FK Spartak Subotica

Fudbalski klub Spartak Subotica (Фудбалски клуб Спартак Суботица) is a professional football club from Subotica, Serbia, that plays in the Serbian SuperLiga.

The club was founded in 1945 and was named after Jovan Mikić Spartak, the leader of the Partisans in Subotica, who was a national hero and was killed in 1944.

After the end of the 2007–08 Serbian League Vojvodina, the club merged with Zlatibor Voda which won promotion to the Serbian First League thus gaining the name Spartak Zlatibor Voda. In 2013, the board decided to return to the original name of the club.

Origins
Founded in 1945, FK Spartak Subotica is, after Vojvodina, the most successful club in northern Serbia. They participated in the first after-war club championship, in the 1946–47 Yugoslav First League and from then on, they played always in between the first and second national leagues. The biggest success of the club was achieved when the club played in the 1993–94 FR Yugoslavia Cup final against Partizan (1–6 loss).

However, football in Subotica has long tradition. During the pre-WWII period, the city was the seat of the Subotica Football Subassociation, one of the subassociations which existed within the Yugoslav Football Association, and which organised league competitions whose winners qualified for the Yugoslav championship where the national champion was decided. Subotica was home to three major clubs that made it to the Yugoslav championship before 1941: Bačka, SAND and ŽAK Subotica. Bačka has furthermore the record of being the oldest football club in the entire territory of former Yugoslavia.

When Second World War started in 1941 in Yugoslavia, Subotica was invaded by the Axis forces and incorporated into Hungary with its clubs being included in the Hungarian league system. At the end of the war Yugoslavia took control again of Subotica. Some clubs such as SAND were dissolved, others like Bačka kept existing although played a much lesser role from then on, and, some new ones were formed, like Radnički or Građanski. ŽAK Subotica kept being active for a while, however, their main sponsor, the Yugoslav Railways, decided to dissolve it and form a new club in its place which would be named "Spartak" which was the nickname of a legendary athlete from Subotica and World War II Yugoslav Partisans commander Jovan Mikić – Spartak. Besides the players, the stadium, the colors and the fans, Spartak also inherited from ŽAK the tradition of being backed by the Yugoslav Railways.

1946 to 2006
During the period of socialist Yugoslavia, Spartak was a regular participant either in Yugoslav First or Second leagues. Although they never won the national championship, they were a feared adversary known for both, producing good homeground players that achieved quality careers domestically and abroad, and also bringing talented players from regions all around Yugoslavia. Spartak also contributed a number of players for the national team. During this period, the highlight was their presence as losing finalist of the 1961–62 Yugoslav Cup.

Spartak was cup finalist again, in the 1993–94 FR Yugoslavia Cup. By then the old SFR Yugoslavia broke-up and FR Yugoslavia formed by Serbia and Montenegro took its place. Spartak was a regular participant of the First League of FR Yugoslavia all way until 1999–2000 season when they were relegated and a period of crisis started.

During the first decade of the new millennium the club went downhills all way until 2008 when they merged with FK Zlatibor Voda from neighbouring town of Horgoš. Playing under the name FK Spartak Zlatibor Voda, the club started recovering finally reaching its come-back to top tier when they were promoted to the 2009–10 Serbian SuperLiga.

2006 till nowadays
Spartak's biggest success since Serbia restored its name as country in 2006, came in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. They first defeated Northern Irish club Coleraine F.C. in Round 1, then went on to achieve what is considered their brightest moment in club history defeating Czech powerhouse AC Sparta Prague over two legs. They were eventually eliminated from the UEFA Europa League in the 3rd qualifying round, losing to Danish club Brøndby IF over two games.

Supporters
Spartak's fans are known as Marinci (Marines), which were formed in early 1989.

Stadium
Subotica City Stadium (Gradski stadion ) is a multi-use stadium in Subotica, Serbia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the club's home ground since 1945. The stadium holds 13,000 people. There is a football pitch and a registered track for athletics suitable for competitions. One part of the Stadium is covered. There are also two subsidiary football pitches.

Mitropa Cup
The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, was one of the first really international major European football cups that the club participated in. After World War II, in 1951, a replacement tournament named Zentropa Cup was held to resume the rich tradition of this competition.

UEFA competitions

 * Qualified for Europe in 2 seasons

League
National Championships – 1
 * People's Republic of Serbia League (Vojvodina group)
 * Winners (1): 1945–46
 * Yugoslav Second League
 * Winners (4): 1952, 1971–72, 1985–86 (West), 1987–88 (West)

Cup

 * Yugoslav Cup
 * Runners-up (2): 1961–62, 1993–94

Notable players

 * To appear in this section a player must have either:


 * Played at least 80 games for the club.
 * Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club.
 * Played at least one international match for their national team at any time.


 * 🇷🇸 Milan Jovanić
 * 🇷🇸 Andrija Kaluđerović
 * 🇷🇸 Dejan Kekezović
 * 🇷🇸 Ognjen Koroman
 * 🇷🇸 Zoran Ljubinković
 * 🇷🇸 Predrag Mijić
 * 🇷🇸 Igor Popović
 * 🇷🇸 Dejan Rončević
 * 🇷🇸 Lazar Tufegdžić
 * 🇷🇸 Vojo Ubiparip
 * 🇷🇸 Vladimir Veselinov
 * 🇷🇸 Nemanja Vidić
 * 🇷🇸 Nikola Žigić
 * Miloš Cetina
 * Zvonko Ćirić
 * Zoran Dimitrijević
 * Milorad Đukanović
 * Miloš Glončak
 * Lajoš Jakovetić
 * Gojko Janjić
 * Senad Karač
 * Zoltan Kujundžić
 * Zoran Kuntić
 * Slobodan Kustudić
 * Ranko Leškov
 * Dušan Maravić
 * Nenad Maslovar
 * Dragan Miranović
 * Tihomir Ognjanov
 * Bela Palfi
 * Antal Puhalak
 * Zvonko Rašić
 * Antun Rudinski
 * Živko Slijepčević
 * Dimitrije Stefanović
 * Miloš Stojiljković
 * Slobodan Šujica
 * Jožef Takač
 * Antal Tapiška
 * Tomislav Taušan
 * Tim Chow
 * 🇭🇷 Ivo Šeparović
 * 🇬🇭 Edmund Addo
 * 🇭🇰 Dejan Antonić
 * 🇭🇺 Zsombor Kerekes
 * 🇭🇺 Flórián Urbán
 * 🇰🇿 Maxim Fedin
 * 🇯🇵 Noboru Shimura
 * 🇲🇪 Nikola Drinčić
 * 🇲🇪 Vladimir Jovović
 * 🇲🇪 Mladen Kašćelan
 * 🇲🇪 Nemanja Nikolić
 * 🇲🇪 Savo Pavićević
 * 🇲🇪 Milan Purović
 * 🇲🇪 Janko Tumbasević
 * 🇲🇪 Nikola Vujović
 * 🇲🇪 Andrija Vukčević
 * 🇹🇿 Morice Abraham

For the list of all current and former players with Wikipedia article, please see: Category:FK Spartak Subotica players.

Managers

 * Ilija Rajković (19??–60)
 * Tihomir Ognjanov
 * Milan Živadinović (1974–1975)
 * Ljupko Petrović (7 Jan 1987 – 1 July 1988)
 * Milutin Sredojević (1 July 2000 – 30 June 2001)
 * 🇷🇸 Ranko Popović (1 July 2008 – 30 June 2009)
 * 🇷🇸 Zoran Milinković (1 July 2009 – 30 June 2010)
 * 🇷🇸 Dragan Miranović (1 July 2010 – 14 November 2010)
 * 🇷🇸 Ilija Dobrić (caretaker) (14 Nov 2010 – 17 December 2010)
 * 🇷🇸 Ljubomir Ristovski (17 Dec 2010 – 3 June 2011)
 * 🇷🇸 Zoran Njeguš (7 June 2011 – 3 February 2012)
 * 🇷🇸 Zoran Milinković (6 Feb 2012 – 3 September 2012)
 * 🇷🇸 Zoran Marić (4 September 2012 – 8 September 2012)
 * 🇷🇸 Petar Kurćubić (10 September 2012 – 1 October 1, 2013)
 * 🇲🇰 Dragi Kanatlarovski (1 Oct 2013 – 2 June 2014)
 * 🇷🇸 Stevan Mojsilović (2 June 2014 – 23 October 2015)
 * 🇷🇺 Andrey Chernyshov (31 Oct 2015 – 31 May 2017)
 * 🇷🇸 Aleksandar Veselinović (5 June 2017 – 8 April 2018)
 * 🇷🇸 Vladimir Gaćinović (9 Apr 2018 – 1 October 2018)
 * 🇷🇸 Predrag Rogan (2 Oct 2018 – 6 June 2019)
 * 🇷🇸 Vladimir Gaćinović (6 June 2019 – 20 November 2020)
 * 🇷🇸 Vladimir Buač (20 November 2020—October 3, 2021)