Fudbalski klub Borac 1926 (), commonly known as Borac ÃÂaÃÂak, is a professional football club based in ÃÂaÃÂak, Serbia. The home ground is ÃÂaÃÂak Stadium, which has seating capacity of 8,000. As of 2024âÂÂ25 season, the club competes in second tier Serbian First League.
The word Borac in translation means fighter in English. Mainly because of the horizontal stripes, Borac's nickname is "Zebras".
At the end of World War I, football began to be played in ÃÂaÃÂak. According to some sources the first football match took place in 1920. Six years later, a group of union workers who organized on 1 May 1926 founded the club. Initially, the uniform was red and later was changed to red-and-white. The first president of the club was a carpenter, Jovan JoloviÃÂ. On 6 August 1932, FK Borac had its first night match under stadium floodlights, with the Arsenal football club. Before World War II the club's biggest success was winning 1st place in the West Morava district league in 1934.
After a break during World War II, the club started up again and in 1946 played in the qualifications for the Yugoslav First League against Red Star Belgrade but lost. Its next achievement was to win the Serbian Cup in 1958 (regional Yugoslav Cup back then) and four years later won promotion to the Yugoslav Second League. The first play-off match against OFK Titograd was lost 1âÂÂ3, but in the home match on 15 July 1962, with six goals in the second half, FK Borac secured a promotion to the Second Federal League.
For many years Borac played in the Second Federal League but the dream of the promotion to the top-tier competition came through in 1994 when Borac got promoted to the First League of FR Yugoslavia. Previously Borac had failed in three attempts to make it to the top flight, losing play-off matches in 1970, 1971, and 1973. The club has been relegated three times since first making the Yugoslav First League but they have also three times managed to win promotion back to the top league, last time in 2003. In the 2005âÂÂ06 season, Borac finished in 7th place, the club's highest finish at the time.
In 2006, Serbian SuperLiga was established as top-tier competition in Serbia following the Montenegrin independence from state union. Borac ÃÂaÃÂak finished the 2007âÂÂ08 in 4th place, thereby securing a place in European competition for the first time. In the 2008âÂÂ09 UEFA Cup, Borac defeated Dacia ChiÃÂinÃÂu from Moldova 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, and Lokomotiv Sofia from Bulgaria 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. However, Dutch giants Ajax denied Borac entry into the group stage by defeating them twice, 1âÂÂ4 in Belgrade and 0âÂÂ2 in Amsterdam.
In 2011âÂÂ12 Serbian SuperLiga, Borac ÃÂaÃÂak finished in 15th place and were relegated to the Serbian First League. After mediocre performance in 2012âÂÂ13 Serbian First League, Borac finished in second place of 2013âÂÂ14 Serbian First League as runners-up over Metalac Gornji Milanovac, with whom they were tied on points and promoted to the top-tier competition. On 2 August 2014, Borac for the second time in their history played a night match under floodlights, defeating Metalac 1âÂÂ0 at the reconstructed ÃÂaÃÂak stadium.
Borac ÃÂaÃÂak finished in 16th place of 2017âÂÂ18 Serbian SuperLiga and were relegated once again to the Serbian First League. In 2018âÂÂ19 Serbian First League, Borac had yet another turbulent season, barely escaping the relegation zone in the last round of the competition, following the win over Novi Pazar and BeÃÂej's loss to Trajal. In July 2019, the club was expelled from the Serbian First League due to 1.7 million euros debt in taxes and around 270,000 euros in debts to its former players.
Former players with senior national team appearances:
For the list of all current and former players with Wikipedia article, please see: .
A great number of coaches have passed through the club. Before the World War II the main coach was the former BSK Belgrade and national team player Dragomir Toà ¡iÃÂ. After 1945 the main coaches were Ivan StevoviÃÂ, Dragoslav FilipoviÃÂ, Prvoslav DragiÃÂeviÃÂ, Kosta Tomaà ¡eviÃÂ, à ½ivorad StankoviÃÂ, Vasilije à  ijakoviÃÂ, Gojko Zec, Dragan BojoviÃÂ, MomÃÂilo IliÃÂ, à ½arko NedeljkoviÃÂ, among others. More recently, the club was managed by Duà ¡an RadonjiÃÂ, Slobodan OstojiÃÂ, Mihailo KolareviÃÂ, Duà ¡an MariÃÂ, Milovan ÃÂoriÃÂ, Milovan ÃÂirkoviÃÂ, Dragutin SpasojeviÃÂ, Nenad Starovlah, Ivan ÃÂanÃÂareviÃÂ, Milorad KosanoviÃÂ, Dimitrije MitroviÃÂ, Branko SmiljaniÃÂ, Boà ¾idar VukoviÃÂ, Slavenko KuzeljeviÃÂ, Duà ¡imir VuloviÃÂ, Radovan GuduriÃÂ, Milutin Maruà ¡iÃÂ, Miodrag Boà ¾oviàand Milovan Rajevac.