FK Borac Čačak
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| Full name | Fudbalski klub Borac 1926 | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Zebre (The Zebras) | ||
| Founded | 1 May 1926 | ||
| Ground | Čačak Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 8,000 | ||
| President | Milenko Kostić | ||
| Manager | Darko Rakočević | ||
| League | Serbian First League | ||
| 2023–24 | Serbian League West, 1st (promoted) | ||
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Fudbalski klub Borac 1926 (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Борац 1926), commonly known as 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 2024–25 season, the club competes in second tier Serbian First League.
The word Borac in translation means fighter in English. Mainly because of the horizontal stripes, Borac's nickname is "Zebras".
History
[edit]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
[edit]
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.[1]
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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4][5]
Honours
[edit]- Serbian Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2011–12
- Second League FRY/SCG
- Champions (3): 1993–94, 1998–99, 2002–03 (Group West)
UEFA competitions
[edit]- 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 | 
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Lokomotiv Sofia | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | ||
| R1 | 
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Ajax | 1–4 | 0–2 | 1–6 |
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors
[edit]| Period | Kit Manufacturer | Shirt Sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 2008–present | NAAI | Škoda |
First-team squad
[edit]- As of 23 November 2024[6]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
[edit]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Notable former players
[edit]Former players with senior national team appearances:[7]
Boban Dmitrović- Ivica Dragutinović
- Jovan Gojković
- Aleksandar Ignjatović
- Radiša Ilić
- Darko Lazović
- Marko Lomić
- Lazar Marković
- Slobodan Marković
- Nikola Milojević
- Filip Mladenović
- Miljan Mutavdžić
- Ivan Stevanović
- Milivoje Vitakić
- Nemanja Milunovic
- Dušan Jovančić
Mario Božić- Rade Krunić
Misdongarde Betolngar
Bacar Baldé
Ilija Spasojević
Nenad Erić
Omega Roberts
Darko Krsteski- Stefan Spirovski
Damir Čakar- Vladimir Gluščević
- Milan Jovanović
- Rade Petrović
- Risto Radunović
- Darko Zorić
Javier Cohene
Mustapha Bangura
Eugene Sseppuya
Mike Temwanjera
For the list of all current and former players with Wikipedia article, please see: Category:FK Borac Čačak players.
Coaching history
[edit]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, Dragutin 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.[8]
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References
[edit]- ^ "Ajaks ubedljiv protv Borca - 4:1". b92.net (in Serbian). 18 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ "Borac ispao, Radnik siguran, Bačka je živa!". mozzartsport.com (in Serbian). 5 May 2018. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ Борац победио Новопазарце и опстао у Првој лиги, Бечеј испао, Златибор у баражу. zurnal.rs (in Serbian). 5 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ "Borac Čačak ISTUPIO iz lige, nema dovoljno igrača!". mondo.rs (in Serbian). 29 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ^ Živanović, V. (5 August 2019). "Mirko Poledica u Čačku iznosi dokaze o malverzacijama u FK Borac". danas.rs (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ^ "FK Borac 1926 Igrači" (in Serbian). prvaliga.rs. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
- ^ FK Borac Čačak Archived 2014-12-02 at the Wayback Machine at National-Football-Teams.com
- ^ History Archived 2019-06-26 at the Wayback Machine at official website
External links
[edit]- Club profile and squad at Srbijafudbal