FK Radnik Bijeljina

Radnik Bijeljina
Full name	Fudbalski klub Radnik Bijeljina
Founded	14 June 1945; 79 years ago
Ground	Gradski Stadion, Bijeljina
Capacity	6,000
Chairman	Nedeljko Ćorić
Manager	Velibor Đurić
League	Premier League BH
2023–24	First League of RS, 1st of 18 (promoted)
Website	http://www.fkradnik.ba/
Home colours	Away colours

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. They compete in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name Radnik means worker.

Radnik 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 Bosnian Premier League. The club was relegated from the Bosnian Premier League in the 2006–07 season.

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, 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

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

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

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

In the season 2004–05, Radnik won their second Republika Srpska title which got them a place in the Bosnian Premier League for the 2005–06 season. In the 2005–06 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

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

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

Domestic

League

First League of Republika Srpska:
- Winners (4): 1998–99, 2004–05, 2011–12, 2023–24
Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic League: (Yugoslav third level)
- Winners (2): 1948–49, 1971–72

Cups

Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup:
- Winners (1): 2015–16
Republika Srpska Cup:
- Winners (7): 2009–10, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 (record)
- Runners-up (3): 2006–07, 2008–09, 2010–11

European record

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

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

Current squad

As of 24 August 2024

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	Filip Samurović
3	DF	SRB	Filip Antonijević
4	DF	BIH	Stefan Josipović
5	DF	BIH	Andrija Janjić
6	DF	BIH	Jovan Pavlović
7	FW	BIH	Dragan Došlo
8	MF	SRB	Damjan Krajišnik
9	DF	BIH	Aleksandar Vasić (captain)
10	FW	BRA	Nathan
11	FW	BIH	Đorđe Pantelić
14	FW	BIH	Savo Veljkić
16	DF	BIH	Eldar Sivac
18	MF	BIH	Sedad Subašić


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	FW	BIH	Milorad Albijanić
20	FW	BIH	Amar Pekarić
21	MF	BIH	Marko Perišić
22	MF	BIH	Mihajlo Amidžić
23	FW	BIH	Andrija Lošić
24	MF	BIH	Stefan Santrač
25	MF	BIH	Ognjen Ristanović
26	MF	BIH	Mirzad Mehanović
27	GK	BIH	Nikola Lakić
32	FW	BIH	Alen Čamdžić
88	MF	SRB	Miroslav Maričić
90	FW	SRB	Strahinja Jovanović
92	FW	FRA	Joel Da Silva

Club officials

Technical staff

**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

**Current management**
Chairman of the Board: Nedeljko Ćorić General secretary: Slobodan Đorđić

Managerial history

Ivan Mioč
Radomir Jovičić
Živorad Miražić
Zoran Jagodić
Miroslav Milanović
Dušan Jevrić
Nikola Bala
Dragan Radović
Darko Nestorović (1 July 2011 – 27 August 2012)
Srđan Bajić (1 September 2012 – 3 September 2014)
Slavko Petrović (5 September 2014 – 23 August 2016)
Nebojša Milošević (24 August 2016 – 9 May 2017)
Mladen Žižović (9 May 2017^{[nb 1]} – 11 November 2019)
Slobodan Starčević (11 November 2019 – 13 January 2020)
Slavko Petrović (13 January 2020 – 16 November 2020)
Darko Nestorović (24 November 2020 – 16 April 2021)
Vlado Jagodić (21 April 2021 – 25 October 2021)
Velibor Đurić (25 October 2021 – present)

Notes

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

References

^ Milorad Sijić: "Football in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia" Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, pags. 138 (in Serbian)
^ ^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)
^ E.B. (18 May 2016). "Historijski dan za Bijeljinu: Fudbaleri Radnika savladali Slobodu 3:0 i osvojili Kup BiH" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
^ O.T. (30 June 2016). "Radnik izvukao remi u gostima protiv Beroea u 1. pretkolu Evropske lige" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
^ O.T. (7 July 2016). "Beroe u finišu meča srušio Radnik i eliminisao ga iz Evropske lige" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
^ "Željezničar ostao bez licence, Radnik iz Bijeljine naredne sezone igra Evropsku ligu" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
^ K.H. (11 July 2019). "Sjajni rezultati bh. klubova: Zrinjski i Radnik ostvarili velike pobjede u Evropskoj ligi" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
^ E.B. (18 July 2019). "Radnik nakon penala ispao od Spartaka iz Evropske lige" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Archived from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
^ S. Mlaćo (28 March 2020). "Krstajić i zvanično bivši, Radnik ima novog predsjednika" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
^ BIRN (6 September 2022). "Nacistički simbol na utakmici radnika" (in Bosnian). mapiranjemrznje.detektor.ba. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.

External links

Team profile at Soccerway

[11] Žižović served as caretaker manager until 26 May 2017, when he was hired on a permanent basis.

[1] Milorad Sijić: "Football in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia" Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, pags. 138 (in Serbian)

[oklubu-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. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. 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. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. 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. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2016.

[6] "Željezničar ostao bez licence, Radnik iz Bijeljine naredne sezone igra Evropsku ligu" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. 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. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2019.

[8] E.B. (18 July 2019). "Radnik nakon penala ispao od Spartaka iz Evropske lige" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Archived from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.

[9] S. Mlaćo (28 March 2020). "Krstajić i zvanično bivši, Radnik ima novog predsjednika" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2020.

[10] BIRN (6 September 2022). "Nacistički simbol na utakmici radnika" (in Bosnian). mapiranjemrznje.detektor.ba. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.

[1]