HISTORY
The football has come to Serbia in spring of 1896. The Jewish Hugo Buli has, after he returned from his studies in Germany, brought the first foot-ball to Belgrade. He has not kept his souvenir from Berlin to himself, but he brought the ball to his friends from the Belgrade gymnastics society "Soko", and, persistent in his pursue to get the young people interested in the new game, founded the football section on 12 May 1896.
Serbia has proved to be a fruitful ground for the new game, and already on 19 May, the Belgrade people have seen the first football match. Near the "Nebojša" tower, in the foothills of the Kalemegdan fortress, the football section of the Gymnastics Society "Soko" have shown its fellow-citizens the new game. The newspapers reported on this event, pointing out that this game is beneficial for young men because it helps the development of muscles.
The date of the first football match is recorded and well remembered, however, the major historic developments lead to the change of historical data. This important date for the Serbian football and sports in general was recorded according to the Julian calendar. Today we use the Gregorian calendar, and due to the 13-day difference the celebration is moved to the end of the month.
The first foot-ball and the first match have lead to the formation of the organizations and football clubs. The inaugural meeting of the First Serbian Society for the Game with the Ball has taken place on 1st May 1899, at the restaurant "Trgovačka kafana", at initiative of Mr. Hugo Buli, and with support of Mr. Andra Nikolić, who then was Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Feti Bey, the Turkish consul in Belgrade was elected as President, and the lawyer Mr. Mihailo Živadinović as the Vice-President. On that day the corner stone of the Serbian "house of football" was laid.
In spring of 1899 the first football pitch was built in the Topčider hill, where the first match between the two teams of the members of the society of the games with the ball took place on 23 May 1899.
In these years of enthusiasm, nobody knew the exact laws of the game to the detail. This problem was resolved when in 1905 Anastas Sr. Hristodulo published the brochure "Foot - ball", the translation of the football rules from German language.
The biggest impact on the development of football in Serbia had the players who were returning home from their studies abroad. They were bringing academic knowledge with them, but also the sporting habits, so there was an increasing need for creating the real football clubs.
The first football club was founded in the beginning of the 20th century, but there still are doubts in the priority. On 3 May 1901 in Subotica the Sports Athletic Club "Bačka" was founded. More than two years later, notably on 14 September 1903, the football club "Šumadija" was founded in Kragujevac. It is obvious that the Subotica club was older, however, at the time of the foundation of "Bačka", the city of Subotica was part of Austro-Hungary. Kragujevac, however, was on the territory of Serbia. In the end, we could only use the "word dribbling": "Bačka" is the oldest club in Serbia, and "Šumadija" the oldest Serbian club.
Soon after that followed the foundation of the football clubs "BASK", "Srpski mač", "Soko" and "Dušan Silni".
The increasing number of clubs enabled more matches, and, in time, it was only natural that the need arose for playing matches abroad. The first who took this adventure was FC "Srpski mač". They scheduled the match vs. the team "HAŠK" from Zagreb (Croatia) for the spring 1911. The club management did not approve this match, yet the players still decided to travel to Zagreb, but to play, not under the name of their club, but as the "National Team of Kingdom of Serbia".
Although the matches were of a friendly character and unofficial, these meant the first appearance of Serbia on a football pitch, and an important historical event. The national team of Serbia has played its first match on 19 May 1911, and lost from HAŠK by 0:8. The next day, on 20 May, it played the second match, which it also lost by 0:6. The Zagreb newspapers reported from these matches with credits to Serbian team for its efforts and braveness to challenge the much better rival. The Serbian newspapers already then showed that the Serbian public does not easily accept the defeat, although it is part of the game. The management of the "Srpski mač" was rigorous: it has excluded the disobedient players from the club.
The "rebellions" have not given up the game, and on 1st September 1911 they founded the Belgrade Sports Club (BSK). In the next three decades, until the Second World War, this club dominated the Serbian scene, and has become the best team of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, with five titles of the state champion.
After the First World War the boundaries of Balkan countries were changed. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians was founded, and its name was changed into Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 1 December 1919. ........
The new state needed the house of football, and the Football Association ("Jugoslovenski nogometni savez") was founded at the meeting in Zagreb, on 18 April 1919. The founding assembly in Zagreb was presided by Mr. Danilo Stojanović, legendary "Čika Dača", founder of football club "Šumadija", the "BSK" football club and some other football clubs, which is a fact proving the Serbia as the strongest pillar of the state football association.
Mr. Hink Virt was the association's first President, and representatives of major centers were the board members. Boško Simonović, student of architecture at the Zagreb University was representative of Belgrade, and later the national coach.
It was decided that the association be divided into regions. Serbia was represented by the Belgrade sub-association, which comprised central Serbia, Vojvodina, and Kosovo. Hence, the 18th April 1919 is regarded as the founding date of today's Football Association of Serbia.
The formation of the new organization was an incentive for foundation of new clubs. By 1930 already 51 football clubs were registered in Belgrade, while the Belgrade Football Association had 91 members. The increase of number of clubs, and the quality required the organization of competitions, so already in 1920 the first championship of the city clubs took place in Belgrade.
The first state championship was launched in 1923. The championships were played, with occasional interruptions, until 1940, and in this period the best Serbian clubs won seven state championship titles: FC BSK five and FC SK Jugoslavija two. The interruptions of the championship occurred due to disagreements between the sub-associations, which culminated in 1929 when the YFA Assembly was dissolved. The differences were resolved in February 1930, after the three months of crisis. The extraordinary Assembly was convened, and it took place in Zagreb on 16 May 1930. It was voted that the association's headquarters be moved to Belgrade, and that the name of the association will be changed into Yugoslav Football Association ("Fudbalski savez Jugoslavije"). Since then, until the dissolution of the federation, the house of football was in the seat of Serbia.
While the officials were arguing the football flourished, and came to its peak at the First World Championship in Uruguay in 1930. The sub-association of Zagreb has, due to unresolved differences, forbidden the Croatian players to play for the national team, so the national team that went to Uruguay was composed of Serbian clubs' players only. Soon the good news started coming from this faraway country, and the last one was that the team of Serbian football players has won the 3rd/4th place.
This success at the Mondial has given the new incentive to the Serbian football, and the clubs, lead by FC BSK dominated the state scene until the beginning of World War II.
The winds of war have stopped the game for some time, yet the life won the battle so the football was "rolling" during the occupation. In that period the players who later in the 20th century celebrated the Yugoslav and Serbian football arose.
The end of the war was the beginning of the reconstruction, and the devastated football grounds and stadia, as well as the football clubs needed to be restored. On 25 February 1945, the football club Metalac was founded, later its name was changed into BSK, and then into OFK Beograd, as successor to the tradition of the glorious pre-war Belgrade sports club (BSK). The Red Star (FK Crvena Zvezda) shined on 4th March 1945, and FK Partizan on 4th October of the same year. The football clubs of Vojvodina of Novi Sad, Borac of Čačak, Sloboda of Užice, and many other clubs were also restored.
The increase of the number of clubs required the creation of an organization, and the Football Association of Serbia was founded again on 28 August 1948. Soon after that, on 8th and 9th September 1948, the Yugoslav Football Association has been restored.
In almost half the century of the existence of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, and later during the Serbia and Montenegro, the Football Association of Serbia has always been the dominating factor. In its continuing development it has become an organization with more than two thousand clubs competing in 365 leagues, with 125,000 players of different age categories. As such, the Serbian FA always had a prevailing impact on the quality and mass character of football in the country.
All that time the FA of Serbia was working on development of professionals which helped it maintain its dominating position. Besides the seven pre-war titles of the football clubs BSK (5) and Jugoslavija (2), until its independence the Football Association of Serbia won 46 more titles of the state champion (FC Red Star 24, FC Partizan 19, FC Vojvodina 2, FC Obilić 1) and 36 national Cup trophies (FC Red Star 21, FC Partizan 9, OFK Beograd 4, FS Sartid 1, FC Železnik 1), as well as the most valuable trophy - Champion's Cup, that FC Red Star won in 1991.
The Football Association of Serbia has proved its strength as participant in the organization of big competitions, such as Champions' Cup finals in 1973 (Juventus - Ajax, 1:0), and the final tournament of the Nations' Cup in 1976. After the dissolution of the federation, and separation of Montenegro, on 26 June 2006, the Football Association of Serbia has become the national home of football, and was admitted to the membership of FIFA and UEFA, as legal successor to all the previous national associations whose part it was. By this the world and European federation have acknowledged the continuity of football in the territory of Serbia, and decisive role of the Serbian association in creating the history of the game in Western Balkans since the end of 19th century.
The football activities in the territory of the Football Association of Serbia are ran with total of:
- 2,032 registered football clubs
- 4,368 club teams' of various age categories
- 365 different competition leagues
- 122,854 registered football players
- 4,901 coaches with diploma
- 4,032 referees
- 1,146 physicians employed with the clubs
Moreover, there are over a thousand of other different teams in children's, school football and futsal which are not registered with the Ministry of Education and Sports. These activities are being run with, and managed through different competition levels, by:
- 102 municipal football associations
- 17 county football associations
- 8 district football associations
- 5 city football associations
- 2 regional football associations
- 2 province football associations
The work of these institutions is covered by the Football Association of Serbia, which establishes the politics of football development.
