led by stars like Horst Hrubesch, Felix Magath, Lars Bastrup, Manfred Kaltz, Thomas von Heesen and Uli Stein would play in Niš. In the first leg, Radnički Niš won against the favored North Germans in front of 38,500 enthusiastic Radnički fans with 2–1, but they lost the second leg in Hamburg by 5–1 (Hamburg lost at the end the final, but won next year the 1982–83 European Cup). After one year of absence from international football, the club qualified for the 1983–84 UEFA Cup season (finished the 1979–80 Yugoslav First League season in 4th place) and reached the round of sixteen, as in 1981. After winning matches against St Gallen (3–0, 2–1) and FK Inter Bratislava (4–0, 2–3), Radnički played against Hajduk Split. It was the first intra-Yugoslav fixture in UEFA cup. Hajduk won both matches 2–0 and progressed to the quarter-finals.

Radnički Niš played a total of 22 matches across Europe between 1981 and 1984. During this time, Radnički lost only one UEFA Cup home match of a total of 11 across three seasons and only against a team from the domestic league. A major contribution was made by the fans and their enthusiastic support. The Čair Stadium was a tough ground for the opposition and the atmosphere created by Radnički fans in a roaring stadium always gave hope to the team that they could overcome anybody.[4]

After the golden years, Radnički Niš was unexpectedly relegated to in the Yugoslav Second League in 1985, after 23 continuous years in the first league. However, under coach Josip Duvančić, Radnički won the Yugoslav Second League in the following season and returned to the first league after only a year of absence. In 1989, the club played its second Balkans Cup final after 1975, but they lost against OFI Crete of Greece by 3–1. At the beginning of the 1990s, the entire country was plunged into a crisis. The disintegration of Yugoslavia, the civil war (1992–95), the inflation and the UN sanctions hit all the Yugoslav football teams hard, and also Radnički was no exception. In the 2000–01 season, the club dropped out of the first division for the second time in its history. In the following season, Radnički Niš won the second division championship and quickly returned to the major clubs, but they ended the 2002–03 season in last place. After that, the club competed in the second league for the following five seasons.

In the 2008–09 season, Radnički was even relegated to Serbia's third division. They won the division, but they ended the 2009–10 Serbian First League season in the relegation zone. In the 2010–11 season, they won the Serbian League East and were promoted to the Serbian First League, Serbia's second division. What followed was a consecutive promotion. The club won the 2011-12 Serbian First League and was promoted to the Serbian SuperLiga, Serbia's highest football tier. In the same season, the club's home ground was rebuilt, which rekindled the fans' hopes further. Since then club become stable in Serbian SuperLiga gradually improving its position on the league table and establish itself as a major club in Serbian football once again. First season in highest division Radnički Niš finished in 12th place but kept improving every following season, finishing 6th, 9th and twice in 5th place. In season 2017–18 Serbian SuperLiga Radnički Niš finished in third place, which guaranteed them place in first qualifying round of UEFA Europa League. The following season marked the club's return to European competitions where they eliminated Maltese club Gzira United 5–0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round for the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League. Radnički was later eliminated in the second round by the favoured Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv 4–2 on aggregate. In the SuperLiga, Radnički finished the season in second place behind defending champions Red Star Belgrade, once again reaching the qualifying rounds for the UEFA Europa League.

After a serious of solid seasons, in 2022/23 they decided to bring coach Nenad Lalatovic in mid of season, who brought several of mediocre players and put on bench several standard foreign players. The result was disastrous and Lalatovic was replaced as coach. and things started getting better, however, the damage was already done, and the club had to play the playoffs at the end of the season to see if they would stay and be relegated.

The Čair stadium began undergoing complete reconstruction during the second half of 2011 in an ambitious project by the Football Association of Serbia and the city of Niš. The project included the renovation of eastern, southern and northern stands. When reconstruction was finished, the stadium's seating capacity had been increased to 18,151 spectators, including an additional VIP lounge with 120 seats and a media lodge with 50 seats. The project also entailed covering the whole stadium, new floodlights and LED, a new locker room and press room, new infirmaries, a parking area, ticket offices, a restaurant and a TV room for broadcasts. After reconstruction, the stadium fulfilled the most up to date UEFA standards.[5] The cost of the project was estimated to be over 1.1 billion Serbian dinars (10 million euros).[6]

Although it had not been completely finished, Čair Stadium was declared as a suitable venue for the second home match (first home match had to be played at Jagodina City Stadium against Radnički Kragujevac). However, the home opening match took place in the 5th round of Serbian SuperLiga against Smederevo 1924 on September 15, 2012. About 7,000 seats had been initially installed and they were completely filled as Radnički Niš has hosted its first SuperLiga match after 9 years. Manager Aleksandar Ilić fielded the following squad: Stevan Stefanović, Branislav Vukomanović, Milan Jovanović, Marko Ranđelović, Miloš Perić, Bratislav Pejčić, Aleksandar Jovanović, Dušan Kolarević, Miloš Petrović, Vladan Binić and Strahinja Petrović. Radnički supporters had to wait till the 84th minute when midfielder Dušan Kolarević scored via a 30-meter strike[7] and brought Radnički Niš to a 1–0 win in the opening match.[8]

Čair Stadium panorama

During 1963, one year after entry of Radnički in the Yugoslav First League, the club formed its own football schools at the initiative of Tihomir Petrović. Forty-eight players were selected from nine primary schools and began to learn the football alphabet at Radnički. It was a bright start to the football school tradition of Radnički which would eventually become a real talent pool, producing many football names that would spread the word about Niš, Yugoslav and Serbian football. The first greater success came in 1966, when they won a large tournament in Germany. In 1969, this was followed by winning a tournament in Paris, defeating the Italian team US Cagliari. More success followed and one of the highlights was the win at the international tournament "Vojvodina-Red Star", which was played in 1984 and which saw the participation of many national and international top youth teams. During the tournament, Radnički's youth was led by Milorad Janković, a former player of Radnički, who was honoured as the top youth coach by the Football Association of Yugoslavia. 1991 will be remembered as the year when Radnički's youth achieved their greatest success. For the first time, led by coach Vladislav Nikolić, they won the Yugoslav championship, after defeating Željezničar Sarajevo (1–0 at home by a goal from Dejan Petković, 1–1). In 1992, Radnički again fielded a national championship team in their series. Its cadets were Yugoslav champions and repeated the success achieved the previous year, which was a triumph for the managers of the youth school and coaches like Miroslav Glišović, Milorad Janković, Ljubiša Rajković and Miodrag Stefanović. In that period, Radnički's football school was well known for its youth work, which demonstrated a high level of technical skill, especially recognizable in young players such as Dragan Stojković and Dejan Petković, as well as tactical readiness in combination with adaptability. The last major success of the Radnički's football school was in 2000, when Radnički's cadets, led by coach Aleksandar Jovanovski, won the Serbian championship. In the final, they beat Red Star Belgrade by 1–0 and qualified for the final tournament for the Yugoslav championship. In the contest for the best cadet teams in the country, Radnički's young players achieved the 3rd place. In the same year, new sport facilities were opened which facilitated better working conditions. Today, the youth coaches are mostly former players of Radnički who are responsible for 400–450 young Radnički players and working according to the standards of major European football clubs.[9]

National Championships

• Serbian SuperLiga
  • Runners-up (1): 2018–19
• Yugoslav Second League
  • Winner (1): 1985–86
• Serbian First League
  • Winner (2): 2001–02, 2011–12
• Serbian League East
  • Winner (2): 2008–09, 2010–11
• Niš Subassociation League
  • Winner (3): 1933, 1934, 1936 (all as Građanski Niš)

• UEFA Cup:
  • Semi-Finalist (1): 1981–82
• Balkans Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1975
  • Runners-up (1): 1988–89

Serbian First League top scorers

Season	Name	Goals
2011–12	Ivan Pejčić	13

Serbian SuperLiga top scorers

Season	Name	Goals
2018–19	Nermin Haskić	24

As of 30 September 2023[11]

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 Dragan Rosić 3 DF  CMR Basile Yamkam 4 DF  SRB David Petrović 5 DF  CMR Thierry Etoungou 7 FW  MLI Lassana N'Diaye 8 MF  FRA Gaoussou Traoré 9 FW  SRB Miljan Škrbić 15 MF  SRB Aleksandar Pejović (captain) 16 FW  SRB Djuro Zec 17 MF  CIV Liam Ayad 18 FW  SRB Pavle Ivelja 19 MF  SUI Jamie Rašić 20 DF  SUI Filip Frei 21 MF  SRB Vanja Ilić 23 FW  SRB Nemanja Belaković

No. Pos. Nation Player 24 DF  SRB Andreja Stojanović 28 DF  BIH Aleksandar Vojnović 29 MF  MLI Bakary Nimaga 30 FW  SRB Stefan Cvetković 31 DF  SRB Nikola Vlajković 33 MF  SRB Saša Marjanović 44 DF  SRB Vasilije Bakić 50 FW  SRB Lazar Jovanović 55 GK  SRB Dimitrije Stevanović 69 MF  SRB Aleksandar Mesarović 77 MF  SUI Milorad Stajić 88 FW  SRB Sava Petrov 91 GK  SRB Uroš Kitanović 99 MF  SRB Lazar Pavlović — FW  SCO Islam Feruz

10 Ivan "Beli" Krstić, midfielder (−2000) – posthumous honour.

Since 2000, Radnički Niš have not issued the squad number 10. It was retired in memory of Ivan Krstić, who was killed by lightning on 29 May 2000 on the training match. His son will be able to wear number 10 in the future. His son was joined first team in 2019, but not have dads talent, and later departure the club.[12][13]