FK Borac Banja Luka

Borac Banja Luka

Full name	Fudbalski klub Borac Banja Luka
Nickname(s)	Crveno-plavi (The Red-Blues) Velikan iz Platonove (Giant from Platon St) Krajiški ponos (Pride of Krajina)
Founded	4 July 1926; 97 years ago (1926-07-04)
Ground	Banja Luka City Stadium
Capacity	10,030
President	Goran Lukić
Manager	Vinko Marinović
League	Premier League BH
2022–23	Premier League BH, 2nd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Active sport clubs of Borac Banja Luka
Swimming Cycling Karate Ice hockey Shooting Taekwondo Bowling Boxing Table tennis

Fudbalski klub Borac Banja Luka (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Бopaц Бања Лука, pronounced [bǒːrat͡s]) is a Bosnian professional association football club, based in the city of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is the major part of the Borac Banja Luka Sports Society. Borac Banja Luka is one of the most popular football clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name Borac means "Fighter".

Currently, Borac is a part of the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and plays its home matches at the Banja Luka City Stadium, which has a capacity of 10,030 seats.

History

Early years (1926–1953)

The

The club's first president was Rudolf Hiter, and Savo Novaković was named vice president, with a supervisory board headed by Đoko Jovanović. As football attracted more and more attention in the city on the

Banja Luka City Stadium

.

The club's first success in this early period came in 1928 when RSK Borac won a tournament played in

in 1948.

Decades of success in the first and second league (1960–1992)

In 1961, Borac was promoted to the Yugoslav First League for the first time but was instantly dropped back down at the end of the season. The club had to wait for almost a decade to the return to the top flight. It was in the 1970–71 season, and the club stayed in the top league for four consecutive seasons. In this period, precisely in 1974, Borac achieved the Yugoslav Cup final. They were defeated by Hajduk Split in Belgrade, and as the runner-up, they have provided placement for the 1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup season. In the first round of Cup Winners' Cup, Borac played against US Rumelange from Luxembourg. The first leg was played in Banja Luka where Borac recorded a record win in European competitions by a 9–0.^[3]

The second leg was won by Borac by 1–5, meaning 14–1 on aggregate, and played in the second round against R.S.C. Anderlecht. The "Red-Blues" won the home match but it was 1–3 on aggregate at the end for the Belgians, who became winners of the

Memorable years (1988–1992)

Yugoslav Cup winner (1988)

From 1988 to 1992, Borac enjoyed the best period in its long history. In

and gave their team a hero's welcome.

First European title (1992)

In 1992, Borac won its first international trophy, the Mitropa Cup.^{[9][10][11][12]} The club won the cup in the Italian city Foggia.

At that time there was an ongoing

in its history.

Recent years (2001–present)

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The First League of the Republika Srpska was the top flight of the Republika Srpska before 2002. Borac won the Republika Srpska championship three times (2001, 2006 and

was created as three national competitions were merged in one.

It became the country's most prestigious level of football competition. Also, since 2002, the clubs from the entire country are competing in the

, however, the tournament was over for them. In 2012, Borac finished the national championship third and qualified for the European football competition season. Borac got Čelik Nikšić from Montenegro as their opponent. Borac was knocked out by the away goal rule (3-3a).

Colours and crest

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Colours

Borac Banja Luka's traditional home colours are red and blue with white socks (colours that are contained on the Yugoslav flag). Borac has maintained the red-blue shirt for its home kit throughout the history of the club. Its traditional away colours are all blue or all red. The club's kit is after long-standing Serbian sports clothing company NAAI, currently, new manufactured by Diadora, an Italian sports clothing company.

Crest

Borac Banja Luka's present crest contains the name of the club and the name of the City of Banja Luka in the background formed from the sections that are coloured as the Serbian flag. On the top of the crest, the year of the club foundation is located. In addition, the whole crest is framed in gold colour.

• 
  Borac's crest during the former

  Yugoslavia
• 
  Borac's present crest

Stadium

Banja Luka City Stadium

in September 2012.

The home stadium of Borac is the

lounge and room for media was built, new lighting, sound systems and video surveillance were installed, and trophy and technical rooms were renovated. In 2012, the new north stand was built with a capacity of 2,492 seats, which increased the total capacity of the stadium to 9,730. According to recent plans, the east stand will be covered by a roof in the upcoming years. The construction of the south stand began, which will increase the total capacity to approximately 13,000 seats.

New stadium

In 2008, an expert committee has chosen the concept of building a new stadium. The new stadium will have 30,000 seats, and the whole complex will cover 205,000 square meters. It will include two additional football fields, tennis, basketball and volleyball courts. The cost of the whole project is estimated to be €50 million and it will meet the highest FIFA and UEFA demands.^{[citation needed]}

Supporters

As one of the most successful football clubs in the country, Borac always had a considerable number of supporters. The organized supporters of FK Borac are known as Lešinari^[13] (Serbian Cyrillic: Лешинари) and they are the oldest organized supporter group in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were established in 1987. The gathering point of the club's most loyal and passionate fans was the East stand of

until 2017 when it was changed to the North stand. Borac has big strong and loyal brotherhood with .

Rivalries

Željezničar-Borac Banja Luka rivalry

Since the season 2008–09, the time when Borac started to be standard in the Bosnian Premier League once again, a great rivalry started to develop between them and FK Željezničar. Starting from the 2009–10 season the two teams mainly competed against each other for one of the titles (the league title or national cup) and even the attendance almost got on pair with the acclaimed Sarajevo derby. The rivalry also has a root in the fact that Sarajevo and Banja Luka are, by a good margin, the two biggest cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first being also the capital of the whole country while the second takes the role as the de facto capital of Republika Srpska entity. Since the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the teams met each other 22 times (6 of which are in a national cup), although they played the first time against each other in 1947 Yugoslav Cup. In those 22 matches, Željezničar won 12 times, while Borac managed to win 7 times, with 3 matches ending in a draw. The goal difference is 31:19 in favour of Željezničar (Not including results from the 2015 to 2016 season).

Honours

Domestic

League

• Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
  • Winners (2): 2010–11, 2020–21
  • Runners-up (1): 2022–23
• First League of Republika Srpska:
  • Winners (5): 2000–01, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2016–17, 2018–19 (record)
  • Runners-up (1): 1997–98

Cups

• Yugoslav Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1987–88
  • Runners-up (1): 1974
• Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2009–10
  • Runners-up (2): 2003–04, 2020–21
• Republika Srpska Cup:
  • Winners (6): 1994–95, 1995–96, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2022–23

European

• Mitropa Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1992

Recent seasons

Season	League									CupRS	Cup	European competitions		Top goalscorer
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos					Player	Goals
1992–93	1st YU↓	36	6	11	19	35	64	23	19th	—	—	—	—
1993–94	2nd YU	38						33	15th	—	1/16 YU	—	—
1994–95	2nd YU↓	38						39	16th	W	—	—	—
In summer 1995 Borac left the Football Association of Yugoslavia to join to First League of the Republika Srpska
1995–96	RS W	20	14	6	0	50	13	48	2nd	W	—	—	—
1996–97	RS W	22	11	6	5	32	16	39	2nd		—	—	—
1997–98	RS	34	18	4	12	58	34	58	2nd		—	—	—
1998–99	RS	34	13	6	15	44	39	45	15th		—	—	—
1999–00	RS	38	16	11	11	70	40	59	8th		—	—	—
2000–01	RS	30	20	3	7	66	22	63	1st		—	—	—
2001–02	RS↑	30	16	7	7	45	25	55	3rd	1/8	1/16	—	—
2002–03	Prem	38	16	6	16	50	49	54	7th	1/16	QF	—	—
2003–04	Prem	30	11	6	13	40	42	39	7th	1/8	RU	—	—
2004–05	Prem↓	30	13	2	15	36	39	40*	15th	1/8	1/8	—	—
2005–06	RS↑	30	19	5	6	50	19	62	1st	SF	1/8	—	—
2006–07	Prem↓	30	13	0	17	42	47	39	15th	1/8	QF	—	—
2007–08	RS↑	30	21	4	5	62	29	67	1st	RU	1/16	—	—
2008–09	Prem	30	15	4	11	45	26	49	5th	W	1/16	—	—	Stojan Vranješ	5
2009–10	Prem	30	17	2	11	37	29	53	3rd	1/8	W	—	—	Nemanja Bilbija	6
2010–11	Prem	30	19	7	4	37	15	64	1st	W	1/8	Europa League	QR2	Stevo Nikolić	10
2011–12	Prem	30	17	4	9	46	26	55	3rd	W	SF	Champions League	QR2	Saša Kajkut	9
2012–13	Prem	30	14	9	7	43	25	51	3rd	RU	1/16	Europa League	QR1	Joco Stokić	12
2013–14	Prem	30	13	6	11	39	32	45	6th	1/16	1/8	—	—	Joco Stokić	10
2014–15	Prem	30	14	7	9	26	26	49	5th	1/8	SF	—	—	Joco Stokić	10
2015–16	Prem↓	30	10	6	14	27	33	36	11th	1/8	QF	—	—	Toni Jović	6
2016–17	RS↑	32	25	6	1	61	47	81	1st	QF	1/16	—	—	Ivan Delić	12
2017–18	Prem↓	32	10	8	14	22	31	38	9th	1/8	1/8	—	—	Petar Kunić	12
2018–19	RS↑	32	25	5	2	60	14	80	1st	QF	QF	—	—	Saša Kajkut	13
2019–20[nb 1]	Prem	22	10	6	6	29	23	36	4th	1/8	QF	—	—	Stojan Vranješ	12
2020–21	Prem	33	21	4	8	59	31	67	1st	1/16	RU	Europa League	QR2	Stojan Vranješ	15
2021–22	Prem	33	13	15	5	44	34	54	3rd	SF	QF	Champions League Europa Conference League	QR1 QR2	Stojan Vranješ	10
2022–23	Prem	33	18	4	11	39	32	58	2nd	W	1/8	Europa Conference League	QR1	Momčilo Mrkaić	10

Key League: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; Pts = Points won; Pos = Final position; Cup / Europe: PR = Preliminary round; QR = Qualifying round; R1 = First round; R2 = Second round; Group = Group stage; QF = Quarter-final; SF = Semi-final; RU = Runner-up; W = Competition won;

European record

As of 3 August 2023

Competition	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Win%
UEFA Champions League	4	2	0	2	7	11	−4	050.00
UEFA Europa League	6	1	3	2	5	7	−2	016.67
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	6	4	0	2	17	8	+9	066.67
UEFA Europa Conference League	6	1	1	4	4	10	−6	016.67
Mitropa Cup	2	0	2	0	3	3	+0	000.00
Total	24	8	6	10	36	39	−3	033.33

Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.

List of matches

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg.
1975–76	Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Rumelange	9–0	5–1	14–1
		2R	Anderlecht	1–0	0–3	1–3
1988–89	Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Metalist Kharkov	2–0	0–4	2–4
1991–92	Mitropa Cup	SF	Foggia	2–2 (4–2 p)
		Final	Budapesti VSC	1–1 (5–3 p)
2010–11	Europa League	2Q	Lausanne-Sport	1–1	0–1	1–2
2011–12	Champions League	2Q	Maccabi Haifa	3–2	1–5	4–7
2012–13	Europa League	1Q	Čelik Nikšić	2–2	1–1	3–3 ( a )
2020–21	Europa League	1Q	Sutjeska Nikšić	1–0	—	—
		2Q	Rio Ave	0−2	—	—
2021–22	Champions League	1Q	CFR Cluj	2–1 (a.e.t.)	1−3	3–4
	Europa Conference League	2Q	Linfield	0–0	0−4	0–4
2022–23	Europa Conference League	1Q	B36 Tórshavn	2–0	1–3 (a.e.t.)	3–3 (3–4 p)
2023–24	Europa Conference League	2Q	Austria Wien	1−2	0−1	1–3

Club ranking

UEFA coefficient

2022–23 season

Rank	Team	Points
304	FK Tirana	4.000
304	Gabala FK	4.000
304	Botev Plovdiv	4.000
304	Borac	4.000
304	Bala Town	4.000
304	Inter Turku	4.000
304	Tre Penne	4.000

As of 15 June 2023. Source

Players

Current squad

As of 21 January 2024^[15]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SRB Bojan Pavlović 2 DF  BIH Slobodan Đekić 3 DF  SRB Ranko Jokić 4 DF  SRB Nikola Pejović 6 DF  CRO Maks Čelić 7 FW  SVN Alen Jurilj 8 MF  SRB Stefan Fićović 9 FW  SRB Aalborg ) 15 MF  BIH Srđan Grahovac (Captain) 16 DF  COL Sebastián Herrera 17 FW  BIH David Vuković 18 DF  BIH Aleksandar Subić (Vice-captain) 19 FW  BIH Jovo Lukić (3rd captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  BIH Zoran Kvržić 21 GK  BIH Nikola Ćetković 22 FW  BIH David Čavić 23 MF  BIH Stojan Vranješ 24 MF  CRO Jakov Blagaić 25 GK  SRB Marko Milošević 27 FW  BIH Enver Kulašin 29 MF  MNE Vasilije Terzić 31 DF  BIH Savo Šušić 45 MF  SRB Jovan Nišić 49 FW  BIH Stefan Marčetić 55 FW  BIH Damir Hrelja 93 GK  BIH David Stjepanović

Players on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  BIH Đorđe Milojević (at FK Sloga until 30 June 2024) — DF  BIH Filip Račić (at NK GOŠK until 30 June 2024) — DF  BIH Marko Kujundžić (at FK BSK until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  BIH Danilo Moconja (at FK BSK until 30 June 2024) — MF  BIH Dejan Bosančić (at FK Laktaši until 30 June 2024) — FW  MNE Balša Goranović (at FK Laktaši until 30 June 2024)

Technical staff

Current staff

Head coach: Vinko Marinović Assistant coach: Danimir Milkanović Coach: Boris Raspudić Coach: Čedomir Ćulum Goalkeeping Coach: Siniša Mrkobrada Video Analyst: Stefan Pupovac Head Physiotherapist: Vladimir Pilipović Physiotherapist: Darko Dejanović Physiotherapist: Nikola Vučenović Kit manager: Milovan Maksić Youth Staff: U19 Head coach: Zoran Dragišić Assistant: Ranko Stanarević Goalkeeping Coach: Radovan Gajić U17 Head coach: Milan Ozren Assistant: Marko Tešić U15 Head coach: Asmir Avdukić U13 Head coach: Aleksandar Radulović Assistant: Igor Mirković

Club management

Current board

President: Goran Lukić Director: Dejan Ćato Director of Football: Oliver Jandrić Head of Youth Development: Saša Kajkut Youth Coordinator: Nemanja Miljanović Marketing Director: Mirko Vujinović Portparol: Maria Đurić Board members: Goran Lukić Nenad Nešić Slobodan Stanarević Bojan Kresojević Ljubo Ninković Bogoljub Zeljković

Former players

World Cup players

2014 FIFA World Cup

• Asmir Avdukić

Managerial history

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (in Serbian)
• Sport association Borac (in Serbian)
• Official supporters' website (in Serbian)
• Borac Banja Luka at
  UEFA.com