Fudbalski klub Borac 1926 (), commonly known as Borac Čačak, is a professional
football club based in
Čačak, Serbia. The home ground is
Čačak Stadium, which has seating capacity of 8,000. As of 2024–25 season, the club competes in second tier
Serbian First League
The Serbian First League (), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier in professional Serbia's football league. The league was formed in 2005, following a reshuffle of the second tier Serbo-Montenegr ...
.
The word Borac in translation means ''fighter'' in English. Mainly because of the horizontal stripes, Borac's nickname is "Zebras".
History
At the end of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, football began to be played in Čačak. According to some sources the first football match took place in 1920. Six years later, a group of union workers who organized on 1 May 1926 founded the club. Initially, the uniform was red and later was changed to red-and-white. The first president of the club was a carpenter, Jovan Jolović. On 6 August 1932, FK Borac had its first night match under stadium floodlights, with the Arsenal football club. Before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the club's biggest success was winning 1st place in the West Morava district league in 1934.
After a break during World War II, the club started up again and in 1946 played in the qualifications for the
Yugoslav First League against
Red Star Belgrade but lost. Its next achievement was to win the Serbian Cup in 1958 (regional Yugoslav Cup back then) and four years later won promotion to the
Yugoslav Second League. The first play-off match against
OFK Titograd was lost 1–3, but in the home match on 15 July 1962, with six goals in the second half, FK Borac secured a promotion to the Second Federal League.
For many years Borac played in the Second Federal League but the dream of the promotion to the top-tier competition came through in 1994 when Borac got promoted to the
First League of FR Yugoslavia. Previously Borac had failed in three attempts to make it to the top flight, losing play-off matches in 1970, 1971, and 1973. The club has been relegated three times since first making the
Yugoslav First League but they have also three times managed to win promotion back to the top league, last time in 2003. In the
2005–06 season, Borac finished in 7th place, the club's highest finish at the time.
2006–present
In 2006,
Serbian SuperLiga was established as top-tier competition in Serbia following the
Montenegrin independence from state union. Borac Čačak finished the
2007–08 in 4th place, thereby securing a place in European competition for the first time. In the
2008–09 UEFA Cup, Borac defeated
Dacia Chișinău from
Moldova
Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...
4–2 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, and
Lokomotiv Sofia from
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
2–1 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. However,
Dutch giants
Ajax denied Borac entry into the group stage by defeating them twice, 1–4 in Belgrade and 0–2 in Amsterdam.
In
2011–12 Serbian SuperLiga, Borac Čačak finished in 15th place and were relegated to the
Serbian First League
The Serbian First League (), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier in professional Serbia's football league. The league was formed in 2005, following a reshuffle of the second tier Serbo-Montenegr ...
. After mediocre performance in
2012–13 Serbian First League, Borac finished in second place of
2013–14 Serbian First League as runners-up over
Metalac Gornji Milanovac, with whom they were tied on points and promoted to the top-tier competition. On 2 August 2014, Borac for the second time in their history played a night match under
floodlights, defeating Metalac 1–0 at the reconstructed Čačak stadium.
Borac Čačak finished in 16th place of
2017–18 Serbian SuperLiga and were relegated once again to the Serbian First League.
In
2018–19 Serbian First League, Borac had yet another turbulent season, barely escaping the relegation zone in the last round of the competition, following the win over
Novi Pazar
Novi Pazar ( sr-cyr, Нови Пазар) is a List of cities in Serbia, city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the urban area has 71,462 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 106,720 inha ...
and
Bečej's loss to
Trajal. In July 2019, the club was expelled from the
Serbian First League
The Serbian First League (), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier in professional Serbia's football league. The league was formed in 2005, following a reshuffle of the second tier Serbo-Montenegr ...
due to 1.7 million euros debt in taxes and around 270,000 euros in debts to its former players.
Honours
*
Serbian Cup
**Runners-up (1):
2011–12
*
Second League FRY/SCG
**Champions (3):
1993–94,
1998–99,
2002–03 (Group West)
UEFA competitions
*Qualified for Europe in 1 season
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors
First-team squad
Out on loan
Notable former players
Former players with senior national team appearances:
*
Radojko Avramović
*
Igor Bogdanović
*
Boban Dmitrović
*
Ljubiša Dunđerski
*
Jovan Gojković
*
Slobodan Marković
*
Radovan Radaković
*
Milivoje Vitakić
*
Branimir Aleksić
*
Ivica Dragutinović
*
Radiša Ilić
*
Aleksandar Jevtić
*
Darko Lazović
*
Marko Lomić
*
Nemanja Milunović
*
Filip Mladenović
*
Miljan Mutavdžić
*
Ivan Stevanović
*
Mario Božić
*
Rade Krunić
*
Misdongarde Betolngar
*
Bacar Baldé
*
Ilija Spasojević
*
Nenad Erić
*
Omega Roberts
*
Darko Krsteski
*
Stefan Spirovski
*
Damir Čakar
Damir Čakar (; born 28 June 1973) is a Montenegrin former professional footballer who played as either an attacking midfielder or a striker. He is known for his powerful shots and set pieces.
Club career
Čakar started out at his local club ...
*
Vladimir Gluščević
*
Milan Jovanović
*
Rade Petrović
*
Risto Radunović
*
Darko Zorić
*
Javier Cohene
*
Mustapha Bangura
*
Eugene Sseppuya
*
Mike Temwanjera
''For the list of all current and former players with Wikipedia article, please see:
:FK Borac Čačak players.''
Coaching history
A great number of coaches have passed through the club. Before the World War II the main coach was the former
BSK Belgrade and
national team player
Dragomir Tošić. After 1945 the main coaches were
Ivan Stevović,
Dragoslav Filipović,
Prvoslav Dragićević,
Kosta Tomašević,
Živorad Stanković,
Vasilije Šijaković,
Gojko Zec,
Dragan Bojović,
Momčilo Ilić,
Žarko Nedeljković, among others. More recently, the club was managed by
Dušan Radonjić,
Slobodan Ostojić,
Mihailo Kolarević, Dušan Marić,
Milovan Đorić,
Milovan Ćirković,
Dragutin Spasojević,
Nenad Starovlah,
Ivan Čančarević,
Milorad Kosanović,
Dimitrije Mitrović,
Branko Smiljanić, Božidar Vuković,
Slavenko Kuzeljević,
Dušimir Vulović,
Radovan Gudurić,
Milutin Marušić,
Miodrag Božović and
Milovan Rajevac.
[ at official website]
*
Gojko Zec
*
Milovan Đorić
*
Dragutin Spasojević
*
Nenad Starovlah
*
Ivan Čančarević
*
Radovan Gudurić
*
Slavko Vojičić
*
Branko Smiljanić
*
Slavenko Kuzeljević (1999–00)
*
Miodrag Božović (23 September 2003 – 2004)
*
Radovan Ćurčić (2006 – 3 March 2007)
*
Miodrag Božović (8 March 2007 – 8 January 2008)
*
Milovan Rajevac (17 January 2008 – 13 August 2008)
*
Nenad Milovanović (14 August 2008 – 11 November 2008)
*
Ljubiša Dmitrović (12 November 2008 – 2009)
*
Miodrag Martać (2009–10)
*
Slavko Petrović (10 January 2011 – 30 May 2011)
*
Slavko Petrović (3 October 2011 – 26 March 2012)
*
Nenad Lalatović (29 June 2015 – 10 November 2015)
*
Ljubiša Stamenković (2015 – April 2016)
*
Thomas Vasov (April 2016 – May 2016)
*
Ljubiša Dmitrović (May 2016 – August 2016)
References
External links
Club profile and squadat Srbijafudbal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borac Cacak
FK Borac Čačak
Football clubs in Serbia
Football clubs in Yugoslavia
Association football clubs established in 1926
1926 establishments in Serbia
Sport in Čačak