The history of Red Star Belgrade's football team began with its establishment by a committee of Yugoslav Communists on 4 March 1945. Slobodan Penezić supervised the committee which founded Red Star, composed largely of communist veterans from World War II. This was in contrast to Partizan, as it was founded by high-ranking generals and members of the Yugoslav People's Army.

History

Establishment and the first title (1945–1951) In February 1945, during World War II, a group of young men, members of the Serbian United Antifascist Youth League, decided to form a Youth Physical Culture Society, that was to become Red Star Belgrade on 4 March. At the end of the Second World War, several pre-war Yugoslav clubs were dissolved because they had played matches during the war and were labelled collaborators by Marshal Josip Broz Tito's communist authorities. Two of these clubs from Belgrade were SK Jugoslavija and BSK Belgrade. Red Star was formed from the remains of Jugoslavija and they were given Jugoslavija's stadium, offices, players, and even their red and white colours. The name Red Star was assigned to the club after a long discussion, and the first vice presidents of the sport society, Zoran Žujović and Slobodan Ćosić, were the ones who assigned it. After numerous proposals, Ćosić finally said: "Should we call our society the Star?", and Žujović spontaneously said: "Great, if it is the Star, let it be Red Star". With this proposal all the attendees were in agreement, although there were suggestions that the club be called the Blue Star. Ultimately, Red star was soon adopted as a symbol of Serbia, a sporting institution that remains the country's most popular to this day.Fifa.com - FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd (Red Star Belgrade) - Red Star claim gold for the Balkan peninsula On that day, Red Star played the first football match in the club's history against the First Battalion of the Second Brigade of KNOJ (People's Defence Corps of Yugoslavia) and won 3–0. Five days later, a football section was formed, led by Kosta Tomašević and Predrag Đajić. The two of them defended the honor of Red Star on the playing field - Tomašević was the first striker and scorer in the history of the club (who scored also the first European goal for Red Star against Rapid JC during the 1956–57 European Cup), and Đajić was a strong midfielder. In the post-war 1946 season, Red Star won the Serbian Championship and thus was promoted to the Yugoslav First League. In the first seasons, the club achieved the 3rd place and two vice-championships. However, in the period from 1948 to 1950, the club scored a series of hat-trick triumphs in Yugoslav Cups, winning finals against city rival Partizan, Naša Krila of Zemun and Dinamo Zagreb. Red Star's first League championship was won decisively. Three rounds before the end, Dinamo from Zagreb were five points ahead in the league (winning a match earned a club two points at the time.) However, the team from Zagreb was defeated by a team from Sarajevo, and Red Star won the rivals’ duel for the championship and entered the last round, trailing by a single point. The match between BSK Belgrade and Dinamo ended in a 2–2 draw, and the Championship was decided a day later, on 4 November, in a match with Partizan. Red Star's eternal rival had won the previous derby very convincingly earlier that season (6–1), but this time, Red Star produced the 2–0 scoreline that was needed and thanks to a slightly better goal-average, they became the national champion of Yugoslavia for the very first time.

The late 1950s – the first era of dominance (1952–1958) Red Star also won championship in 1953, however, real changes would yet follow in the middle of the decade, when a stable club structure was formed with Dušan Blagojević acting as president, Slobodan Ćosić as secretary general and the great Aca Obradović, famous for his nickname Doctor O, acting as technical director of the club. Together, they paved the way for a generation that would fully dominate the Yugoslav and European football scenes for the following five years. It was a team of players such as Beara, Durković, Stanković, Popović, Mitić, Kostić and Šekularac. Those football players, whose names are still remembered, won four Yugoslav championships and two Cups, not missing the opportunity to win every Yugoslav Trophy for five straight seasons. Red Star's play was fast and offensive, gaining the club great popularity both in the country and in the world. As they were winning matches on the field, Obradović formed the ground for professional work that would later serve as the basis of numerous successes achieved by the club. In 1956, Red star won the championship and achieved the semi-final of the 1956–57 European Cup, where they played against Fiorentina. Red Star striker Kostić had scored five goals in their four European Cup games so far. Despite Kostic's ability in front of goal, Red Star failed to produce any goals and so it was the Italians, who proceeded to the final. As champions, Red Star were Yugoslavia's entrants into the 1957–58 European Cup where they were famously beaten 5–4 on aggregate by English champions Manchester United in the quarter-finals, with the team managed by Matt Busby beating Red Star 2–1 in the first leg in England before drawing 3–3 with them in Yugoslavia in the return game on 5 February at JNA Stadium.Red Star Belgrade - Manchester United 3-3 (1958) The second leg is notable for being the last game played by the "Busby Babes". On the return flight to England the following day, the plane crashed in Munich, West Germany, resulting in the deaths of 23 people including eight Manchester United players.Munich Air Crash In 1958, Red Star won also its first European trophy, the Mitropa Cup, who had been played during summer, in the break between the seasons. The trophy was won without losing a single game.

Crisis and a new Red Star stadium (1958–1966)

The end of the fifties was the first period of dominance of one club in the Yugoslav football scene, but by the beginning of the next decade the focus of events shifted to the other side of Topčider Hill, where Partizan was located. In the following seven seasons, Red Star managed to win only one championship and only one cup, which was not enough for a club of Red Star's stature and ambitions. Its placement during these seasons was the worst in its history (including a seventh-place finish in 1963). Red Star even dropped four times below the first three in the table (before and after that, Red Star has never dropped below third place in 54 football seasons in the SFRY, FRY, SCG and Serbia). Even then, it was clear that Red Star was the most popular club in the country by far, and its defeats came down hard on its supporters. So, on some occasions, Red Star supporters had the tendency to burst onto the field and literally burn both goal-posts. In the 1963 season, the club only managed to score 21 goals, which was, for example, half the amount that Vojvodina scored, although they finished five places lower in the table.

On the other hand, Red Star achieved good results on the international stage. In the 1961–62 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Red Star eliminated Espanyol in the quarter-final and for the semi-final, Red Star had to play against F.C. Barcelona. In both matches Barcelona turned out to be the better team and Red Star was eliminated. However, only eight months later, the Catalan club was defeated by Red Star in the same stage of the same competition. But even a 2–0 victory against A.S. Roma was not enough for Red Star to progress.

Next to the international successes, Red Star continue to develop and building of a new stadium commenced in Belgrade at the end of 1959. In the following four years, Red Star played home-games in Partizan's stadium and the stadium of OFK Belgrade (this can be considered as one of the reason's for the bad results it achieved during this period). The new stadium was opened in 1963 and Red Star played against NK Rijeka, and in the course of time a sold-out Red Star Stadium received the unofficial moniker "the Marakana", after the famous Maracanã stadium in Brazil, and the stadium garnered a reputation of being a very tough ground for visiting teams to play in. During the first season of the stadium's existence, Red Star celebrated winning a double crown, seeing Milorad Pavić coach them to these victories. A key moment took place in 1966, when Miljan Miljanić became the club's coach. For the following eight years, Miljanić transformed Red Star into a highly rated European side. Up to then, Yugoslav football had gone through an introductory testing stage and the dominance of Red Star and Partizan continued. In the remaining 25 years of Yugoslavia's existence, Red Star would remain a constant trophy-favorite, only their opponents would change. In 1968, Red Star won its second Mitropa Cup trophy and after winning Red Star withdrew from the Mitropa Cup in order to focus more on other European competitions.

Miljanić era (1966–1975)

Having come up through the club's youth system, Miljan Miljanić made a handful of appearances for Red Star's full squad during the early 1950s before unceremoniously ending his modest career as a footballer; however, it was decade and a half later, in the summer of 1966, once he went into coaching that he began finding success. In his first season as Red Star's head coach, Miljanić completely changed the club's lineup of players, finishing fifth in the league, same as the previous season's finish under previous head coach Ivan Toplak.

The following season, a generation led by twenty-one-year-old Dragan Džajić—who was later officially voted the best ever Serbian player and generally considered one of the best left wingers in world football—began to leave a deep mark on Yugoslav and Serbian football. With players such as Ratomir Dujković, Milovan Đorić, Kiril Dojčinovski, Stanislav Karasi, Jovan Aćimović, Vojin Lazarević, Petar Krivokuća, Stevan Ostojić, and Branko Klenkovski, the 1967—1970 period marked the very first time Red Star managed to win three league titles consecutively, as well as two league-cup doubles. Simultaneously Red Star became an accomplished and consistent performer on the European stage as well. It was focusing on the Yugoslav Cup in 1971 that led to the club making its second worst league placement ever – sixth place – however, that impression was improved by winning the cup. Red Star also won two Supercups in 1969 and 1971. Next to the cup victory, Red Star also made it to the semi-finals of the 1970–71 European Cup, where they were eliminated by Greek side Panathinaikos. In the first match, Red Star, roared on by a vociferous Belgrade crowd, beat the Greeks 4–1 in front of 100,000 spectators and looked to be in a dominant position,Red Star Belgrade – Panathinaikos 4:1 (1971) until they went down 3–0 in Athens and thus lost out on away goals and missed again the final. Miljanić won another Yugoslav Cup with the team in 1973. Some new players emerged, such as Vladimir and Ognjen Petrović, Bogićević, Filipović, Janković and Keri.