Serbian Champions 1946.

After the first post-war national football tournament was held from 2 to 9 September 1945, which was won by the Serbian national team, the conditions were created for the first competitive matches between clubs from all republics. After a series of successful events that took place in certain sports during the summer, the Physical Education Committees announced football competitions and created a competition system.

In Serbia, the competition was played by districts and cities. The first zone was played by the districts of Belgrade, Šabac, Valjevo and Požarevac. The second zone was made up of the districts of Kruševac, Čačak, Jagodina and Užice. The third zone was played by the districts of Niš, Prokuplje, Zaječar and Pirot, and the fourth zone was played by Vranje, Leskovac, Kragujevac, as well as the winner of the match Sandžak (Novi Pazar) - Jedinstvo (Prishtina).

The first official championship of the People's Republic of Serbia began on September 30, 1945 in the first zone, with the Belgrade District Championship. FOB (Belgrade Physical Education Board) organized the competition in groups. In the elimination phase, 15 clubs played, which were divided into groups "Sava" (Radnički, Beograd, Poštar, Botip, Brodarac, Građevinac and Kosmaj) and "Dunav" ( Crvena Zvezda , Metalac, Borac, Grafičar, Sloboda, Drvodeljac, Vračar and Železničar). After the autumn part of the championship was completed, the first in the "Dunav" group was Crvena Zvezda , ahead of Metalac, and in the "Sava" group the best were Radnički and Beograd. The top scorer of the first part of the championship was Crvena zvezda player Kosta Tomašević, who scored 21 goals.

The final part of the championship was played in the spring and involved the two first-placed clubs from each group, as well as the champion of the "Zemun" group, Sremac. The final of the Belgrade championship was played according to a single point system from March 17 to May 5, 1946. After five matches, the first post-war Belgrade championship was won by FD Metalac ahead of OFD Crvena Zvezda . These two clubs won the same number of points, but Metalac had a better goal difference. In this way, Metalac and Crvena Zvezda qualified for the final of the Serbian National Championship. The champions of their respective districts in Serbia were: Borac from Čačak (Čačak District), Radnički from Pirot (Pirot District), Javor from Jagodina (Moravsko District), Budućnost from Valjevo (Valjevo District), Zakić from Kruševac (Kruševac District), Železničar from Niš (Niš District), Kaćuša from Kuršumlija (Topličko District), Kosta Stamenković from Leskov (Leskov District), Rudar from Kostolac (Požarevac District), Sloboda from Užice (Užice District), Radnički from Šabac (Šabac District), Radnički from Kragujevac (Kragujevac District), Jedinstvo from Priština (Kosovo District).

The final championship of the People's Republic of Serbia began on May 19 and ended on June 30, 1946. The regulations were as follows:

- After the last round, the official champion of the People's Republic of Serbia in football will be declared, the first and second will qualify for the State Championship of the People's Republic of Yugoslavia for the 1946/47 season, and the third will be directly promoted to the Republic League of the People's Republic of Serbia.

The following qualified for the final championship of the People's Republic of Serbia: Crvena Zvezda and Metalac (Belgrade), Borac (Čačak), Železničar (Niš), Jedinstvo (Smederevo) and Radnički (Kragujevac). The first match Crvena Zvezda played against Borac on May 19 and suffered a 2:1 defeat, which was the only one in the final competition. In the next match, on June 16, Crvena Zvezda defeated city rival Metalac 1:0, and then recorded an away win on June 23 against Radnički (2:1). The next victory was recorded in Belgrade, on June 27 against Jedinstvo, by a score of 8:0. The last and decisive match was played in Belgrade on June 30, and Crvena Zvezda defeated Železničar 4:1. In this way, Crvena Zvezda deservedly won its first title of champion of the People's Republic of Serbia since its existence, and that title enabled it to qualify and participate in the first national championship of the FPRJ in football. Crvena Zvezda also had the top scorer of the final competition - it was Jovan Jezerkić, who scored seven goals.