Club Overview

Red Star Belgradeis a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is sometimes known worldwide by translations of its Serbian name, FK Crvena zvezda.They are the only Serbian club to have won a UEFA competition, having been victorious in the 1991 European Cup final. Supporters of the various Red Star sports teams are known as Delije (Serbian: Делије). A rough English translation might be "courageous and brave young men" or simply "The Heroes". They are generally concentrated in the North Stand of the Stadion Crvena Zvezda. The Srbija do Tokija (lit. Serbia to Tokyo) chant originated with Red Star supporters following their victory in the 1991 Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo.

Club History

Red Star was formed on 4 March 1945.[4] In the beginning it was a Youth Physical Culture Society with seven sports sections - athletics, rowing, basketball, volleyball, football, chess and swimming. On that day the very first football match was played. Red Star played against a team of the First Battalion of the Second Brigade of KNOJ. Red Star won 3:2 (2:0). Two goals were scored by Tomašević and one by Pečenčić. Seven days later Red Star played a Team of British Army Mission representatives and won 12:0 (5:0). During 1945 Red Star football club played no less than 36 matches. They won 30, drew 5, and lost only one match (against Romania in Timişoara on 23 September 1945 - 1:2 (0:2)).

On 12 October 1946 Red Star Youth Physical Culture Society merged with a similar society called Student (in fact Student was absorbed into Red Star), and the number of sports sections in the Red Star sport society increased. In 1948 sports sections within Red Star were transformed into clubs, and Youth Physical Culture Society Red Star became Sport Society Red Star. From 1949 all of the clubs were functioning more-less as separate entities (decentralized).

During the 1950s Red Star made several tours of South America; they represented Yugoslavia at the Rio Cup in 1951, but lost all three matches against Juventus, Nice and Palmeiras in São Paulo. Following the cup, they played Santos. In 1955 they returned to the continent, playing 11 matches in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. They returned again in the winter of 1961-62, playing another 10 matches in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay.

Red Star played a peripheral role in a tragedy of football history. In 1958, Manchester United played at Red Star in a European Cup fixture. The plane that carried the team back to England crashed in Munich, shortly after refuelling. Eight united players were among the dead. Manager Matt Busby and several other players were injured. The incident would forever be known as the Munich air disaster.

Red Star is the only Serbian club that has won a UEFA competition, winning the 1991 European Cup in Bari, Italy. The same year in Tokyo, Japan the club won the Intercontinental Cup. Red Star lost the European Super Cup finals that year to the Cup Winners' Cup champion, Manchester United. The club also made the final of the UEFA Cup in 1979, losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach. Red Star also has won a record 25 national league titles.

In January 2008 Red Star took part in the First Channel Cup in Israel, finishing bottom of their group.

Club Rivalries

FC Red Star main rivals are fellow Belgrade side, FC Partizan. Red Star's main rivals are fellow Belgrade club, FC Partizan. Matches between the two are known as the "Eternal Derby" (Serbian: вечити дерби, Večiti derbi). The record attendance for a Red Star-Partizan match is around 108,000, the lowest 8,000 for a Yugoslav Cup semi-final in 2005. In league matches, the derby has been played 133 times; Red Star winning on 57 occasions and Partizan 34 times. In cup games, Red Star have won 17 of the 31 fixtures, Partizan 10.

In addition to their rivalries, Red Star have two friendship clubs, Olympiacos of Greece and Spartak Moscow of Russia.

Stars of the Current Squad

• Segundo Castillo
• Ognjen Koroman
• Nenad Milijas
• Igor Burzanovic

Club Legends

Red Star has almost a 50 year long tradition of giving the title of the Star of Red Star (Zvezdina zvezda) to the players that have had a major impact on the club's history and that have made the name of the club famous around the globe. So far, only five players in the club's history were officially given the title. They are:

Rajko Mitic

Dragoslav Sekularac

Dragan Dzajic

Vladimir Petrovic"Pizon"

Dragan Stojkovic"Piksi"

Though it may sound strange, none of the players that have won the only European Champion title for the club is titled Star of Red Star. In fact, no new "stars" have been added to the list since Dragan Stojković was given the title in 1990. In his recent statement, Stojković, then the club's president, said that the tradition of naming the club's stars was going to be continued, probably by naming Dejan Savićević the sixth "star", although there were opinions that the entire 1991 generation should be named the sixth star. Ironically, Stojković himself missed the opportunity to be part of the historical 1991 cup since he moved to Olympique de Marseille, the same team that was beaten by Red Star at the 1991 final.

Most Appearances

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

Team Honours

• European Cup (1)

-Winners 1991

• Intercontinental Cup (1)

-Winners 1991

• Mitropa Cup (2)

-Winners 1958, 1968

• National Championships (25)

-SFR Yugoslavia Champions (19): 1951, 1952-53, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1963-64, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1972-73, 1976-77, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1983-84, 1987-88, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92 -FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro Champions (5): 1994-95, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2003-04, 2005-06 -Champions of Serbia (1): 2006-07

• National Cup (22)

-SFR Yugoslavia Cup winners (12): 1948, 1949, 1950, 1958, 1959, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1982, 1985, 1990 -FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro Cup winners (9): 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006

-Serbian Cup winners (1): 2007

Club Management

Uniforms

                HOME                                         AWAY

Stadium

Red Star's home ground is the Stadion Crvena Zvezda. It has a capacity of 55,000 and is the largest stadium in Serbia. Due to the former capacity of over 100,000 the stadium is commonly referred to as Marakana after the famous Brazilian stadium. It was opened in 1963 after construction which had started three years earlier.

In 2008 the club announced the reconstruction of the pitch in the stadium. Under-soil grass heaters will be installed and new modern turf will replace the current playing surface. The training pitch will also be renovated by laying down synthetic turf and installing new lighting equipment.

                Stadion Crvene Zvezde"Marakana"

Sponsors

TOYOTA

Important Links

Official

• Official Portal
• UEFA Profile

Supporters

• Redstarbelgrade.com - The official fan site
• Red Star Sport Association fan site
• Delije Fan Site
• Delije Caffe - FC Red Star Fans
• Vlatkovic Red Star Family

References

• In recent times it has often been referred to as Red Star, although the official Serbian name is also quite popular nowadays, in German it is known as Roter Stern, in French as Etoile Rouge, in Spanish as Estrella Roja, in Italian as Stella Rossa etc.
• Macedonian striker, Darko Pančev was the most prolific goal scorer for Red Star, posting 94 goals in 91 games. He holds the record for the most goals per game in Red Star history. He was also awarded the Golden Boot award for his 1991 campaign, posting 34 goals in a single season, the most in Europe.