Thefootball club Borac Banja Luka was founded on 4 July 1926. Originally it was namedRadnički sportski klub Borac, which means Labour Sports Club Borac, Borac meaning "Fighter", and its roots come from the relation the club had with locallabour movements during the first half of the 20th century. The club was founded by a group of football enthusiasts including the writer, activist andPeople's Hero of YugoslaviaVeselin Masleša, Rudolf "Rudi" Hiter, Savo Novaković, Nikola Pucar, Brane Pucar, Mustafa Softić, Nikola Kuković, Žarko Vranješević, Mile Stefanović and Brane Stefanović among others. They financed the club believing that by backing and supporting it, they would directly help promote the labor movements struggle that was underway. The name "Borac" was given by Masleša who said: "If you are going to fight for workers' rights, why don't you give the club name Borac?".[1][2]
The club's first president was Rudolf Hiter, and Savo Novaković was named vice president, with a supervisory board headed by Đoko Jovanović. As football attracted more and more attention in the city on theVrbas river, Banja Luka got the right to organise its own sub-association gathering the clubs of the entireKrajina region, a new, bigger and modern stadium was built. The opening ceremony took place on September 5, 1937, on the ground of the present-dayBanja Luka City Stadium.
The club's first success in this early period came in 1928 when RSK Borac won a tournament played inSarajevo. BeforeWorld War II, the major club in Banja Luka wasŠK Krajišnik, however, after 1945, it was disbanded, and Borac replacedKrajišnik as the city's main club. Borac played conference leagues in order to qualify for the re-establishedYugoslav First League were defeatedSloboda Novi Grad 14–3 on aggregate, FK Kozara from Banja Luka with 8–4 on aggregate andBorac Kozarska Dubica 7–0 on aggregate and became Banja Luka district champions. In 1945, RSK Borac has renamed FK Borac Banja Luka and played for two years in theYugoslav Third League, before it was promoted to theYugoslav Second League in 1948.
Decades of success in the first and second league (1960–1992)
In1961, Borac was promoted to theYugoslav First League for the first time but was instantly dropped back down at the end of the season. The club had to wait for almost a decade to the return to the top flight. It was in the1970–71 season, and the club stayed in the top league for four consecutive seasons. In this period, precisely in 1974, Borac achieved theYugoslav Cup final. They were defeated byHajduk Split inBelgrade, and as the runner-up, they have provided placement for the1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup season. In the first round of Cup Winners' Cup, Borac played against US Rumelange from Luxembourg. The first leg was played in Banja Luka where Borac recorded a record win in European competitions by a 9–0.[3]
The second leg was won by Borac by 1–5, meaning 14–1 on aggregate, and played in the second round against R.S.C. Anderlecht. The"Red-Blues" won the home match but it was 1–3 on aggregate at the end for the Belgians, who became winners of theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup that season. Borac Banja Luka was the only team who beat R.S.C Anderlecht in one match (at home by 1–0) during the cup season. In the 1974–75 season, Borac played in the second league, but the club achieved a quick promotion and thus ensured the beginning of a new 5-year first league period that lasted until 1980. The following nine seasons, Borac spent in the second League, before a final top league period between 1989 and 1992. Borac's best placement in the first League was in1992, when it finished the season as 4th. In total, Borac played 487 matches in Yugoslav First League during a 46 years long period.[4]
From 1988 to 1992, Borac enjoyed the best period in its long history. In1988, Borac achieved its biggest success. Under coachHusnija Fazlić Borac won theYugoslav Cup, the second major football competition in former Yugoslav football and became the only second league club that ever achieved this.[citation needed] In the final, Borac defeated Yugoslav football giantRed Star by 0–1 atJNA stadium inBelgrade.[5][6][7][8] The historic goal was scored bySenad Lupić, one of the Borac's legends. At the ceremony, the president ofYugoslav Football Association Antun Čilić gave the golden plaques to Borac players and the head coach. The next day, tens of thousands of Borac supporters gathered atKrajina square inBanja Luka and gave their team a hero's welcome.
In 1992, Borac won its first international trophy, theMitropa Cup.[9][10][11][12]The club won the cup in the Italian cityFoggia.
At that time there was an ongoingcivil war in Yugoslavia, but despite that, they travelled to Italy in the hope to write history. After the elimination of U.S. Foggia in front of 30,000 spectators, Borac met in the finalBVSC Budapest atPino Zaccheria Stadium. Filipović scored but gave only a temporary advantage to Borac because the Hungarians were equalized by Tuboly. That was the result of regular time, so the winner was decided by penalties. Borac won 5–3 from the white spot and got the trophy. Sašivarević, Stavljanin, Filipović, Bilbija, and Simeunović scored for Borac, and goalkeeper Simeunović saved his goal twice. Borac head coach wasSmilevski, who was recently named the member of Borac's "Best Eleven" squad in its history. Borac played a total of twelve games inUEFA competitions and has never lost a European match at its home ground. Also, seven Borac players have participated in theYugoslav national football team in its history.
It became the country's most prestigious level of football competition. Also, since 2002, the clubs from the entire country are competing in theBosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup. In 2010, Borac won theBosnia and Herzegovina Cup and finished third in the national championship. During the2010–11 UEFA Europa League season, they played in the second round against FC Lausanne-Sport but were knocked out in front of sold-out Banja Luka City Stadium with 1–2 on aggregate for the Swiss club. In 2011, Borac became the football champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina with only 4 defeats and 15 conceded goals during 30 matches. The club won also the Republika Srpska Cup. In the following2011–12 UEFA Champions League season, Borac began its qualifying with a match againstMaccabi Haifa, which they lost by 5–1.[13] In the second leg, Borac showed great performance and won 3–2 by two goals fromKrunić and one fromVidaković, however, they were eliminated.[14] In 2012, Borac finished the national championship third and qualified for the European football competition season. Borac got Čelik Nikšić fromMontenegro as their opponent. Borac was knocked out by the away goal rule (3–3a).
On 15 August 2024, Borac achieved its first-ever participation in a European club competition by defeating FaroeseKÍ Klaksvík 4–3 on aggregate, thereby qualifying for at least theLeague phase of the third tier of continental club football in Europe. This made them only the second club from Bosnia and Herzegovina to compete in the group or league phase of a European competition. They then became the first Bosnian club to progress from this phase of a European competition and host European matches in the second half of their season - after finishing 20th in the table with eight points from six games, they won a subsequent two-legged playoff againstNK Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia to reach the last 16 of the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League.
Borac Banja Luka's traditional home colours are red and blue with white socks (colours that are contained on theYugoslav flag). Borac has maintained the red-blue shirt for its home kit throughout the history of the club. Its traditional away colours are all blue or all red. The club's kit is after long-standing Serbian sports clothing companyNAAI, currently, new manufactured byDiadora, an Italian sports clothing company.
Borac Banja Luka's present crest contains the name of the club and the name of the City of Banja Luka in the background formed from the sections that are coloured as the Serbian flag. On the top of the crest, the year of the club foundation is located. In addition, the whole crest is framed in gold colour.
The home stadium of Borac is theBanja Luka City Stadium. It has 10,030 seats and is one of the most modern stadiums in the country. The stadium was built in 1937 and its main donator was Bogoljub Kujundžić, the ban of theVrbas banovina. Since then, the stadium underwent several expansions and reconstructions in the years 1973, 1981, 2010 and 2012. In 2010, the stadium underwent a complete reconstruction. New seats were installed on east and west stands, locker rooms were renovated, a completely newVIP lounge and room for media was built, new lighting, sound systems and video surveillance were installed, and trophy and technical rooms were renovated. In 2012, the new north stand was built with a capacity of 2,492 seats, which increased the total capacity of the stadium to 9,730. According to recent plans, the east stand will be covered by a roof in the upcoming years. The construction of the south stand began, which will increase the total capacity to approximately 13,000 seats.
In 2008, an expert committee has chosen the concept of building a new stadium. The new stadium will have 30,000 seats, and the whole complex will cover 205,000 square meters. It will include two additional football fields, tennis, basketball and volleyball courts. The cost of the whole project is estimated to be €50 million and it will meet the highestFIFA andUEFA demands.[citation needed]
As one of the most successful football clubs in the country, Borac always had a considerable number of supporters.The organized supporters of FK Borac are known as Lešinari[15] (Serbian Cyrillic: Лешинари) and they are the oldest organized supporter group inRepublika Srpska. They were established in 1987.The gathering point of the club's most loyal and passionate fans was the East stand ofBanja Luka City Stadium until 2017 when it was changed to the North stand.Borac supportes have a good relationship with fans ofVojvodina, known asFirma and friendship with fans ofGenoa.
Borac's fans at a game between Borac andŽeljezničar in 2009.
Since the season2008–09, the time when Borac started to be standard in theBosnian Premier League once again, a great rivalry started to develop between them andFK Željezničar. Starting from the2009–10 season the two teams mainly competed against each other for one of the titles (the league title ornational cup) and even the attendance almost got on par with the acclaimedSarajevo derby. The rivalry also has a root in the fact thatSarajevo andBanja Luka are, by a good margin, the two biggest cities inBosnia and Herzegovina, the first being also the capital of the whole country while the second takes the role as the de facto capital ofRepublika Srpska entity. Since the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the teams met each other 22 times (6 of which are in a national cup), although they played the first time against each other in 1947Yugoslav Cup. In those 22 matches, Željezničar won 12 times, while Borac managed to win 7 times, with 3 matches ending in a draw. The goal difference is 31:19 in favour of Željezničar (Not including results from the 2015 to 2016 season).
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
On 4 November 2025, Borac retired squad number 8 in memory ofMladen Žižović, the club's former player and manager who had died while managingRadnički 1923 in Serbia the previous day.[20]