FK Rad

Rad

Full name	Fudbalski klub Rad
Nickname(s)	Građevinari (The Builders)
Founded	10 March 1958
Ground	King Peter I Stadium
Capacity	3,919
Head coach	vacant
League	Serbian SuperLiga
2019–20	Serbian SuperLiga, 15th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Fudbalski klub Rad (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Рад) is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, that competes in the Serbian SuperLiga. The club's name translates as "work" or "labour" due to being formed by the construction company of the same name in 1958.

Rad does not have a large supporter base but it is known for a very loyal supporter base, they compete regularly in the top tier of Serbian club football. There have been some very famous successful footballers to have played for Rad, such as: Miroslav Đukić, Ljubinko Drulović, Vladimir Jugović, Miroslav Stević, Zoran Mirković, and more recently Luka Milivojević.

The club has somewhat of a negative reputation caused mainly by its supporters who are known as "United Force", they can often be compared to the Millwall FC of Serbian football. On a positive note "United Force" are known as one of the most loyal supporter groups in Serbia following the club in good numbers home or away.

History

Rad was founded in 1958 by workers of the GRO Rad company. From the start the club had two major local rivals: Banjica and Jajinci, these rivalries were the rivals of the company but quickly it passed to football. The following individuals are considered as club's founders: Petar Đerasimović, the first president, Radojica Tanasijević, the first general selector, Željko Marjanović, the first financial adviser, and Ljubomir Lazić, the first vice president. The players that have played in 1958 can feel like founders as well, Rad had a lot of young players that were schooled in the First league teams, some players would include: Lazar Slavković, Đurđe Ivković, Vladimir Acević, Teodor Šušnjar, Milan Abramović, Brana Djaković, Aleksandar Banić, Živojin Rafailović, Aleksandar Andrejić, and a little later Sreten "Sele" Antić, Milan "Selja" Jovanović, and others.

The first head coach was Nikola Marjanović. The parliament has given the club a pitch in the center of Banjica, a few concrete stands were made, and later locker rooms were added, as well as the restaurant. The club had supporters in the Banjica region, which followed their club away and home. Rad quickly got promoted to the Belgrade League. In the period from 1965 to 1969, a change of generations had taken place. At that time the leaders were Ljubomir Lazić and Radomir Antić, notable managers were Đorđević and Đurđević, leaders for the players were Ratomir Janković, Vlada Vlaović, Matović, Zoran Bulatović, Dutina, Čeh and others.

The club's greatest success occurred in 1988–89 season when it finished the Yugoslav First League competition in fourth spot, ahead of many richer clubs such as Partizan. This success qualified Rad for the UEFA Cup in the 1989–90 season, where it was eliminated 2–3 on aggregate in the first round by Olympiacos (Rad lost 0–2 in Athens after winning 2–1 on home ground).

In 2011, Rad competed in the Europa League the club's second appearance in European competition and again the opponent was from Greece this time Olympiakos Volou. The first game played in Belgrade at the home ground of FK Obilić finished in a 0–1 loss for Rad, the second leg in Greece finished 1–1 with Nemanja Kojić scoring for Rad, which meant Rad where eliminated from the Europa League at the first hurdle, Rad's most successful manager who helped guide the club into European football Marko Nikolić would later go on to manage successfully across Europe especially in Hungary with Fehérvár FC and in Russia with FC Lokomotiv Moscow^[1]

In February 2017, a section of Rad supporters were accused of shouting racist abuse during a match against FK Partizan that reduced opposition player Everton Luiz to tears and resulted in confrontation between the opposing sides at the end of the match.^[2] There are examples of Rad supporters been accepting and supportive of minority players, such as when Predrag Luka a Romani people born Serb, played successfully for the club over a period of years and became a fan favourite.^[3]

Name changes through history

• 1958: club founded under the name of FK Rad
• 1990: renamed to FK GRO Rad
• 1993: renamed again to FK Rad

Stadium

The stadium of Rad is the King Petar I Stadium, commonly known as "Stadion na Banjici" (Stadium at Banjica), which is located in the southern part of Belgrad's Banjica neighbourhood, and holds about 3,919 people. It was built in 1977, although its stand dates back to the pre-World War II period when it was used for military parades and other state celebrations during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.^[4]

Supporters and Rivalries

Rad's supporters group was founded in 1987 under the name United Force, a relatively small but strong and well organized group. They have a historic association with football hooliganism. Their main rivalry is with OFK Beograd, the rivalry is known as "the small Belgrade derby"^[5]

They profess far-right ultra-nationalist views, making them very unpopular with Bosniak Muslim nationalist fans of Novi Pazar who express their own far right views at most games, although in a footballing sense this has not really been a rivalry as the clubs through their history have hardly played in the same league/division.^[6] They also have a local rivalry with the Crvena Zvezda, Partizan, OFK Beograd-Voždovac alliance with whom they contest Belgrade derbies.

Honours

Yugoslav Second League

• 1986–87 (East)

Rad in European competitions

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1989–90	UEFA Cup	R1		Olympiacos	2–1	0–2	2–3
2011–12	Europa League	QR1		Tre Penne	6–0	3–1	9–1
		QR2		Olympiacos Volos	0–1	1–1	1–2

Current squad

First team

As of 15 October 2020^[7]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF SRB Nikola Đorić 3 DF SRB Petar Stojanović 4 DF SRB Marko Dobrijević 5 DF SRB Miloš Tanović 7 MF MNE Savo Gazivoda 8 MF SRB Uroš Damjanović 9 FW SRB Andrija Kaludjerović 10 FW SRB Saša Jovanović 11 FW SRB Matija Stojković 12 DF SRB Đorđe Bašanović 13 MF SRB Martin Novaković (on loan from Red Star Belgrade) 15 DF SRB Bojan Ciger 17 DF SRB Milos Milickovic 18 MF SRB Nikola Grubišić 21 FW MNE Ljubomir Kovačević 22 MF SRB Aleksandar Busnić (captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 24 FW SRB Jovan Zogović 25 DF SRB Mihailo Milutinović 27 MF SRB Dušan Živković 28 MF SRB Branko Riznić 29 FW SRB Veljko Trifunović 32 MF SRB Marko Blažić 50 DF SRB Miloš Radivojević 55 MF SRB Vanja Ilić 74 FW SRB Marko Dedijer 87 MF SRB Aleksandar Trninić 88 GK SRB Danijel Mićanović 89 GK SRB Ilija Nešić 95 DF MNE Ilija Tučević 99 GK SRB Damir Kahriman

Players with multiple nationalities

• Milan Lazarević
• Mihailo Milutinović
• Miloš Tanović

For recent transfers, see List of Serbian football transfers summer 2020.

Technical staff

• Dragan Radojičić – Head Coach
• Dragoslav Milenković – Assistant Coach
• Slađan Nikolić – Trainer
• Vladan Radača – Goalkeeper Coach
• Vladimir Procikijević – Physical Coach
• Zdravko Marinković – Recovery Coach
• Zoran Rakić – Recovery Coach

Notable players

The club official website considers Duško Ajder and Dragan Kokotović as club's two major legends. Beside them, important players in different historical periods are considered Miodrag Vranješ, Ratomir Janković and Lazar Slavković.^[8]

Former players with senior national team appearances:^[9]

Managers

The club's current manager is Marko Mićović, who was appointed in December 2019.^[10]

Kit manufacturers

References

External links

• Official website (in Serbian)
• United Force website
• Club page at Utakmica
• Club page at Srbijafudbal