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| Full name | Fudbalski klub Bor | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Real sa Pirita | ||
| Founded | 1919; 106 years ago (1919) | ||
| Ground | FK Bor Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 5,000 | ||
| League | Zone League East | ||
| 2021–22 | 4th | ||
FK Bor (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Бор) is afootball club based inBor,Serbia.[1]
The club was founded in 1919 as a Serbian-French sports society under the nameAssociation Sportive Bor (ASB). The club was financed by the French Society of the Bor Mines and managed by a Frenchman named Loren, the director of mechanical services inBor mining company. Not much is recorded about the early club activity, until the first official game played in 1920. First ASB's head coach was Gallois, who also played for the club as well as forFrance national football team. ASB played only friendlies until early 1930s when it joined theNiš Football Subassociation where it played in theTimok Valley regional league with moderate success until the beginning of theSecond World War.
At the beginning of theSecond World War, the club was renamedBSK. This was the most successful club in the area of the Eastern Serbia and achieved good results in theSerbian football competitions during the war.
BSK and another local teamRudar merged in early 1945, to form a club with the name ofRadnički. Next year, the club officially changed its name toFK Bor and was engaged in the first organized post-war competitions. Soon the prefixrudarski (meaningthe miners) was added to the name and the club was known asRFK Bor until 1974, when it changed back to FK Bor.
Victories overRadnički Niš by 7–0 andRadnički Kragujevac by 9–1 are good examples of some great exhibitions made in the '50s. Bor played in the Eastern Serbia regional leagues until 1963, when it qualified for theYugoslav Second League by defeatingFK Sloboda Užice in a 3-game playoff. In 1963–64, their first season in the national level, they finished 2nd behindFK Sutjeska Nikšić. FK Bor stayed in the Second League for five consecutive seasons.[2]
The season 1967–68 was by far the best one in the club's history. Coached byRadojica Radojičić, Bor not only won the East Division of the1967–68 Yugoslav Second League, therefore getting promotion to the top division, theYugoslav First League, but it also reached the final of the1967–68 Yugoslav Cup and qualified for the1968–69 European Cup Winners' Cup. GoalkeeperJovan Hajduković was voted the best player of the East Division of the Second League.
In the domestic cup campaign Bor achieved two major upsets. In the round of 16, they eliminated the top sideFK Radnički Niš in an away match by 2–3, with two goals in the extra time. After eliminatingFK Sloboda Tuzla in the quarter-finals, Bor was drawn with another top Yugoslav club,FK Vojvodina. Vojvodina, who were crowned Yugoslav Champions just one year ago, was a clear favorite to win the game. However, backed by some 10,000 home supporters, Bor pulled off a 2–1 victory and qualified for a final with Yugoslav and European powerhouseRed Star Belgrade.
The final was played on 22 May 1968 in Belgrade. Although Red Star won easily with 7–0 securing the Double, Bor earned the right to represent Yugoslavia in the next year's Cup Winners' Cup.
Originally, Bor was drawn againstUnion Berlin but after the East German clubs withdrew from the competition, they were drawn against the Czechoslovak sideSlovan Bratislava. Slovan won 3–2 on aggregate and eventually won the1968–69 European Cup Winners' Cup trophy.
Bor finished its first season in the top level at 13th place among 18 clubs. They were selected to represent Yugoslavia in the1969 Balkans Cup – a minor international club competition for Balkan nations. They were eliminated in the group stage withDinamo Tirana from Albania andUniversitatea Craiova from Romania.
After three seasons in the top division they were relegated in 1971, but immediately bounced back, finishing the 1971–72 Second League in front ofPriština and eliminatingRudar Ljubija andFK Crvenka in the playoffs. Bor played three more seasons in the Yugoslav First League until 1975. They reached the quarter-finals of the1970–71 Yugoslav Cup where they were again defeated by the eventual winnerRed Star Belgrade.
Bor played two more seasons in the Second League. After 14 consecutive years of playing in the national levels, they got relegated back to the Serbian Republic league (3rd level) in 1977. They were promoted back to the Second League after two seasons and in1979–80 Yugoslav Second League nearly missed out the promotion back to the top national league. Before the last matchday up to 5 teams, including Bor, were contesting the first place. Eventually, after allegations of match fixing and an investigation byYugoslav Football Association,OFK Beograd,Radnički Kragujevac and FK Bor all finished with 37 points, however,OFK Beograd was promoted due to the best goal-difference.
The club played in the Second Yugoslav League with moderate success during the first half of the 80s. In 1986 they got relegated to the Serbian Republic League and, in the late 80s, a new third-level competition was formed - the Inter-Republic Leagues. Bor played alongside some solid teams fromSerbia proper,Kosovo andMacedonia. In 1990 Bor won this league and promoted to the1990–91 Yugoslav Second League. In 1992, SFR Yugoslavia collapsed, and Bor continued to play in the1992–93 Second League of FR Yugoslavia with teams from Serbia and Montenegro but soon got relegated to the Serbian League East.
The club was always relying onRTB Bor for financing and the decline of copper production in the '90s due to the country's economic isolation took its toll on FK Bor as well. Bor saw its last period of playing in the national football level in the late 90s, playing in theSecond League of Serbia and Montenegro between 1996 and 2001.
Over the last two decades, Bor has been struggling betweenSerbian League East and theSerbian Zone League (3rd and 4th competition level) even spending a season in theBor District League (5th level). In 2012, while playing in the 4th league, the club changed its name toOFK Bor. In 2017, after relegation from the Zone League, club folded due to financial difficulties. The next year, they reorganised under the nameFK Bor 1919 and they currently compete inZone League East, the fourth-highest football league in Serbia.
FK Bor played in the national Cup Finale in season 1967–68:
| season | competition | round | land | team | result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968–69 | European Cup Winners' Cup | 1st round |  | Slovan Bratislava | 0–3, 2–0 |
Marko Terzić
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44°04′17″N22°06′05″E / 44.071276°N 22.101381°E /44.071276; 22.101381
