FK Radnički 1923

Radnički 1923

Full name	Fudbalski klub Radnički 1923
Founded	1923; 101 years ago (1923)
Ground	Čika Dača Stadium
Capacity	15,022
President	Igor Konatar
Head coach	Feđa Dudić
League	Serbian SuperLiga
2023–24	Serbian SuperLiga, 5th
Website	fkradnicki.com
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Fudbalski klub Radnički 1923 (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Рaднички 1923), commonly known as Radnički Kragujevac (Serbian Cyrillic: Рaднички Крагујевац), is a professional football club from Kragujevac, Serbia making up the major part of the Radnički Kragujevac Sports Society. The name Radnički means "of the labourers" in Serbian and its roots come from the relation the club had with labour movements during the first half of the 20th century.

The club was formed in 1923 during an assembly in a restaurant in Kragujevac under the name Mladi Radnik (Young Labourer). Aleksandar Ratković was its first president. The first match that Mladi Radnik played was a 2–0 away loss to local side SK Triglav. On 16 August 1925, they played host to SK Radnički Beograd in a match where the visitors eventually won 5–0. One week later, Mladi Radnik won their first match against Radnički Niš 7–1.

In 1929, Mladi Radnik changed its name to Radnički, an adjective invoking labour and workers in Serbian, as its roots come from the relation the club had with labour movements during the first half of the 20th century.

The club's stature and significance began increasing from 1933. It got its own stadium in 1935, and the first match at the new stadium was played on 18 August 1935, against local rivals Slavija, which was won by 1–0 and the first goal scored Jeremija Nikolić. At that time the club had also a number of international matches. Radnički was in the prewar years of the World War II host of teams like Olympique Marseille, Ferencváros and Honvéd Budapest, Rapid Wien and some others. The club competed in the highest league of the Kragujevac Football Subassociation which gave access to the qualifiers for the Yugoslav Championship. Radnički won the Subassociation league in 1934, 1935, 1938 and 1939,^[1] however it only managed to qualify once to the national league, in the 1935–36 season. They had a fierce rivalry with FK Šumadija 1903 in this period.

During World War II, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded and partitioned by the Axis powers, and Kragujevac were occupied by Nazi Germany and underwent a number of tragic days during the war. The local population was suppressed and many Serbian civilians, as well as Roma and Jews, were murdered or have perished in concentration camps. Radnički lost during the war numerous players, club officials and a whole generation of club supporters.^[2] Therefore, comes mainly the especially deep-rooted antifascist attitude of the city, the club and its supporters. To commemorate the victims of the massacre, the whole village of Šumarice, where the killings took place, was turned into a memorial park, called Šumarice Memorial Park. The Museum of Genocide in Kragujevac is located not so far from Radnički's stadium. After the liberation of Kragujevac in 1944, the club continued to develop.

In 1946, Radnički played against Red Star Belgrade for membership of the newly created Yugoslav First League. There were so many fans that the City Stadium was too small to accommodate all visitors. Then, the city and the club decided to build a new stadium. After eight years of construction, the new stadium was ready to be opened. The official opening took place on 6 June, in 1957, against Partizan Belgrade and ended with 2–2. In 1969, Radnički was promoted for the first time to the Yugoslav First League after beating Sutjeska Nikšić and FK Crvenka in the play-offs. During the season, Radnički had a great 4–1 victory over Partizan Belgrade at JNA Stadium. On this 7 September, in 1969, the Radnički fans support their team particularly fanatical. The atmosphere was so fantastic that it was compared with the atmosphere at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester (statements from local and foreign journalists and opponents). On this day the Radnički fans and the club were given the nickname Crveni Đavoli (English: Red Devils), after the nickname for Manchester United. After that game, the Brazilian football giant FC Santos with the legendary Pelé was so impressed by the atmosphere, instead of the friendly game against Partizan, they drove to Kragujevac and played against Radnički. They were not disappointed. 40,000 spectators were in the Čika Dača Stadium and around the stadium were a further seven to eight thousand enthusiastic fans. Radnički achieved in a legendary atmosphere a 4–4 draw. At the end of the domestic championship, Radnički was 15th in their first top league season and the survival was ensured on the last round with a victory over Vojvodina by 1–0.^[3][4]

The 1971, Radnički finished the season as 17th and narrowly avoided the relegation. The following 1971/72 season, the club returned to the Yugoslav Second League. However, the return to the first league is not a long time coming. Radnički managed to get back among the best teams of the former Yugoslavia and to play two more seasons in the top division, before they went at the end of the 1975/76 season the way to the second division. Then comes the drought period of the club for two decades.

Since the relegation in 1976, the club was no longer member of the top division. The civil war during the 90s (1992–1995), the inflation and the UN sanctions have hit the state and his population hard. The club relegated even several times in the third league, but the final return in the first league occurred in 1998. It followed the longest period in the first division, in total for four seasons, before they went at the end of the 2001/02 season again the way to the second division. In 2010, FK Šumadija Radnički 1923 was a short lived name of the club during the 2009/10 season after the fusion with FK Šumadija 1903. The old name Radnički was returned and changed to Radnički Kragujevac. However, 2010 marked a turning point for the club, which achieved the promotion, and returning to the top flight, the Serbian SuperLiga, in 2011, where it remained until nowadays.

The name of the town Kragujevac derived from the Serbian word "kraguj", which is a name used for a particular species of hawk from the genus Accipiter, which in the Middle Ages often nested in the city and its surrounding region, and was appreciated by the population as they were used partially for hunting. Thus the name means "Kraguj City". Today, the Kraguj occupies a place of honor on the city's coat of arms and also on the crest of the club. The typical colours of Radnički are mainly red, but the club used also as away kit, an all-turquoise jersey.

• 
  Radnički's 3rd crest

The home field of Radnički Kragujevac is the Čika Dača Stadium. It is named in memory of Danilo Stojanović, known as Čika Dača, who is considered to be a pioneer of football in Serbia. The construction of the stadium was finished on 6 June, in 1957, and had a capacity for up to 40,000 spectators. After renovations in 2007, the stadium new capacity is 15,100 seats.^[5]

For the stadium are planned several phases of reconstructions. The first phase includes the installation of 1,400 lux strong floodlights of the brand Philips and new locker and club rooms, while for the next phase planned the full reconstruction of the west stand (inclusive covering), the press and the VIP lounge. Then will follow the construction of the east stand, so that it fulfills the UEFA standards for European matches. The first phase started in July 2012.

Since its foundation, Radnički always had considerable number of supporters. The first organized support of Radnički fans was recorded on 29 July, in 1934. About 600 Radnički fans drove to Belgrade for a match against BASK. The real spectator boom began in the late sixties, were Radnički was promoted for the first time to the top level. At that time began the first approaches of modern organized support. The away match against Partizan should make history. On this 7 September, in 1969, the Radnički fans support their team particularly fanatical and the atmosphere was so fantastic that it was compared with the atmosphere at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester (statements from local and foreign journalists and opponents). On this day, the Radnički fans and the club were given the nickname Crveni Đavoli (English: The Red Devils), after the nickname for Manchester United. However, the first organized meeting of the Crveni Djavoli was on 9 March, in 1989. Together, the fans went to a basketball game and the Djavoli took advantage of this day as the day of its official founding. Today, they are always on the southside of the Čika Dača Stadium, from where they fiery support their club. Besides football, they also support other sport sections of the Radnički Kragujevac Sport Association.

• Yugoslav Second League
  • Winners: 1968–69, 1973–74
• Kragujevac Football Subassociation
  • Winners: 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939

• Serbian First League
  • Winners: 2020–21
  • Runners-up: 2010–11
• Serbian League West
  • Winners: 2016–17

Serbian SuperLiga top scorer

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2024–25	UEFA Conference League	Second qualifying round	Mornar Bar	1–0	1–2 (a.e.t.)	2–2 (3–4 p)

As of 10 August 2024^[6]

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 Marko Milošević 4 DF  BIH Marko Mihojević 5 DF  BIH Besim Šerbečić (on loan from Sarajevo) 6 DF  BIH Samir Zeljković 7 FW  SRB Matija Gluščević 8 DF  BIH Mehmed Ćosić 9 FW  COL Dilan Ortíz 10 FW  GLP Kilian Bevis 11 FW  BRA Evandro 14 MF  SRB Slobodan Simović (captain) 15 DF  SRB Milan Mitrović 17 MF  GRE Anastasios Tselios 20 DF  BIH Slaviša Radović 23 DF  MNE Bojan Adžić 27 MF  SRB Miloš Ristić

No. Pos. Nation Player 30 MF  SRB Luka Milojević 32 MF  SRB Nikola Bukumira 33 MF  SRB Vanja Tomić 39 FW  BIH Aleksej Golijanin (on loan from RFS) 40 FW  SRB Aleksa Janković 41 MF  FRA Darly N'Landu 44 FW  SRB Bogdan Mirčetić 50 DF  CRO Tomislav Dadić 55 FW  SRB Milutin Vidosavljević 77 MF  SLE Alpha Turay 80 MF  MKD Luka Stankovski (on loan from Gaziantep) 81 GK  SRB Luka Lijeskić 88 GK  SRB Petar Milovanović 90 FW  SRB Milan Vidakov 99 FW  TUN Louay Ben Hassine

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  SRB Miloš Mladenović (at Dubočica) — MF  SRB Milan Gvozdenović (at Radnički Sremska Mitrovica)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  SRB Nemanja Ilić (at Metalac Gornji Milanovac) — FW  SRB Miloš Rošević (at Zemun)

• Tomislav Dadić
• Bojan Adžić
• Slobodan Simović
• Marko Milošević
• Slaviša Radović
• Aleksej Golijanin
• Luka Stankovski

To appear in this section a player must have either:

• Played at least 80 games for the club.
• Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club.
• Played at least one international match for their national team at any time.

For the list of current and former players with Wikipedia article, please see: Category:FK Radnički Kragujevac players.

As of 29 February 2024

Official

• Official website (in English and Serbian)

Other

• FK Radnički 1923 on Facebook