FK Partizan
| Partizan's emblem | ||||
| Full name | Fudbalski klub Partizan | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Grobari, Crno-beli, Parni valjak | |||
| Founded | October 4, 1945 | |||
| Ground | Stadion Partizana, Belgrade | |||
| Capacity | 32,887 | |||
| Chairman |  Dragan Đurić | |||
| Manager | Slaviša Jokanović | |||
| League | Serbian Superliga | |||
| 2007-08 | 1st | |||
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Football Club Partizan (Serbian: Фудбалски клуб Партизан, Fudbalski klub Partizan) is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. Being a household name in European football it holds records such as playing in the first UEFA Champions League match in 1955[1], becoming the first Eastern European club to play in the UEFA Champions League final in 1966, and becoming the first club from Serbia to take part in the UEFA Champions League group stages subsequent to the breakup of the Former Yugoslavia. It is a major part of the Sports Association Partizan. The second division team FK Teleoptik is also owned by Partizan. According to UEFA, Partizan has the second-ranking youngster school in Europe, after Ajax Amsterdam.[2] According to a recent poll, Partizan Belgrade is the second most popular football club in Serbia, with 32.2 percent of the population supporting the club.[3].
History
Partizan was founded on October 4, 1945, as a part of Yugoslav Sports Association, and was named after the partisans, the communist resistance military formation during the World War II in Yugoslavia. The club is still a member of the same sports association, which includes 25 clubs in different sports, as well as the Football Association of Serbia, but it has complete independence regarding organisation, management, finances, material goods and facilities.
The club was initially formed under Yugoslav People's Army, and the stadium was named for most of the time Stadion JNA (Stadium of Yugoslav People's Army). In the early 50's club became independent from the Army. The first international match was played on December 6, 1945, against CSKA Moscow (then known as CDKA).
Partizan participated in the first ever European Cup game, that took place on September 3, 1955 in Lisbon against Sporting. Final result of this game was 3-3. Partizan also became the first club from Eastern Europe to have played in a European Cup final against Real Madrid, after eliminating Manchester United in the semifinals. In more recent years, the club played in 2003/04 UEFA Champions League season, after eliminating Newcastle United in the last qualifying round and also in the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup in the 2004/2005 season.
Partizan's current colors are black and white, after blue and red for the first thirteen years.
Honours
- National Championships (20)
- National Cup (10)
- SFR Yugoslavia Cup winners (5): 1947, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1989
- FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro Cup winners (4): 1992, 1994, 1998, 2001
- Serbian Cup winners (1): 2008
Internationally, Partizan was the runner-up in the European Cup in 1966, winner of the Mitropa Cup in 1978, quarterfinalist of the European Cup in 1964, quarterfinalist of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1989, and have reached the "round-of-16" stage in the UEFA cup four times.
Records & highlights
Momčilo Vukotić is the Partizan record-holder by the number of appearances: He played in 752 matches. The goal scoring record-holder is a striker Stjepan Bobek, with 403 goals.
Over 130 Partizan football players were in the Yugoslav national team and Stjepan Bobek, Branko Zebec, Zlatko Čajkovski, Fahrudin Jusufi, Milan Galić, Milutin Šoškić, Slaviša Jokanović and Predrag Mijatović (who is the current sporting director of Real Madrid) are among them. Former Partizan player Savo Milošević played 101 matches for the national football team, which is an absolute national record.
One of the legendary Partizan players is Dragan Mance. He led Partizan in their UEFA Cup tie in 1984. against English side Queens Park Rangers. The Rangers won the first leg 6-2, but Partizan advances after a 4-0 return victory. Mance died 3 September 1985. in a car crash at the peak of his popularity.
The "Black and Whites" are record-holders of the Yugoslav First League, in terms of points scored during a campaign, with 107 in one year's championship and are the only unbeaten champion team ever (in season 2004/05). Partizan also won most national championships since the break of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, being a champion 8 out of 16 times.
Arguably Partizan's most exciting match was a double header against Celtic in 1989. The first tie was held in Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina) which Partizan won 2-1. The second leg was held in Scotland which Celtic won 5-4. Partizan scored in the last minute to qualify on the away goals rule in front of nearly 50,000 fans. Partizan also played in a 1966 European Cup final against Real Madrid, after eliminating Manchester United in semifinals. At one point Partizan was 1-0 up, only to lose to the Spaniards 2-1 at the end.
Some of the highlights from Partizan's recent past include an UEFA Champions League appearance in 2003-04 season. After eliminating Newcastle United in the last qualifying round, Partizan was drawn in a tough group with Real Madrid, FC Porto (actual winner of the UEFA cup and the eventual winner of the competition) and Olympique de Marseille (eventual runner-up of the UEFA cup). The team never lost a home game, playing 0:0 with Real Madrid, and 1:1 with FC Porto and Olympique de Marseille while playing some inspired football in the away match in Madrid. They are the first, and so far the only Serbian team to qualify for the main draw of this elite European club competition since its inception in 1992.
In the next season, Partizan reached the "Round-of-16" in UEFA Cup, where it was eliminated by CSKA Moscow, eventual winner of the competition.
In the 2007/2008 UEFA Cup Qualifying Stages, Partizan was expelled and fined €30,056 due to crowd trouble, after fighting broke out with opponent fans and Bosnian police during their qualifying match against HŠK Zrinjski Mostar.[4]
Rivalry with Red Star Belgrade
Main article: Belgrade derby
Partizan's city rival is Red Star Belgrade. The dual is regarded as one of the greatest football rivalries in the world and the matches between these rivals are often called "the eternal derby" (Serbian Latin: večiti derbi, Serbian Cyrillic: вечити дерби). These games were always greatly anticipated and quite spectacular, but in recent years the lower quality of football that’s been displayed, as well as very large amount of violence and hooliganism, made the fall of the attendance an inevitable consequence. The greatest attendance was about 108,000 spectators.
Supporters
Partizan's supporters, known as Grobari (Gravediggers), were formed in 1970. The nickname itself was given by their biggest rivals F.C. Red Star Belgrade fans, referring to club's mostly black colours which were similar to official uniforms of cemetery undertakers. The other theory is that the name arrives from the Partizan's stadium street name - Humska (Graves'). They generally support all clubs in the Sports Association Partizan. In 1999, organized fans who traditionally occupy South stands at the stadium split into two groups. Newly formed group named Južni Front (South Front) accused several top members of Grobari organization for abusing their privileges, and the club itself for favoring those individuals. Last year fans settled their differences and today there are three major fan groups: "Južni Front", "Grobari 1970" and "Grobari Beograd". From 2005 until 2007, fan groups boycotted all Partizan matches until sports director Nenad Bjeković and general secretary Žarko Zečević resigned, which was their main goal. Bjeković finally resigned in May and Zečević in September 2007. As a result of their demands being accepted, the Grobari returned to the stands of Stadion Partizana.
The Grobari have a strong bond with Gate 4, the supporters of Greek club PAOK FC. Sharing the same club colors and extreme "die hard" mentality, both groups help each other in battle against rival clubs. This dedication and appreciation surpasses friendship so they consider themselves brothers. In the 2007-2008 season, a coalition between the two groups caused great upset when they attacked Red Star Belgrade fans during a basketball game. The organized attack showed the bond between the two groups and the willingness to fight for each other. Both groups are amongst the most feared fans in Europe, due to the ruthlessness and willingness to die for their club.
Danny Dyer featured the Grobari on the Real Football Factories International show. In the episode he labelled the Grobari as a wild group willing to do anything for the respect of the club. [5]
The Grobari made an appeal for the cheering against FC Inter Baku in the second match of the second round qualifications for the UEFA Champions League, to be strictly sports-related.[6]
Stadium & sports centre
The club's stadium is now named "Stadion Partizana", although it was known as "Stadion JNA" (Stadium of the Yugoslav People's Army) for most of its history, and is still sometimes called that. The stadium seated approximately 55,000 people before UEFA's law of having seats across the entire stadium. The current capacity is 32,710 people.
The stadium was used from the mid-fifties until 1987 as the final point of yearly festivities called the "Day of Youth". Each year on May 25th, the baton of Relay of Youth was finally passed into the hands of Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia.
The sports centre "Partizan-Teleoptik", also known as "Zemunelo" (the name being composed to show the resemblance to the A.C. Milan's sports center, Milanello), is situated on the surface of almost 10 hectares, in the west part of Zemun, on the intersection of two major highways and in vicinity of the airport. Regarding functionality, architectural solutions, modern equipment and building materials used, this centre is among sports buildings of the highest value in Europe. At present, it's a training and preparatory base of all Partizan selections, consisting of around six hundred sportsmen- beginning with the first team, through the 2nd division team of Teleoptik, down to the youngest categories of large Partizan family.
The stadium is expected to be redesigned by Swiss firm Mob Lab. The new capacity is to be approximately 45,000 seats and will include a very modern business park filled with hotels and office buildings. [7]
Current squad
As of September 1, 2008
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
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Managerial history
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References
- ^ FK Partizan (2008-09-04). "First ever Champions Cup game!". Retrieved 2008-09-04.
- ^ FK Partizan (2007-09-19). "FK Partizan: Youth School". Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ Sport - Novosti (2007-09-18). "Red Star has more fans than Partizan Belgrade" (in Serbian). Retrieved 2007-09-18.
- ^ FK Partizan (2007-08-07). "Partizan will take no further part in the UEFA Cup this season". Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ BRAVO (2008-06-27). "Real Football Factories". Retrieved 2008-06-27.
- ^ FK Partizan (2008-08-04). "Saopštenje Grobara" (in Serbian). Retrieved 2008-08-05.
- ^ Mob Lab (2008-06-27). "Partizan's New Stadium Projection". Retrieved 2008-06-27.
See also
External links
Official
Supporters
- Unofficial club site
- Grobari1970 fans site
- Juzni front fans site
- Joined Partizan and PAOK fans site
- Archive of Partizan's supporters
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