FK Borac Banja Luka

The football club Borac Banja Luka was founded on 4 July 1926. Originally it was named Radnički sportski klub Borac, which means Labour Sports Club Borac, Borac meaning "Fighter", and its roots come from the relation the club had with local labour movements during the first half of the 20th century. The club was founded by a group of football enthusiasts including the writer, activist and People's Hero of Yugoslavia Veselin Masleša, Rudolf "Rudi" Hiter, Savo Novaković, Nikola Pucar, Brane Pucar, Mustafa Softić, Nikola Kuković, Žarko Vranješević, Mile Stefanović and Brane Stefanović among others. They financed the club believing that by backing and supporting it, they would directly help promote the labour movements struggle that was underway. The name "Borac" was given by Masleša who said: "If you are going to fight for workers' rights, why don't you give the club name Borac?".[1][2]

The club's first president was Rudolf Hiter, and Savo Novaković was named vice president, with a supervisory board headed by Đoko Jovanović. As football attracted more and more attention in the city on the Vrbas river, Banja Luka got the right to organise its own sub-association gathering the clubs of the entire Krajina region, a new, bigger and modern stadium was built. The opening ceremony took place on September 5, 1937, on the ground of the present-day Banja Luka City Stadium.

The club's first success in this early period came in 1928 when RSK Borac won a tournament played in Sarajevo. Before World War II, the major club in Banja Luka was ŠK Krajišnik, however, after 1945, it was disbanded, and Borac replaced Krajišnik as the city's main club. Borac played conference leagues in order to qualify for the re-established Yugoslav First League were defeated Sloboda Novi Grad 14–3 on aggregate, FK Kozara from Banja Luka with 8–4 on aggregate and Borac Kozarska Dubica 7–0 on aggregate and became Banja Luka district champions. In 1945, RSK Borac has renamed FK Borac Banja Luka and played for two years in the Yugoslav Third League, before it was promoted to the Yugoslav Second League in 1948.

In 1961, Borac was promoted to the Yugoslav First League for the first time but was instantly dropped back down at the end of the season. The club had to wait for almost a decade to the return to the top flight. It was in the 1970–71 season, and the club stayed in the top league for four consecutive seasons. In this period, precisely in 1974, Borac achieved the Yugoslav Cup final. They were defeated by Hajduk Split in Belgrade, and as the runner-up, they have provided placement for the 1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup season. In the first round of Cup Winners' Cup, Borac played against US Rumelange from Luxembourg. The first leg was played in Banja Luka where Borac recorded a record win in European competitions by a 9–0.[3]

The second leg was won by Borac by 1–5, meaning 14–1 on aggregate, and played in the second round against R.S.C. Anderlecht. The "Red-Blues" won the home match but it was 1–3 on aggregate at the end for the Belgians, who became winners of the European Cup Winners' Cup that season. Borac Banja Luka was the only team who beat R.S.C Anderlecht in one match (at home by 1–0) during the cup season. In the 1974–75 season, Borac played in the second league, but the club achieved a quick promotion and thus ensured the beginning of a new 5-year first league period that lasted until 1980. The following nine seasons, Borac spent in the second League, before a final top league period between 1989 and 1992. Borac's best placement in the first League was in 1992, when it finished the season as 4th. In total, Borac played 487 matches in Yugoslav First League during a 46 years long period.[4]

From 1988 to 1992, Borac enjoyed the best period in its long history. In 1988, Borac achieved its biggest success. Under coach Husnija Fazlić Borac won the Yugoslav Cup, the second major football competition in former Yugoslav football and became the only second league club that ever achieved this. In the final, Borac defeated Yugoslav football giant Red Star by 0–1 at JNA stadium in Belgrade.[5][6][7][8] The historic goal was scored by Senad Lupić, one of the Borac's legends. At the ceremony, the president of Yugoslav Football Association Antun Čilić gave the golden plaques to Borac players and the head coach. The next day, tens of thousands of Borac supporters gathered at Krajina square in Banja Luka and gave their team a hero's welcome.

11 May 1988

Borac Banja Luka	1–0	Red Star Belgrade
Lupić 60'	Report

Stadion JNA, Belgrade

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Blažo Zuber (Bačka Topola)

BORAC BANJA LUKA: GK   Slobodan Karalić DF   Stojan Malbašić DF   Mario Mataja DF   Milorad Bilbija DF   Zvonko Lipovac MF   Damir Špica (c) MF   Božur Matejić MF   Nenad Popović FW   Suad Beširević FW   Amir Durgutović  74' FW   Senad Lupić  88' Substitutes: DF   Velimir Stojnić MF   Mile Šijaković  74' FW   Vlado Lemić  88' Manager: Husnija Fazlić

RED STAR: GK   Stevan Stojanović DF   Slobodan Marović DF   Goran Jurić DF   Slavko Radovanović DF   Miodrag Krivokapić MF   Goran Milojević MF   Robert Prosinečki MF   Žarko Đurović  71' FW   Borislav Cvetković FW   Dragan Stojković (c) FW   Dragiša Binić Substitutes: MF   Dejan Joksimović  71' Manager: Velibor Vasović

In 1992, Borac won its first international trophy, the Mitropa Cup.[9][10][11][12] The club won the cup in the Italian city Foggia.

At that time there was an ongoing civil war in Yugoslavia, but despite that, they travelled to Italy in the hope to write history. After the elimination of U.S. Foggia in front of 30,000 spectators, Borac met in the final BVSC Budapest at Pino Zaccheria Stadium. Filipović scored but gave only a temporary advantage to Borac because the Hungarians were equalized by Tuboly. That was the result of regular time, so the winner was decided by penalties. Borac won 5–3 from the white spot and got the trophy. Sašivarević, Stavljanin, Filipović, Bilbija, and Simeunović scored for Borac, and goalkeeper Simeunović saved his goal twice. Borac head coach was Smilevski, who was recently named the member of Borac's "Best Eleven" squad in its history. Borac played a total of twelve games in UEFA competitions and has never lost a European match at its home ground. Also, seven Borac players have participated in the Yugoslav national football team in its history.

27 May 1992

Borac	1–1	BVSC Budapest
Filipović 4'	Report	Tuboly 63'
Penalties
Šašivarević Stavljanin Filipović Bilbija Simeunović	5–3	Nikiforov Iscak Nahóczky Molnár Tuboly

Pino Zaccheria Stadium

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Steindl (Austria)

The First League of the Republika Srpska was the top flight of the Republika Srpska before 2002. Borac won the Republika Srpska championship three times (2001, 2006 and 2008). Their 2008 title was won dominantly with 14 points ahead of Sloga Doboj. Borac has won five Republika Srpska Cups, in 1995 against Rudar Prijedor, 1996 against Jedinstvo Brčko, 2009 against Radnik Bijeljina, 2011 again against the club from Bijeljina and in 2012 against Sloboda Mrkonjić Grad. In 2002, the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina was created as three national competitions were merged in one.

It became the country's most prestigious level of football competition. Also, since 2002, the clubs from the entire country are competing in the Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup. In 2010, Borac won the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup and finished third in the national championship. During the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League season, they played in the second round against FC Lausanne-Sport but were knocked out in front of sold-out Banja Luka City Stadium with 1–2 on aggregate for the Swiss club. In 2011, Borac became the football champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina with only 4 defeats and 15 conceded goals during 30 matches. The club won also the Republika Srpska Cup. In the following 2011–12 UEFA Champions League season, Borac starts the qualifying matches against Maccabi Haifa. The first match was played in Haifa, where Borac got the lead by the goal from Raspudić, a goal that surprised Maccabi Haifa as they were controlling the game. A minute into the first half's extra time, Amasha equalized for Maccabi Haifa. But then, an inexplicable black hole occurred at Borac performance and they conceded three goals in only three minutes and Borac lost by 5–1. In the second leg, Borac showed great performance and won 3–2 by two goals from Krunić and one from Vidaković, however, the tournament was over for them. In 2012, Borac finished the national championship third and qualified for the European football competition season. Borac got Čelik Nikšić from Montenegro as their opponent. Borac was knocked out by the away goal rule (3-3a).

Borac Banja Luka's traditional home colours are red and blue with white socks (colours that are contained on the Yugoslav flag). Borac has maintained the red-blue shirt for its home kit throughout the history of the club. Its traditional away colours are all blue or all red. The club's kit is after long-standing Serbian sports clothing company NAAI, currently, new manufactured by Diadora, an Italian sports clothing company.

Borac Banja Luka's present crest contains the name of the club and the name of the City of Banja Luka in the background formed from the sections that are coloured as the Serbian flag. On the top of the crest, the year of the club foundation is located. In addition, the whole crest is framed in gold colour.

• 
  Borac's crest during the former Yugoslavia
• 
  Borac's present crest

In 2008, an expert committee has chosen the concept of building a new stadium. The new stadium will have 30,000 seats, and the whole complex will cover 205,000 square meters. It will include two additional football fields, tennis, basketball and volleyball courts. The cost of the whole project is estimated to be €50  million and it will meet the highest FIFA and UEFA demands.

Borac's fans at a game between Borac and Željezničar in 2009.

Since the season 2008–09, the time when Borac started to be standard in the Bosnian Premier League once again, a great rivalry started to develop between them and FK Željezničar. Starting from the 2009–10 season the two teams mainly competed against each other for one of the titles (the league title or national cup) and even the attendance almost got on pair with the acclaimed Sarajevo derby. The rivalry also has a root in the fact that Sarajevo and Banja Luka are, by a good margin, the two biggest cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first being also the capital of the whole country while the second takes the role as the de facto capital of Republika Srpska entity. Since the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the teams met each other 22 times (6 of which are in a national cup), although they played the first time against each other in 1947 Yugoslav Cup. In those 22 matches, Željezničar won 12 times, while Borac managed to win 7 times, with 3 matches ending in a draw. The goal difference is 31:19 in favour of Željezničar (Not including results from the 2015 to 2016 season).

• Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
  • Winners (2): 2010–11, 2020–21
  • Runners-up (1): 2022–23
• First League of Republika Srpska:
  • Winners (5): 2000–01, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2016–17, 2018–19 (record)
  • Runners-up (1): 1997–98

• Yugoslav Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1987–88
  • Runners-up (1): 1974
• Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2009–10
  • Runners-up (2): 2003–04, 2020–21
• Republika Srpska Cup:
  • Winners (6): 1994–95, 1995–96, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2022–23

• Mitropa Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1992

Rank	Team	Points
304	FK Tirana	4.000
304	Gabala FK	4.000
304	Botev Plovdiv	4.000
304	Borac	4.000
304	Bala Town	4.000
304	Inter Turku	4.000
304	Tre Penne	4.000

As of 15 June 2023. Source

As of 31 August 2023[15]

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 Bojan Pavlović 2 DF  BIH Slobodan Đekić 3 DF  SRB Ranko Jokić 4 DF  SRB Nikola Pejović 6 DF  CRO Maks Čelić 7 FW  SVN Alen Jurilj 8 MF  SRB Stefan Fićović 9 FW  SRB Milan Makarić (on loan from Aalborg) 10 MF  ISR Ruslan Barsky 11 FW  COL José Cortés 13 MF  SVN Janez Pišek 14 MF  BIH Fedor Predragović 15 MF  BIH Srđan Grahovac 16 DF  COL Sebastián Herrera 18 DF  BIH Aleksandar Subić (Captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW  BIH Jovo Lukić (Vice-captain) 20 DF  BIH Zoran Kvržić 21 GK  BIH Nikola Ćetković 22 FW  BIH David Čavić 23 MF  BIH Stojan Vranješ 24 MF  CRO Jakov Blagaić 25 GK  MNE Milan Mijatović 27 FW  BIH Enver Kulašin 29 MF  MNE Vasilije Terzić 30 MF  SRB Jovan Nišić 31 DF  BIH Savo Šušić 55 FW  BIH Damir Hrelja 77 FW  SRB Nemanja Mihajlović 90 FW  COL Gianfranco Peña 93 GK  BIH David Stjepanović

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 12 GK  BIH Nikola Grujić

No. Pos. Nation Player 49 FW  BIH Stefan Marčetić

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  BIH Đorđe Milojević (at FK Sloga until 30 June 2024) — DF  BIH Filip Račić (at FK Zvijezda until 30 June 2024) — DF  BIH Marko Kujundžić (at FK BSK until 30 June 2024) — MF  BIH Danilo Moconja (at FK BSK until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  BIH Dejan Bosančić (at FK Laktaši until 30 June 2024) — MF  BIH Dejan Popara (at FK Sloga until 30 June 2024) — FW  BIH Andrej Bosnić (at FK Sloga until 31 May 2024) — FW  BIH David Vuković (at FK Laktaši until 30 June 2024)

2014 FIFA World Cup

• Asmir Avdukić