Sasha Gracanin
With the Serbian Super league, actually called Meridian Super Liga because of sponsorship agreements, just days away, let us have a look at what improvements were implemented with the twelve teams scheduled to play three rounds of a 33 games total per team. Sometimes, given the limited European action a number of Serbian teams have seen, it’s become all too easy to forget that not so long ago there was a European Cup winner from this country.
During the nineties a constant decrease in quality plagued the clubs we all used to know as tough competitors. Red Star Belgrade (FK Crvena Zvezda) and FK Partizan used to be internationally well known teams, with Red Star Belgrade even winning the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 1991. Then Yugoslavia started splitting up, corruption and crime flooded the country and even football became a toy for ultra rich war criminals and crime bosses.
After the change in 2000, cleaning up football was not really a priority for the government, so the status quo remained, with the two clubs dominating the league and switching top spot depending on the trainer, the players, and whichever current political party was in charge.
To put it into perspective, when Lothar Matthäus was leading Partizan as their coach, they were unbeatable in the league, when Walter Zenga was leading Red Star, they were unbeatable, furthermore, Red Star even beat AS Roma in qualification for the Champions League, then lost terribly at home – which spawned rumours that the game was rigged.
Just recently, actually this year, the fight against the so called football mafia in Serbia has begun – but also in Montenegro (which is not seriously co-operating). This development has been under public scrutiny and many people have been arrested, including almost the whole previous Board of Directors of FK Crvena Zvezda, wreaking havoc on the whole league. Even the former president of the National Football Association and former president of OFK Beograd, Zvezdan Terzic, is a fugitive of justice, with a red Interpol warrant issued in his name.
But what’s new?
Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda)
Red Star Belgrade are trying to recover from the shock and have employed Czech Zdenek Zeman as their new coach. Why he was employed is anybody’s guess, he is not really a world class coach and most of his recent outings were poor. Perhaps nobody with an impeccable history wanted to touch the scandal ridden club, or Red Star are more drained of funds than we actually thought?
Be it as it may, the reasoning behind this move is the fact that any club in the Super League with a foreign trainer coaching the club has done very well. Let’s not kid ourselves, Matthäus was a world class football player, but as a coach he hasn’t really done anything worth mentioning, but nevertheless, his spell with FK Partizan was notable. This probably says a lot about the quality of local trainers more than about Matthäus’ qualifications, but herewith the thinking process behind hiring Zeman seems sound.
Notable transfers this season are Edgar Bruno da Silva, or just Edgar, a very talented 21 year old Brazilian striker who came from FC Porto on a one year loan. Good news for Red Star, but bad news for Segundo Castillo were the collapse of negotiations for his move to Blackburn Rovers. This way, one of the best Ecuadorian players is remaining with Red Star. Not yet signed, but likely, are Ibrahim Some Salombo from Congo, who previously played as a striker with the Belgian side KSC Lokeren; and Brazilian Rafael Luiz Bauml Tesser, who will probably be another loan. The two important midfielders, Ognjen Koroman and Nenad Milijas, the captain, remain with the team.
FK Partizan
The other big club, FK Partizan, are the reigning champions, winning the double crown (the Championship and the Cup) in the 2007/2008 season. Their current trainer is a newbie, Slavisa Jokanovic, who many might well know. I guess he was hired because he used to play for notable teams like Chelsea or Deportivo La Coruna. He took over from Miroslav Djukic, who left the team in mid-season to take the helm at the Serbian national team. How much of the credit for winning the double crown belongs to Jokanovic, how much to Djukic, remains to be seen.
A notable signing is the Tunisian midfielder Kamel Zaiem, who has arrived on a three-year contract. Also joining the orchestrators of Partizan’s success of last year, the playmaker Moreira from Portugal, Brazilian Juca and Senegalese Lamine Diarra. Most of the local players from FK Partizan are not really world class, noteworthy is perhaps Veljko Paunovic, who at the age of 30, has a reasonable history and played for Atletico Madrid and Getafe. Paunovic has just signed a two-year deal with the team.
Partizan’s captain is Nenad Djordjevic, who in January re-joined the team after a short stint with Japanese side JEF United Ichihara Chiba. How realistic the club’s dreams of competing in the Champions League are, we’ll see whenand if Partizan get to meet Fenerbahce in the qualifying rounds, who come with Aragones as coach and newly acquired superstar Guiza as striker. It does not look good.
OFK Beograd
To say that other teams don’t matter does not really do them justice, some of the other teams have a colourful history, like OFK Beograd, a team that used to be really strong in the former Yugoslavia. The so called “third team from Belgrade” somehow just turned bad for no particular reason. Founded in 1911, they are one of the oldest clubs in Serbia; and were doing unbelievably well in the 1960s and the early 1970s, when they won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in the 62/63 season. The current squad contains no surprises, mostly local players and no real superstars. Talented Ivan Stevanovic and Milos Bosancic were transferred to FK Partizan, which says a lot.
FK Vojvodina
FK Vojvodina, third placed in the last year’s competition, were also rattled by the current clean-up in Serbian football by the government. Former president and owner of FK Vojvodina, Ratko Butorovic was arrested in connection with match-rigging allegations, and is still in custody awaiting trial.
Vojvodina are a club with a history, founded in 1914, and the starting point for some really prominent players, like Sinisa Mihajlovic, the current assistant coach of Inter. The current win in the 1st UEFA Cup Qualifying Round against Azerbaijani club FK Olimpik Baku and the drawing of Hapoel Tel Aviv in the second round, deemed beatable, give reason to be carefully optimistic. The club’s intention to hire Jefferson Baptista, a Brazilian midfielder and striker Pablo Ostrovsky from Argentina is definitely displaying the effort FK Vojvodina are making to become more competitive.
FK Rad
Another club from Belgrade, the FK Rad, has also had almost no impact on the outcome of the Super League. They have some history in the late eighties when finishing fourth in the Yugoslav championship, followed by a short run in the UEFA Cup which resulted in elimination by Olympiacos. FK Rad’s fans are notorious by their eagerness to start violence and cause mayhem. They got promoted to the Super League from the second league, which is called Prva Liga Telekom Srbija.
Cukaricki Stankom
Cukaricki Stankom are also an old club from Belgrade, founded in 1924. Last year they finished 6th, so they will be playing some role in the current competition. No significant changes there.
FK Hajduk Kula
FK Hajduk Kula were founded in 1925, in Kula, a Serbian town that became notorious for harboring the training facilities of former President Milosevic’s killing squad the Red Berets (Crvene Beretke). The team finished 8th in last year’s competition. No changes to the team.
FK Napredak Krusevac
FK Napredak Krusevac were founded after the Second World War and this is the second season where Napredak are in the Meridian Super League. A club that did have its moments in the past, fighting even in the UEFA Cup in the late seventies, is expected to have an as notable performance as last year, when they finished 5th.
FK Jagodina
FK Jagodina are another very old club, founded in 1918. They got promoted to the Meridian Super League, after finishing second in the Prva Liga Telekom Srbija. How far they will have an impact is anyone’s guess.
FK Habit Pharm Javor Ivanjica
FK Habit Pharm Javor Ivanjica, founded in 1912, won the Prva Liga Telekom Srbija. The inspired play of an almost unchanged team and the really talented striker Stevan Racic make this club an interesting addition to the Super League and a team to watch out for.
FK Borac Cacak
FK Borac Cacak have big ambitions for the new season. After finishing 4th behind Vojvodina – the places 1 and 2 seem to be permanently booked by Partizan and Red Star, who are alternating in rank – they became eligible for qualifications to the UEFA Cup, starting a real craze in the city of Cacak by beating FC Dacia Chisinau from Romania in the first round. Lokomotiv Sofia are the opponents in the second round and will be a true stepping stone; as well as providing a realistic evaluation of the quality FK Borac are going to display this season.
FK Banat Zrenjanin
FK Banat Zrenjanin were supposed to be relegated to the Prva Liga Telekom Srbija, but FK Mladost Lucani, who were believed to participate in the Super League, declined the participation due to serious financial problems. So FK Banat got lucky, but are not expected to do anything other than fight relegation again.
Don’t expect anyone outside of Red Star or Partizan to be lifting the title come the end of the season, but as always, it will be enthralling stuff. Maybe as much for the off the pitch happenings as on it!
