FK Radnik Bijeljina

Summary

Fudbalski klub Radnik Bijeljina (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Радник Бијељина) is a professional association football club based in the city of Bijeljina that is situated in northeast Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club plays its home matches on the Bijeljina City Stadium, which has a capacity of 6,000 seats. The name Radnik means worker.

Radnik Bijeljina
Full nameFudbalski klub Radnik Bijeljina
Founded14 June 1945; 78 years ago (1945-06-14)
GroundGradski Stadion, Bijeljina
Capacity6,000
ChairmanPredrag Perković
ManagerVelibor Đurić
LeagueFirst League of RS
2022–23First League of RS, 7th
WebsiteClub website

The club won its first First League of the Republika Srpska title in the 1998–99 season, and the second in the 2004–05 season, after which the club got promoted to the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club was relegated from the Bosnian Premier League in the 2006–07 season.

Under the leadership of manager Darko Nestorović, in the 2011–12 season, Radnik once again won the title in the First League of RS and won a second promotion to the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they played until the 2021–22 season.

In the 2015–16 season, Radnik had, so far, their biggest success, winning its first national trophy, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup, after they beat FK Sloboda Tuzla in the two-legged cup final (1–1 in Bijeljina and 0–3 in Tuzla). Winning the cup, the club qualified to the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds, its first UEFA competition.

History edit

The first football was brought to Bijeljina in 1916. The first football club was FK Podrinje which was formed in 1919. Later other clubs were formed such as FK Zora in 1920, FK Građanski in 1923, and FK Semberija in 1935. The clubs from this entire region of Posavlje and Podrinje played in the provincial leagues of the Belgrade Football Subassociation.[1] After the end of World War II, FK Radnik was formed.

1945–1990 edit

FK Radnik Bijeljina was founded on 14 June 1945. It didn't take long for Radnik to win their first trophy. In 1948 they became champions of the Tuzla District beating FK Sloboda Tuzla in the final. A year later, the club reached the 1/16 round of the Yugoslav Cup. In 1957, Radnik entered into the Novi Sad/Srem zone (regional league). In season 1971–72, Radnik became champions of the regional Republic League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and they entered a playoff for a place in the Yugoslav Second League. The club played FK Sloga from Vukovar in the playoff where it won both matches, 4–0 in Bijeljina and 8–0 in Vukovar. It entered the 2nd League of Yugoslavia playing against clubs such as FK Proleter Zrenjanin and FK Bečej. They stayed in the Yugoslav Second League for six seasons, being its best classification in the season 1977–78 when they finished 10th.[2]

Another great achievement of FK Radnik Bijeljina was when the junior team won the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup in 1987. In the semi-final, they beat FK Velež Mostar in Mostar by 5–2. In the final, Radnik beat FK Polet Bosanski Brod in the penalties to win the trophy.

1990s edit

From 1995 to 1997, the club was called FK Panteri Bijeljina and played under that name in the first two seasons of the First League of the Republika Srpska.[2] In the 1998–99 season, Radnik Bijeljina won their first First League of RS title, an achievement reached again in the 2004–05 season.[2]

2000s edit

In the season 2004–05, Radnik won their second Republika Srpska title which got them a place in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the 2005–06 season. In the 2005–06 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina season, Radnik finished 13th.[2] A year earlier it had reached the 1/4 finals of the Bosnian Cup.[2]

In the Republika Srpska Cup, after being twice a losing finalist in the 2005–06 and 2008–09 editions, it finally won the Cup in the 2009–10 cup season.[2]

2010s edit

Radnik won its first national trophy in 2016, winning the Bosnian Cup in the 2015–16 season, beating Sloboda Tuzla in the final (agg. 4–1).[3] This way Radnik won a spot in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. Even though they put up a good fight, Radnik got eliminated in the first qualifying round by Bulgarian First League club PFC Beroe Stara Zagora (agg. 2–0).[4][5]

In the 2018–19 Bosnian Premier League season, Radnik finished on 5th place, but as 4th placed FK Željezničar Sarajevo didn't get an UEFA license to compete in that season's league, Radnik got qualified by default to the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds.[6] The club got eliminated by FC Spartak Trnava in the first qualifying round, after beating Spartak in the first match in Banja Luka 2–0, but it got eliminetd by Spartak in Trnava in the second match after penalties (2–3 on penalties for Spartak), since the Slovak side defeated Radnik 2–0 in regular time as well.[7][8]

2020s edit

On 28 March 2020, five years after becoming club chairman of the board, Mladen Krstajić decided to leave Radnik, with Predrag Perković becoming the new club chairman.[9]

In September 2022, fans waved a flag of the Totenkopf Division which is widely viewed as a hate symbol.[10]

Honours edit

Domestic edit

League edit

Cups edit

European record edit

As of 18 July 2019
Competition P W D L GF GA GD
UEFA Europa League 4 1 1 2 2 4 −2
Total 4 1 1 2 2 4 –2

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goals difference. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.

List of matches edit

Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Agg.
2016–17 UEFA Europa League 1Q   Beroe Stara Zagora 0–2 0–0 0–2
2019–20 UEFA Europa League 1Q   Spartak Trnava 2–0 0–2 (a.e.t) 2–2 (2–3 p)

Players edit

Current squad edit

As of 23 May 2023

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
5 DF   BIH Miloš Jokić
6 MF   BIH Stefan Paranos
7 FW   BIH Dragan Došlo
8 MF   BIH Dragan Matković
9 DF   BIH Aleksandar Vasić (Captain)
10 FW   SRB Dusan Ristić
11 FW   SRB Nenad Srećković
12 FW   SRB Vido Marković
14 FW   BIH Sreten Milosevic
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 DF   BIH Aleksandar Maksimović
17 DF   BIH Pavle Maletić
18 DF   BIH Marko Despotović
19 MF   BIH Nikola Danilovic
20 DF   SRB Nenad Rašević
21 MF   BIH Marko Perišić
24 GK   BIH Dalibor Mitrović
25 MF   SRB Milan Gavrić
27 GK   BIH Nikola Lakić

Players with multiple nationalities edit

  •     Nenad Srećković
  •     Nenad Rašević
  •     Milan Gavrić

Club officials edit

Technical staff edit

Current technical staff
  • Manager:   Velibor Đurić
  • Assistant coach:   Jovo Borković
  • Goalkeeping coach:   Zoran Sofrenić
  • Fitness coach:   Vladan Popović
  • Physiotherapist:   Nikola Savić
  • Kit manager:   Žiko Stokanović
  • Doctor:   Đoko Novaković

Club management edit

Current management
  • Chairman of the Board:   Nedeljko Ćorić
  • Chairman of the Assembly:  
  • Director:  
  • General secretary:   Slobodan Đorđić
  • Board members:
  •  
  •  
  •  

Managerial history edit

Club ranking edit

UEFA coefficient edit

2020–21 season edit

Rank Team Points
373   Union Titus Pétange 1.650
374   Racing-Union 1.650
375   Borac 1.600
376   Radnik 1.600
377   Sloboda 1.600
378   Bohemian 1.575
379   Derry City 1.575
As of 17 December 2020
Source: uefa.com

Notes edit

  1. ^ Žižović served as caretaker manager until 26 May 2017, when he was hired on a permanent basis.

References edit

  1. ^ Milorad Sijić: "Football in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia" Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, pags. 138 (in Serbian)
  2. ^ a b c d e f O klubu Archived 2015-02-08 at the Wayback Machine at FK Radnik Bijeljina official website, retrieved 8 February 2015 (in Serbian)
  3. ^ E.B. (18 May 2016). "Historijski dan za Bijeljinu: Fudbaleri Radnika savladali Slobodu 3:0 i osvojili Kup BiH" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  4. ^ O.T. (30 June 2016). "Radnik izvukao remi u gostima protiv Beroea u 1. pretkolu Evropske lige" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  5. ^ O.T. (7 July 2016). "Beroe u finišu meča srušio Radnik i eliminisao ga iz Evropske lige" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Željezničar ostao bez licence, Radnik iz Bijeljine naredne sezone igra Evropsku ligu" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  7. ^ K.H. (11 July 2019). "Sjajni rezultati bh. klubova: Zrinjski i Radnik ostvarili velike pobjede u Evropskoj ligi" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  8. ^ E.B. (18 July 2019). "Radnik nakon penala ispao od Spartaka iz Evropske lige" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  9. ^ S. Mlaćo (28 March 2020). "Krstajić i zvanično bivši, Radnik ima novog predsjednika" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  10. ^ BIRN (6 September 2022). "Nacistički simbol na utakmici radnika" (in Bosnian). mapiranjemrznje.detektor.ba. Retrieved 6 September 2022.

External links edit

  • Official website (in Serbian)
  • Team profile at Soccerway