history

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Crvena Zvezda was founded on the initiative of members of the United Alliance of Anti-Fascist Youth of Serbia. Initially, a month earlier - in February of the same year, a new youth physical education society was founded, which quickly grew into a sports team and was named "Red Star".

The first match was played on the very day of the foundation, and the opponent was the First Battalion of the Second Brigade of the KNOJ. Our team won with a score of 3:0 on the "Student" playground. Crvena Zvezda was then represented by the following line-up: Golubičić (Popadić), Stanković, Filipović, Pečenčić, Ćirić, Jovanović, Velicković, Tomašević, Šapinac (Stokić), Spasojević and Horvatović. The scorer of the first, historic goal for Red Star was Kosta Tomašević. During the first year of existence, Crvena Zvezda has played a total of 36 matches. It has recorded 30 wins, five draws, and its only defeat was in Timisoara against Romania.

Đorđe Paljić was elected as the first president of the club, Slobodan Ćosić and Zoran Žujović as vice-presidents, Ljubiša Sekulić as secretary, Dušan Bogdanović as treasurer, and Predrag Đajić as treasurer.

The first trophy - the Serbian Championship trophy - was won in 1946. Six teams participated in the final competition in May and June 1946. Crvena Zvezda won first place by defeating Železničar in Niš, Metalac in Belgrade, Jedinstvo in Smederevo and Radnički in Kragujevac. The only match our team lost was against Borac from Čačak.      

In 1948, the first cup was won, and in the final, the eternal rival was defeated with a convincing 3:0. A period of constant winning of awards followed, and after three cups in the most massive competition, in 1951, in an unprecedented thriller finale of the championship, the most trophy-winning Serbian club also achieved the award of the best in the national championship. We caught up with Dinamo Zagreb's advantage of five points (at that time, a win was scored with two points) in the last three rounds, and the enthusiastic fans burned newspapers in the stadium and carried their heroes on their shoulders through Belgrade. In the following decades Crvena Zvezda grows into a world-class giant, with a recognizable fast and efficient game.

The year 1957 followed, which brought Red Star Belgrade its fifth championship title, as well as its first major European success. The Red and Whites made their debut on the international European stage, and reached the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup. The Italian Fiorentina won 1:0 in Belgrade, while the match in Italy ended in a draw. A year later, our club won its first European trophy - the Danube Cup. It took a full 10 years for the next European trophy to be won, and then in 1968, the Central European Cup, as it was then called, was won again.

Crvena Zvezda dominated national competitions, and it was time to take it a step further. The first big opportunity was missed in 1971, when, for the second time in history, Crvena Zvezda played in the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup. At the Marakana, Panathinaikos was convincingly defeated with a score of 4:1, while the defeat in the second leg of 3:0 is still inexplicable. Then in 1975. Crvena Zvezda played the semifinals of the Cup Winners' Cup. The Hungarian rival, Ferencváros, was more successful. The first match ended with a score of 2:1 in favor of Ferencváros, while the second leg in Belgrade ended in a draw.

The third big opportunity was missed in the 1979 UEFA Cup final, when Crvena Zvezda , after a refereeing error, was defeated by Borussia Moenchengladbach. In the UEFA Cup, Dynamo Berlin was first defeated, then Sporting Gijon, Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion, Hertha. In the final, we met Borussia. The first match in Belgrade ended in a draw (1:1). In the second leg, the Italian referee Paolo Michelotti awarded a non-existent penalty that brought victory to Borussia.

For the next almost a decade and a half, the red and whites were regular participants in European Cups, defeating many football giants, and Crvena Zvezda has become a symbol of Eastern European football thanks to its great games and top grandmasters in its ranks. It has won the UEFA Cup three times, after the finals, Crvena Zvezda player of the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup. The first time in 1981, when the opponent was Inter. The first match was played in Milan, the result was a draw, 1:1. In the return match, Inter won. The following year, in a two-legged match against Anderlecht, Crvena Zvezda was defeated (in both matches) with a score of 2:1. Five years later, in 1987, the rival in the quarter-finals was the famous Real Madrid, which our team defeated in front of a full stadium in Belgrade with a score of 4:2. In the return match that followed, our team was defeated 2:0 in Madrid, and due to the goals scored in the away match, the Spanish champion advanced.

The reward for years of successful work at the Marakana finally arrived in 1991 when the golden generation of the Serbian club conquered Europe and the world. In the final of the European Champions Cup, Olympique Marseille was defeated after a penalty shootout. Just a few months later, in Tokyo, the trophy intended for the world club champion also shone in the trophy room of the "Rajko Mitić" stadium. The following year, Crvena Zvezda also played in the European Champions Cup, but due to the introduction of sanctions, they did not play a single match in front of their loyal fans. Sampdoria was the last obstacle that our team had to overcome in order to play in the final of this competition again. The match played in Sofia ended with a score of 3:1 in favor of the team from Italy.

Unfortunately, a generation of young and super-quality players failed to stay together due to the civil war in the former Yugoslavia. This was followed by sports sanctions against our country and a ban on participation in international competitions. The situation in the club is rightly often equated with the situation in the country, because since its foundation, our club has shared the fate of the Serbian people. Crvena Zvezda found itself in a difficult period during which management and players were frequently changed, the quality of football declined, but even in such a situation the club managed to win an enviable number of trophies in the domestic arena.

In the summer of 2014, Crvena Zvezda won the 27th national championship title, after a multi-year "fast". Two years later, the 28th championship title was won in a very dominant and convincing manner, and since then a new era begins with new management and a great return to the European scene. In the 2017/18 season, the group stage of the Europa League was played and a place in the round of 16 was secured, which was the first wintering in Europe after 26 years. Zvezda has won eight titles since 2014, seven of which have been tied since 2017. Our team played in the Champions League four times, three of which in the group stage, but it was also a participant in the historic new format of the highest quality European competition in the 2024/25 season. In addition, our club also appeared in four group stages of the Europa League and even managed to winter in Europe in three seasons. Since the 2020/21 season, four consecutive double crowns have been won. A lot has been invested in the infrastructure of the "Rajko Mitić" stadium and the Youth School. Zvezda is back on the European football map, where it belongs and has no intention of stopping on the way to establishing its position at the very top of European football, where, according to tradition and results, we also have a place...

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