VK Bečej (full name: Vaterpolo klub Bečej; lit. Water polo club Bečej), was a

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

club from

Bečej Bečej ( sr-cyrl, Бечеј, ; hu, Óbecse, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 23,895, while the municipality has 37,351 inhabitants. It ...

, Serbia. Founded in 1947, the club disbanded in 2002 due to the bad financial situation.

History

The club was established in 1947. Its golden years came in the mid-1990s, when the club won the National Championships and National Cups of FR Yugoslavia for six consecutive seasons, from 1995–96 to 2000–01 season. VK Bečej also made

LEN Champions League The LEN Champions League is the top-tier European professional water polo club competition with teams from up to 18 countries. It is organized by the Ligue Européenne de Natation. The competition started in 1963 as European Cup. A change of nam ...

Final Four appearances in 1997 and 1998. The biggest success in club's history was winning the

1999–2000 LEN Champions League The 1999–00 LEN Champions League was the 37th edition of LEN's premier competition for men's water polo clubs. It ran from 27 October 1999 to 27 May 2000, and it was contested by 28 teams. The Final Four (semifinals, final, and third place game ...

trophy, becoming only the second Serbian team after

VK Partizan Vaterpolo klub Partizan ( sr-cyr, Ватерполо клуб Партизан) is a professional water polo club based in Belgrade, Serbia. VK Partizan is one of the sports clubs in Serbia that is part of sport society Partizan. As of 2021–22 ...

to win the top-tier European water polo club competition.

Aleksandar Šapić Aleksandar Šapić ( sr-cyrl, Александар Шапић; born 1 June 1978) is a Serbian politician, and former professional water polo player serving as mayor of Belgrade since 20 June 2022. A member and current vice-president of the Serbi ...

led the team to the 1999–00 title, scoring 5 goals in the final versus Zagreb-based

HAVK Mladost Hrvatski akademski vaterpolo klub Mladost ( en, Croatian Academic Water Polo Club Mladost) or simply HAVK Mladost is a professional water polo club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club was formed in 1946 and it is part of the Mladost sports societ ...

on 27 May 2000. He was also that year's Euroleague best scorer with 39 goals in the season. In 2001, VK Bečej made its last Champions League Final Four appearance. The club's president during this golden era was Đorđe "Badža" Predin. The prominent Serbian company Sojaprotein sponsored the club in this period.

Rosters

Champions League winning squad

Aleksandar Šoštar Aleksandar Šoštar ( sr-cyrl, Александар Шоштар; born 21 January 1964) is a Serbian water polo goalkeeper who played on the bronze medal squad of FR Yugoslavia at the 2000 Summer Olympics and on the gold medal squad for SFR Yugos ...

Slobodan Soro Slobodan Soro (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Соро; born December 23, 1978) is a Serbian-born Brazilian water polo goalkeeper. As a member of the Serbia men's national water polo team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Oly ...

Predrag Zimonjić Predrag Zimonjić (born 15 October 1970, in Belgrade) is a Serbian water polo playerhttps://olympics.com/en/athletes/predrag-zimonjic who played for FR Yugoslavia at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996. See also * List of Olympi ...

* Goran Krstonošić * Nenad Vukanić * Nedeljko Rodić *

Branko Peković Branko Peković (born 7 May 1979) is a Serbian water polo player now representing Kazakhstan. He was a member of the Serbia men's national water polo team which won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Club VK Be� ...

Aleksandar Ćirić Aleksandar Ćirić ( sr-cyrl, Александар Ћирић, born 30 December 1977 in Belgrade) is a Serbian retired water polo player and current head coach of European powerhouse Olympiacos Women's Water Polo Team, who played for two Olymp ...

Veljko Uskoković Veljko Uskoković ( cnr, Вељко Ускоковић; born 29 March 1971 in Cetinje, Montenegro) is a retired Montenegrin water polo player. His club achievements are: European Champion 2000 (Becej team), 4 times Yugosl ...

* László Tóth * István Mészáros *

Jugoslav Vasović Jugoslav Vasović (born 31 May 1974 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian retired water polo player who played for FR Yugoslavia at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He retired from the sport in 2012 after playing the last season with ...

* Balázs Vincze *

Nebojša Milić Nebojša (Cyrillic script: Небојша ) is a Slavic names, Slavic given name, meaning "fearless". People with the name include: In arts and entertainment *Nebojša Bradić (born 1956), Serbian theater director *Nebojša Glogovac (born 1969), ...

Notable former players

* Milan Tričković

Notable former coaches

* Vlaho Orlić * Nikola Stamenić * Zoltán Kásás * Mirko Blažević

Honours

*National Championship **Winners (6) : 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 *National Cup **Winners (6) : 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 * Champions League **Winners (1) : 1999/00 **Final Four (3) : 1997, 1998, 2001

References

External links

* {{1999–2000 LEN Champions League champions roster