Did you know that football has been played in our country for 130 years? It arrived in Serbia thanks to pupils and students who studied abroad, especially in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria‑Hungary. In 1896 Hugo Isak Buli brought the first football to Serbia upon returning from his studies in Berlin. The first football section was founded within the gymnastics society “Soko” on May 12, and Belgraders watched their first football match on May 19 near the Nebojša Tower. Three years later, in the tavern known as “Trgovačka,” the First Serbian Society for Ball Games was founded, playing its first match on Topčider Hill. In 1901, Football Club “Bačka” was founded in what was then Austria‑Hungary, today the oldest active football club in Serbia. In the Kingdom of Serbia, the first football clubs were founded in 1903: Football Club “Soko” in Belgrade and Football Club “Šumadija” in Kragujevac, thanks to football pioneer Danilo Stojanović (Čika Dača), who fell in love with the sport while studying in Germany.
Love for football, “the most important secondary thing in the world,” reached Kraljevo at the dawn of the 20th century. At first, locals called it “lopatanje” (ball‑playing). The sport was popularized by students returning from larger cities, workers seeking employment, and officers stationed in town. According to publicist Milan Pantović, the first football was brought to Kraljevo in 1909 by cavalry captain Delić of the “Tsar Dušan the Mighty” regiment. The sport quickly spread, and by 1912 a “Ball Section” was founded within the Kraljevo Soko society. Matches were played on the fields of Divlje Polje (between today’s “Elektrodistribucija” and Magnohrom).
After World War I, football’s popularity in Kraljevo continued to grow, despite concerns that it distracted youth from studying and was played mostly by weaker students or the poor. In the interwar period, the first football clubs in Kraljevo were founded, raising the sport to a more professional level. Clubs already had loyal fans, and the best players were admired by fellow citizens. The oldest club was organized within the Sports Society “Ibar”. Others included “Spartakus”, mostly workers, and “Jedinstvo”, mainly merchants and assistants, though these were short‑lived.
The 1930s marked the founding of more clubs: “Morava” (1930), “Radnički” (1931), and “Žiča” (1933). Thanks to them, Kraljevo clubs could compete among themselves and with teams from neighboring towns. They played in the West Morava district of the Kragujevac sub‑association, with Čačak teams “Borac” and “Jedinstvo” as their biggest rivals. Kraljevo fans also saw their clubs face Belgrade teams and even European sides. The well‑known Viennese club “Brigettenauer” visited and, to the great delight of locals, was defeated.
Despite its rise after World War I, Kraljevo football fell into crisis before World War II. In 1935 the football field was destroyed to build the Railway Workshop, and the following year “Radnički” was expelled from the Yugoslav Football Association for boycotting a match and ignoring sub‑association decisions. However, the founding of “Železničar” in 1935, composed of railway workers, improved the situation somewhat. They were allowed to adapt a plot into a football field, which was also used by “Ibar” and “Morava”, while “Žiča” likely ceased to exist.
Although there was an attempt to revive “Radnički” in 1939, the Ministry of Physical Education refused. The lack of a proper field remained a major obstacle, causing stagnation in sports life. “Ibar” launched a major campaign involving all sports societies to raise funds for a new field. The municipality allocated 70,000 dinars in its 1939–40 budget, but this was insufficient to purchase suitable land. Efforts were made to adapt the existing field by the Ibar River, below the Paris Hotel, with support even from Belgrade’s “Politika” newspaper in August 1940. Promises, however, were not fulfilled. Despite these difficulties and the hardships of occupation, Kraljevo football survived and entered a new phase of development after World War II.
Milena Baltić
Editor of the Educational and Scientific Program
of the Official Internet Presentation of the National Museum Kraljevo