FK RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ () is a professional football club based in Nià ¡, Serbia. The club competes in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of Serbian football.
One of the most successful clubs in the former Yugoslavia, the club spent a total of 29 seasons in the Yugoslav First League, including two 3rd-place finishes in 1980 and 1981. The club also played 10 seasons in the First League of FR Yugoslavia and has been competing in the Serbian SuperLiga since 2012, finishing 3rd in 2018 and 2nd in 2019. In international competitions, RadniÃÂki won the Balkans Cup in 1975, made another final in 1989, and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1982.
The club was founded on April 24, 1923, in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. One of its founders was the communist activist Miloà ¡ Markovià(who also founded Sloboda Uà ¾ice in 1925). In the same year, the club played its first unofficial matches. Two years later, in the 1925âÂÂ26 season, the club became part of the professional league of the Morava Banovina, and won the championship on two occasions, in the 1924âÂÂ25 and 1927âÂÂ28 seasons.
Following the proclamation of the royal dictatorship in 1929, the government began to persecute leftist activists, and RadniÃÂki changed its name to GraÃÂanski. As GraÃÂanski Nià ¡, the club played in the 1935âÂÂ36 Yugoslav Football Championship which was played in a straight-knockout competition format, and was eliminated in the round of sixteen by GraÃÂanski Skoplje. At the end of that season the club reinstated its original name, and played until 1941, when, because of the war, the club ceased its activities and its members and players joined the resistance.
At the beginning of World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941, the club terminated the activities, which were renewed in 1945, one year after the liberation from the occupation of Nazi Germany.
In 1962, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ were promoted to the Yugoslav First League for the first time in the club's history. On 23 September 1962, RadniÃÂki fans displayed their first big choreography on the first league match against Red Star Belgrade. A large banner reading "Real sa Nià ¡ave", which translates to "Real from Nisava" was raised on the east stand, and the club bears this nickname to this day. The banner could be seen at every home game throughout the 1960s. In following years, the club underwent major development and became one of the most stable football clubs in the country. In 1963, the club founded its youth school, through which many of the RadniÃÂki players passed. In 1975, RadniÃÂki beat Turkish club Eskià Âehirspor (1âÂÂ0, 2âÂÂ1) and won its first trophy of European importance, the Balkans Cup.
In 1980, RadniÃÂki finished the national championship in 3rd place, the best placement thus far, and played for the first time in the UEFA Cup in the following season, during which RadniÃÂki reached the round of sixteen, but lost against Dutch club AZ Alkmaar. In 1981, the club was again third and qualified for the 1981âÂÂ82 UEFA Cup season. In the first round, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ were drawn against Napoli. In the first leg, the club from South Serbia achieved a 2âÂÂ2 draw in front of 70.000 spectators at Stadio San Paolo, which was enough for RadniÃÂki to progress after a goalless match in Serbia because of the away goals rule. After eliminating the Azzurri, RadniÃÂki played the second round against Grasshopper Club Zürich. The Swiss club won the first match in Zürich by 2âÂÂ0, but RadniÃÂki had equalized with a 2âÂÂ0 and won convincingly 3âÂÂ0 in the penalty shoot-out. In the third round, the club played against Feyenoord from Rotterdam. In the first leg in Nià ¡, the result was 2âÂÂ0 for RadniÃÂki and at De Kuip the result was 1âÂÂ0 for the Dutch club. However, it was a 2âÂÂ1 victory on aggregate for the Serbian club and in the quarter-finals RadniÃÂki were drawn against Dundee United from Scotland. In the first leg, played in Dundee, RadniÃÂki suffered a 2âÂÂ0 defeat. Although they were not seen as the favourites in the return leg, the Real from Nià ¡ava pulled off a convincing 3âÂÂ0 win in front of its spectators, and with an aggregate score of 3âÂÂ2 they eventually achieved their greatest success by reaching the semi-finals of this prestigious tournament.
The semi-finals provided a football holiday at ÃÂair Stadium, due to the fact that German top club Hamburger SV, led by stars like Horst Hrubesch, Felix Magath, Lars Bastrup, Manfred Kaltz, Thomas von Heesen and Uli Stein would play in Nià ¡. In the first leg, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ won against the favored North Germans in front of 38,500 enthusiastic RadniÃÂki fans with 2âÂÂ1, but they lost the second leg in Hamburg by 5âÂÂ1 (Hamburg lost at the end the final, but won next year the 1982âÂÂ83 European Cup). After one year of absence from international football, the club qualified for the 1983âÂÂ84 UEFA Cup season (finished the 1979âÂÂ80 Yugoslav First League season in 4th place) and reached the round of sixteen, as in 1981. After winning matches against St Gallen (3âÂÂ0, 2âÂÂ1) and FK Inter Bratislava (4âÂÂ0, 2âÂÂ3), RadniÃÂki played against Hajduk Split. It was the first intra-Yugoslav fixture in UEFA cup. Hajduk won both matches 2âÂÂ0 and progressed to the quarter-finals.
RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ played a total of 22 matches across Europe between 1981 and 1984. During this time, RadniÃÂki lost only one UEFA Cup home match of a total of 11 across three seasons and only against a team from the domestic league. They had raucous fans who made ÃÂair Stadium a tough ground for the opposition.
After the golden years, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ was unexpectedly relegated to in the Yugoslav Second League in 1985, after 23 continuous years in the first league. However, under coach Josip DuvanÃÂiÃÂ, RadniÃÂki won the Yugoslav Second League in the following season and returned to the first league after only a year of absence. In 1989, the club played its second Balkans Cup final after 1975, but they lost against OFI of Greece by 3âÂÂ1. At the beginning of the 1990s, the entire country was plunged into a crisis. The disintegration of Yugoslavia, the civil war (1992âÂÂ95), the inflation and the UN sanctions hit all the Yugoslav football teams hard, and also RadniÃÂki was no exception. In the 2000âÂÂ01 season, the club dropped out of the first division for the second time in its history. In the following season, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ won the second division championship and quickly returned to the major clubs, but they ended the 2002âÂÂ03 season in last place. After that, the club competed in the second league for the following five seasons.
In the 2008âÂÂ09 season, RadniÃÂki was relegated to Serbia's third division. They won the division, but they ended the 2009âÂÂ10 Serbian First League season in the relegation zone.
In the 2010âÂÂ11 season, they won the Serbian League East and were promoted to the Serbian First League, Serbia's second division.
The club won the 2011âÂÂ12 Serbian First League and was promoted to the Serbian SuperLiga, Serbia's highest football tier. In the same season, the club's home ground was rebuilt. Since then, the club became stable in Serbian SuperLiga, gradually improving its position on the league table and establishing itself as a major club in Serbian football once again. In their first season in the highest division, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ finished in 12th place, but improved every following season, finishing 6th, 9th and twice in 5th place.
In season 2017âÂÂ18 Serbian SuperLiga, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ finished in third place, which guaranteed them a place in the first qualifying round of UEFA Europa League.
The following season marked the club's return to European competitions where they eliminated Maltese club Gzira United 5âÂÂ0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round for the 2018âÂÂ19 UEFA Europa League. RadniÃÂki was later eliminated in the second round by the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate. In the SuperLiga, RadniÃÂki finished the season in second place behind defending champions Red Star Belgrade, once again reaching the qualifying rounds for the UEFA Europa League.
The club played in a green-white jersey and on the left, in the white field, was a red five-pointed star as a symbol of affiliation with the Labour movement, the colour of which was later taken as a frequent kit color of RadniÃÂki. The club also used a blue and white kit, which was commonly seen during promotion play-offs and international fixtures, so the club bears all the colors of the Serbian flag. The crest is in the colors red and white, and bears the inscription of the year of foundation and the image of the Nià ¡ Fortress, which is a complex and important cultural and historical monument of the city of Nià ¡.
Kit evolution
The home ground of RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ is the ÃÂair Stadium. It is named after the ÃÂair neighbourhood in Medijana, the most populous municipality of Nià ¡. The construction of the stadium was finished in 1963, and had a capacity of 40,000 spectators. After renovations between 2011 and 2012, the stadium capacity has been brought to 18,151 seats. The stadium is part of the ÃÂair sports complex, which also includes the modern sporting arena ÃÂair, a modern indoor swimming pool and other facilities. After the renovation of the swimming pool, the ÃÂair Sports Center, and the complete reconstruction of the ÃÂair stadium, Nià ¡ was endowed with a unique sports complex in Serbia and completed a full reconstruction of its sports infrastructure.
The ÃÂair stadium began undergoing complete reconstruction during the second half of 2011 in an ambitious project by the Football Association of Serbia and the city of Nià ¡. The project included the renovation of eastern, southern and northern stands. When reconstruction was finished, the stadium's seating capacity had been increased to 18,151 spectators, including an additional VIP lounge with 120 seats and a media lodge with 50 seats. The project also entailed covering the whole stadium, new floodlights and LED, a new locker room and press room, new infirmaries, a parking area, ticket offices, a restaurant and a TV room for broadcasts. After reconstruction, the stadium fulfilled the most up to date UEFA standards. The cost of the project was estimated to be over 1.1 billion Serbian dinars (10 million euros).
Although it had not been completely finished, ÃÂair Stadium was declared as a suitable venue for the second home match of the 2012 season (the first home match had to be played at Jagodina City Stadium against RadniÃÂki Kragujevac). The home opening match took place in the 5th round of Serbian SuperLiga against Smederevo 1924 on September 15, 2012. About 7,000 seats had been initially installed and they were completely filled. Manager Aleksandar Iliàfielded the following squad: Stevan StefanoviÃÂ, Branislav VukomanoviÃÂ, Milan JovanoviÃÂ, Marko RanÃÂeloviÃÂ, Miloà ¡ PeriÃÂ, Bratislav PejÃÂiÃÂ, Aleksandar JovanoviÃÂ, Duà ¡an KolareviÃÂ, Miloà ¡ PetroviÃÂ, Vladan Biniàand Strahinja PetroviÃÂ. In the 84th minute, midfielder Duà ¡an Kolareviàscored via a 30-meter strike and brought RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ to a 1âÂÂ0 win in the opening match.
An important segment of the club is its youth school, which was founded in 1963. The youth school is named after former RadniÃÂki's football player Ivan KrstiÃÂ. He enrolled in RadniÃÂki's youth school and eventually became captain. At the beginning of his career, he was killed during training as a result of a lightning strike on the auxiliary field, near the youth school. The football school bears his name to this day.
During 1963, one year after entry of RadniÃÂki in the Yugoslav First League, the club formed its own football schools at the initiative of Tihomir PetroviÃÂ. Forty-eight players were selected from nine primary schools and began to learn the football alphabet at RadniÃÂki.
The first greater success came in 1966, when they won a large tournament in Germany. In 1969, this was followed by winning a tournament in Paris, defeating the Italian team US Cagliari.
More success followed, incouding the win at the international tournament "Vojvodina-Red Star", which was played in 1984 and which saw the participation of many national and international top youth teams. During the tournament, RadniÃÂki's youth was led by Milorad JankoviÃÂ, a former player of RadniÃÂki, who was honoured as the top youth coach by the Football Association of Yugoslavia.
In 1991, led by coach Vladislav NikoliÃÂ, they won the Yugoslav championship, after defeating à ½eljezniÃÂar Sarajevo (1âÂÂ0 at home by a goal from Dejan PetkoviÃÂ, 1âÂÂ1). In 1992, RadniÃÂki again fielded a national championship team in their series. Its cadets were Yugoslav champions and repeated the success achieved the previous year, which was a triumph for the managers of the youth school and coaches like Miroslav Glià ¡oviÃÂ, Milorad JankoviÃÂ, Ljubià ¡a Rajkoviàand Miodrag StefanoviÃÂ.
The last major success of the RadniÃÂki's football school was in 2000, when RadniÃÂki's cadets, led by coach Aleksandar Jovanovski, won the Serbian championship. In the final, they beat Red Star Belgrade by a score of 1âÂÂ0 and qualified for the final tournament for the Yugoslav championship. RadniÃÂki finished in 3rd place. In the same year, new sport facilities were opened which facilitated better working conditions.
Today, the youth coaches are mostly former players of RadniÃÂki who are responsible for 400âÂÂ450 young RadniÃÂki players and working according to the standards of major European football clubs.
The first large organized support happened in 1962 against Vardar, when several thousand fans from Nià ¡ travelled to Skoplje. In 1962, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ were promoted to the Yugoslav First League for the first time in their history and attracted more supporters from Nià ¡ and the surrounding region. Since RadniÃÂki's entry to the first division, ÃÂair has always been a tough ground for the opposition. Although the club has had numerous supporters throughout the history, more organized groups emerged at the end of the 1980s. The name Meraklije was accepted, which roughly translates to "bohemian hedonists". The name has been synonymous with region customs for centuries. Besides the football club, Meraklije also support other sport sections like handball, and the Serbian national handball team.
National Championships
Serbian First League top scorers
Ivan "Beli" KrstiÃÂ, midfielder (1999âÂÂ2000) â posthumous honour.
Since 2000, RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ has not issued the squad number 10 due to it being retired in memory of Ivan KrstiÃÂ, who was killed by lightning on 29 May 2000 during training. It was only available to his son, who eventually left the club.
As of 12 August 2025
For the list of current and former RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ footballers with Wikipedia article, please see .
This is the list of first team coaches of RadniÃÂki Nià ¡: