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.^{[citation needed]} 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 began its qualifying with a match against Maccabi Haifa, which they lost by 5–1.^[13] In the second leg, Borac showed great performance and won 3–2 by two goals from Krunić and one from Vidaković, however, they were eliminated.^[14] 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).

On 15 August 2024, Borac achieved its first-ever participation in a European club competition by defeating Faroese KÍ Klaksvík 4–3 on aggregate, thereby qualifying for at least the League phase of the third tier of continental club football in Europe. This made them only the second club from Bosnia and Herzegovina to compete in Europe.

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

 

The home stadium of Borac is the Banja Luka City Stadium. It has 10,030 seats and is one of the most modern stadiums in the country. The stadium was built in 1937 and its main donator was Bogoljub Kujundžić, the ban of the Vrbas banovina. Since then, the stadium underwent several expansions and reconstructions in the years 1973, 1981, 2010 and 2012. In 2010, the stadium underwent a complete reconstruction. New seats were installed on east and west stands, locker rooms were renovated, a completely new VIP lounge and room for media was built, new lighting, sound systems and video surveillance were installed, and trophy and technical rooms were renovated. In 2012, the new north stand was built with a capacity of 2,492 seats, which increased the total capacity of the stadium to 9,730. According to recent plans, the east stand will be covered by a roof in the upcoming years. The construction of the south stand began, which will increase the total capacity to approximately 13,000 seats.

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.^{[citation needed]}

As one of the most successful football clubs in the country, Borac always had a considerable number of supporters. The organized supporters of FK Borac are known as Lešinari^[15] (Serbian Cyrillic: Лешинари) and they are the oldest organized supporter group in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were established in 1987. The gathering point of the club's most loyal and passionate fans was the East stand of Banja Luka City Stadium until 2017 when it was changed to the North stand. Borac has big strong and loyal brotherhood with Vojvodina fans Firma and friendship with fans of Genoa.

 

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 (3): 2010–11, 2020–21, 2023–24
  • 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 (3): 2003–04, 2020–21, 2023–24
• Republika Srpska Cup
  • Winners (6): 1994–95, 1995–96, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2022–23

• Mitropa Cup
  • Winners (1): 1992

As of 28 November 2024

Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg.
1975–76	Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Rumelange	9–0	5–1	14–1
		2R	Anderlecht	1–0	0–3	1–3
1988–89	Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Metalist Kharkov	2–0	0–4	2–4
1991–92	Mitropa Cup	SF	Foggia	2–2 (4–2 p)
		Final	Budapesti VSC	1–1 (5–3 p)
2010–11	Europa League	2Q	Lausanne-Sport	1–1	0–1	1–2
2011–12	Champions League	2Q	Maccabi Haifa	3–2	1–5	4–7
2012–13	Europa League	1Q	Čelik Nikšić	2–2	1–1	3–3 (a)
2020–21	Europa League	1Q	Sutjeska Nikšić	1–0	—	—
		2Q	Rio Ave	0−2	—	—
2021–22	Champions League	1Q	CFR Cluj	2–1 (a.e.t.)	1−3	3–4
	Europa Conference League	2Q	Linfield	0–0	0−4	0–4
2022–23	Europa Conference League	1Q	B36 Tórshavn	2–0	1–3 (a.e.t.)	3–3 (3–4 p)
2023–24	Europa Conference League	2Q	Austria Wien	1−2	0−1	1–3
2024–25	Champions League	1Q	Egnatia	1–0	1–2 (a.e.t.)	2–2 (4–1 p)
		2Q	PAOK	0−1	2−3	2–4
	Europa League	3Q	KÍ	3–1 (a.e.t.)	1−2	4–3
		PO	Ferencváros	1–1 (a.e.t.)	0–0	1–1 (2–3 p)
	Conference League	League phase	Panathinaikos	1–1	—
			APOEL	—	1–0
			Víkingur	—	0−2
			LASK	2–1	—
			Shamrock Rovers	—
			Omonia		—

As of 8 November 2024^[17][18]

Rank	Team	Points
157	Osijek	9.000
158	Breiðablik	9.000
159	Borac	8.500
160	Pyunik	8.500
161	Petrocub Hîncești	8.500

As of 9 September 2024^[19]

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   MKD Damjan Shishkovski 2 DF   NED Bart Meijers 4 DF   SRB Nikola Pejović 5 MF   MKD Boban Nikolov 6 DF   CRO Niko Datković 7 FW   SRB Nikola Srećković 8 MF   SVN Aleks Pihler 9 FW   BIH Esmir Hasukić 10 FW   BIH David Vuković 11 FW   BIH Damir Hrelja 13 GK   SRB Filip Manojlović 15 MF   BIH Srđan Grahovac (Captain) 16 DF   COL Sebastián Herrera 18 DF   BIH Aleksandar Subić (3rd captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF   BIH Zoran Kvržić 21 GK   BIH Nikola Ćetković 22 FW   BIH David Čavić 23 MF   BIH Stojan Vranješ (Vice-captain) 24 DF   CUW Jurich Carolina 27 FW   BIH Enver Kulašin 30 FW   SVN Gregor Bajde 45 MF   SRB Petar Karaklajić 77 MF   AUT Stefan Savić 88 MF   CRO Dino Skorup 92 GK   BIH Nikola Milićević 93 DF   MNE Marko Vukčević 98 MF   SVN Sandi Ogrinec 99 FW   SRB Đorđe Despotović

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 (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) 14 FW   BIH Pavle Đajić (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) 31 DF   BIH Savo Šušić (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) 49 FW   BIH Stefan Marčetić (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) 51 MF   BIH Luka Misimović (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   BIH Jusuf Terzić (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) — DF   BIH Mateja Stašević (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) — FW   BIH Nedim Keranović (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) — FW   BIH Sergej Bogdanić (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF   BIH Marko Kujundžić (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) 17 DF   BIH Filip Račić (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   BIH Marko Radić (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025) — MF   BIH Danilo Moconja (at FK BSK until 31 May 2025)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   MNE Balša Goranović

  2014 FIFA World Cup

•   Asmir Avdukić

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FK Borac Banja Luka.

• Official website (in Serbian)
• Sport association Borac (in Serbian)
• Official supporters' website (in Serbian)
• Borac Banja Luka at UEFA.com