Fudbalski klub Sarajevo (, ; English: Sarajevo Football Club) is a professional football club based in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is one of the most successful clubs in the country.
This article presents an overview of the club's history from its founding in 1946 to the present day, summarized in ten epochs.
Club history Origins and post World War II years (1946–1965)
Less than two years after liberation of Sarajevo from Nazi Germany, FK Sarajevo was established on 24 October 1946 as the result of a merger between local Sarajevo football clubs Udarnik (Vanguard) and Sloboda (Liberty), following an earlier joint meeting between the committees of said clubs and the Sarajevo sports society. The club first appeared on the Yugoslav sports scene in 1946 under the name Fiskulturno društvo Torpedo which was an hommage to Torpedo Moscow. The first Chairman of the newly founded club was Safet Džinović, while the positions of vice-chairmen were granted to Vojo Marković and Alojz Stanarević respectively. Furthermore, Josip Bulat was named manager. On 5 October 1947, on the proposal of the then-editor-in-chief of the popular daily newspaper Oslobođenje Mirko Ostojić, the club name was changed to Fiskulturno društvo Sarajevo, before being changed yet again to Sportsko društvo metalaca Sarajevo a year later. Finally, on 20 May 1949 the name Fudbalski klub Sarajevo was adopted. The newly formed team, which inherited the results and league standings of Udarnik, which was previously ranked 7th in the Republic League standings, was joined by selected players from both Udarnik and Sloboda. Namely, Hodžić, Vlajičić, Šarenkapa, Pauković, Fizović, Konjević, Radović, Viđen and Mustagrudić from the former, and Mantula, Glavočević, Tošić, Pecelj, Novo, Strinić, Đ. Lovrić and Alajbegović from the latter. The team played its first match on 3 November 1946 against Bratstvo Travnik, winning the fixture 6–0. In September 1948 SDM Sarajevo was joined by Yugoslav footballing legend, Miroslav Brozović, who brought in a largely needed level of experience to the new team. The Mostar-native previously wore the black and white jersey of FK Partizan, as well as captaining the Yugoslavia national team. Brozović was offered the position of player-manager which he accepted, turning his attention to promoting the team to the Yugoslav First League. Even though the team concluded the second part of the season without losing a single game, fans hoped for more persuasive results and weren't overly satisfied with the five draws that were mustered. Luckily, even this was enough for a first-place finish and a promotion to the top flight after a playoff series. FK Sarajevo first entered the top-flight Yugoslav First League after eliminating Sloga Novi Sad. They drew the first match 3:3 in Novi Sad but then won the second match 5:1 in Sarajevo. The team was relegated after its first season in the First League but was promoted back to the top tier in 1950. From then on FK Sarajevo played in every season of the First League apart from 1957 to 1958. In February 1950 FK Sarajevo went on a Belgian tour, with the goal of promoting Yugoslav football in the country. This was the club's first international expedition and was concluded with a 2–1 victory over the Top 11 of the Belgian First League. Previously, Sarajevo had defeated Olympic Charleroi and drawn Racing Tirimon. The next season the club finished on 6th spot in the league, and traveled on a large tour across Turkey, playing friendly ties against Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe and recording victories against both of the Turkish powerhouses. The 1951–52 season brought a 6th-place finish for the club, but also bad news for its fans. Namely, team star Lev Mantula transferred to Dinamo Zagreb in the summer transfer window, while Miroslav Brozović retired from professional football, continuing to manage the team. The club brought in future record holders Ibrahim Biogradlić and Mladen Stipić for the next season, in which the maroon-whites met their city rivals FK Željezničar in Sarajevo derby for the first time in a 1952-53 league fixture. Brozović's boys went out on top, winning 5–2, and eventually earned a 7th-place finish in the league standings. The 1955–56 season was the debut for legendary striker Asim Ferhatović, who found the back of the net on 11 occasions and finished the club's league top scorer. The next 1956–57 season a 13th-place league finish brought the club's second and last relegation to the second-tier of Yugoslav football, where they spent a one season. The season also subsequently marked the end of Miroslav Brozović's 8-year reign. The club quickly appointed Aleksandar Tomašević manager for the 1957–58, who promoted the side back to the Yugoslav First league 1958–59 season. Three more campaigns under managers László Fenyvesi, Vojin Božović, Miroslav Brozović for a second time and Ratomir Čabrić brought mediocre results with the club placing 8th, 7th and 9th, before finally earning a 4th-place finish in the 1963–64 season. The following campaign brought an even better result under legendary Yugoslav-Turkish manager Abdulah Gegić, who led the team to a runners-up league conclusion. The club's first taste of official European competitions began during the 1960s when it took part in the 1960 Mitropa Cup and the 1961–63 Balkans Cup, while the first serious European competition the club took part in was the 1962–63 Intertoto Cup. Notable FK Sarajevo players in the early years were Franjo Lovrić, Đuka Lovrić, Dobrivoje Živkov, Ibrahim Biogradlić, Zijad Arslanagić, Salih Šehović, Nerčez Novo, Mladen Stipić and Lev Mantula.
First championship generation (1965–1967)
By the mid-1960s legendary striker Asim Ferhatović, nicknamed Hase, who played for the club from 1952 to 1967, grew into his own and became the club's leading star. In the 1963–64 season, his total of 19 goals made him the top scorer in the First League, while the club finished fourth, finishing runners-up to Partizan Belgrade for the first time the following season. Sarajevo won their first Yugoslav First League title in 1966–67, becoming the first national champions from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo started the historic season with Brozović at the helm of the coaching staff. The team had a dream start with back-to-back wins against FK Sutjeska Nikšić and their city rivals FK Željezničar. This was followed by a draw against the European Cup runners-up, FK Partizan, in which Sarajevo squandered an early lead. With seven points from their first three fixtures, Sarajevo was still not considered a title favorite, but that was to change after Brozović's boys returned from the Dalmatian coast with a win against Hajduk Split. Four days later Sarajevo beat NK Olimpija 2:1 at a sold-out Koševo stadium. Hard-earned wins against HNK Rijeka and Red Star Belgrade followed, and by the winter break, Sarajevo had won 14 out of their first 20 league fixtures, finishing the year at pole position. The team opened the second part of the season away to Dinamo Zagreb in the last sixteen of the Yugoslav Cup winning 1:0 courtesy of a Boško Antić stunner. In the quarterfinals Sarajevo got the better of FK Napredak, but eventually lost in the Cup final to Hajduk Split, played at the Stari plac stadium on May 24. The team was quickly back to winning ways, defeating Red Star Belgrade at the Marakana 3:1 with two goals by Antić and one by Prodanović. A week later OFK Belgrade were defeated by the same margin, but a shock defeat to FK Vojvodina in Novi Sad brought Dinamo Zagreb on level points with three games to go. FK Vardar was defeated next thanks to a Musemić brace, while Dinamo dropped points in Rijeka. In the last league fixture of the season Sarajevo hosted NK Čelik in front of 30,000 spectators and went on to win 5:2, bringing home the club's first league title. The league triumph qualified Sarajevo to the 1967–68 European Cup, where they played their first tie against Cypriots Olympiakos Nicosia, winning 5:3 on aggregate. In the second round (one round short of the quarter-finals), Sarajevo was knocked out 2:1 on aggregate by eventual champions Manchester United of England, despite hosting a goalless draw in the first leg. The first leg was played before an audience of 40,000 spectators and refereed by the Italian Francesco Francescon. The second leg played at Old Trafford ended in controversy after the ball went out of bounds prior to the hosts scoring their second goal. Notable Sarajevo players during this era included Boško Antić, Mirsad Fazlagić, Vahidin Musemić, Fahrudin Prljača and Boško Prodanović.
Period of stagnation (1967–1979) Shortly after winning its first Yugoslav league title FK Sarajevo endured a period of general stagnation. The team entered the 1967/68 season as strong title favorites, but the campaign turned out to be a complete disaster. Namely, the maroon-whites, managed by former player Franjo Lovrić, did not manage to enter the championship race in hopes of defending the title, finishing mere 7th. The club management quickly named Munib Saračević manager for the 1968–69 season, but this move also turned out to be fruitless even though the team went on a six-game winning streak after Saračević's initial appointment. Sarajevo went on another large-scale international tour during the winter break, playing friendly fixtures in Malta, Pakistan, Iraq, and Kuwait, before hosting the Brazilian champions Palmeiras in Sarajevo and securing a 4–1 victory. Results from the international scene did not transfer onto the domestic league, with the team concluding the disappointing campaign 11th in the league standings. The next season brought the appointment of Srboljub Markušević as manager, who would in subsequent decades become to be colloquially known as the firefighter, due to the fact that he would be brought in to rescue team results on many occasion. In the 1971 January transfer window six members of the championship-winning generation, including Boško Prodanović, Anđelko Tešan, and Fahrudin Prljača, left the club while three more followed in July of the same year, including star player Boško Antić. Sarajevo concluded the year touring Latin America with Red Star Belgrade, playing friendly fixtures in Colombia, Honduras, and Costa Rica. The next season brought hope with the team going into the winter break clinching first spot, but only managing to finish 7th at the end of the season. New players in the Sarajevo dressing room during the aforementioned campaign included the likes of Denijel Pirić who was brought in from Dinamo Zagreb and Džemil Cerić, acquired from Sloboda Tuzla. The 1973–74 season brought in a handful of new players, including the likes of future club legend Želimir Vidović and former Red Star Belgrade and Bayern Munich striker Dušan Jovanović. Furthermore, that same year 18-year-old Safet Sušić joined the club from Krivaja Zavidovići, and would go on to be one of the main catalysts for the club's second major spell at the top of Yugoslav football in the coming years. All FK Sarajevo was able to muster in the first eleven seasons after taking home the title in 1967 was one 6th place league finish, two 7th place league finishes and a 1/4 final finish in the Yugoslav Cup in 1976–77. In that same year the club barely retained its place in the top-tier with a two-point advantage over relegated Napredak Kruševac. The 1978–79 season though, brought a breath of fresh air for Sarajevo fans, with the team finishing 4th behind Hajduk Split, Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade, and in doing so signaled things to come. Notable FK Sarajevo players in this period included Želimir Vidović, Radomir Savić, Edhem Šljivo, Srebrenko Repčić, Fuad Muzurović, Dragoljub Simić and Džemil Cerić.
Second championship generation (1980–1985)