FK Napredak Kruševac

Napredak Kruševac

Full name	Fudbalski klub Napredak Kruševac
Nickname(s)	Čarapani
Founded	8 December 1946 (1946-12-08)
Ground	Mladost Stadium
Ground Capacity	10,331[1]
President	Marko Mišković
Head coach	Dragan Ivanović
League	Serbian SuperLiga
2015–16	Serbian First League, 1st Promoted
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Fudbalski klub Napredak Kruševac (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Haпpeдaк Крушевац), commonly known as Napredak Kruševac, is a Serbian football club based in the city of Kruševac. The word Napredak means "progress" in Serbian.

History

Early years

Napredak was founded on 8 December 1946, through a merger of three local area clubs Zakić, Badža and 14. Oktobar. In January 1947, they played its first official game against Vardar, the result was 1–1. The first goal in Napredak's history scored Marko Valok, who became later a famous player of Partizan Belgrade and Yugoslavian First League top scorer in 1950. In 1949, they became champions of Serbia, the first title of the club. In 1951, Napredak joined the Yugoslav First League for the first time, but they immediately relegated in the IV Zona (IV Zone), which was one of the 5 subdivisions of the Yugoslav Second League. Since the season 1958/59, they compete in the new format of the Yugoslav Second League.

From 1976 to 1994

In 1976, led by coach Dragan Bojović, the club won the second league and again provides a placement in the elite, thanks to the four goals by Jovica Škoro, three by Milomir Jakovljević and one by Dragiša Ćuslović, which brought the decisive 8–2 victory over Rad Belgrade, but they relegated again in the same season. In the season 1978–79, they joined the Yugoslav First League, and in that season, Yugoslav powerhouse Partizan suffered a sensational 3–0 home defeat from Napredak.^[2] In the season 1979–80, led by coach Tomislav Kaloperović, Napredak finished the championship as 4th and this in front of several Yugoslav top clubs, and qualified finally for the first time for a European competition, the 1980–81 UEFA Cup season, but they were eliminated already in the first round by Eastern Germany's club Dynamo Dresden. It got even worse, because in the same season the club finished the league unexpectedly on the last place and was relegated in the Yugoslav Second League and competed there until 1988. In the season 1987–88, Napredak won the East Division of the second league and was promoted to the top tier, but the club could not keep in the first league and relegated for the third time in its history again in the debut season. Napredak remain in the second league until the season 1991–92, the last season of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and was one of the clubs, which were member of the newly founded First League of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1993, Napredak achieved a good six place, but the subsequent 1993–94 season, they relegated to the second league.

New Millennium (2000–2010)

They was during the nineties on the border between the first and second league and won finally in the season 1999–2000 the group East of the Yugoslav Second League and returned to the top tier. In the same season, Napredak's achieved its biggest success in a domestic competition, the reaching of the Yugoslav Cup final in 2000, but lost against the Serbian giant Red Star Belgrade. Their presence in the national cup final earned them a spot for the 2000–01 UEFA Cup season. This time, the team had a little more success than the first participation, eliminating Estonia's Viljandi Tulevik in the first round, but getting eliminated in the second by Greek club OFI Crete. The first league debut for the season 2000–01 was again, after the club history almost traditional, not a successful season and they relegated again immediately. The club received slowly the reputation to be an elevator team due the frequent promotions and subsequent relegations. In 2003, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and the football leagues followed the renaming. In 2003, Napredak won the group East of the Second League of Serbia and Montenegro and promoted to the 2003–04 First League of Serbia and Montenegro season, but relegated again immediately, and this already in total for the fifth time in its history immediately after a promotion.

After Montenegrin independence in 2006, the clubs from Montenegro withdrew from the league and since then the leagues formed by clubs from the territory of Serbia only. In the season 2006–07, Napredak achieved the third place of the Serbian First League, the second tier in the Serbian football system. Then provided the first two places the promotion in the first league, but on 19 July, in 2007, the Football Association of Serbia decided that Napredak will be promoted to the Serbian SuperLiga and replace Mladost Apatin who withdrew from the competition after being unable to bear the financial burden of playing in a top division. In 2008, they missed barely a qualification place for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. However, two years later, precisely in 2010, Napredak relegated and played again in the Serbian First League.

New Management (2011–present)

Napredak began transforming from the beginning of 2012 with the arrival of new management and players alike. One of the players was striker Nenad Mirosavljević, one of the best known player in the Serbian football and one of the greatest players to have ever played for APOEL, who was signed from Olympiakos Nicosia. Less than a month after his signing, the club brought the new director Goran Karić, who had the task of bringing the club back to the top flight from the Serbian First League.

Napredak occupied after the first half of the season the bottom half of table, but the new team started a series of victories and they finished the 2011-12 Serbian First League season as 6th, barely missing promotion to the first-tier, the Serbian SuperLiga. On 17 September 2012, Karić was replaced by new director Vladimir Arsić.^[4] One of the first acts under the new management was the redesign of the club's logo.^[5] The renovation of Napredak's home ground, the Madost Stadium, was complete by the end of April 2012, and the club was able to play again at home. On 9 December, in 2012, Napredak celebrated its 66th birthday and the club's position at first place at the end of the first half of the 2012–13 Serbian First League, which was practically an unprecedented success for the club.^[6] Napredak finally promoted to Serbian SuperLiga after crowning First League as champions. Napredak finished SuperLiga as 9th in 2013–14 season. But, Napredak finished it as 14th in 2014–15 season and played play-out against Metalac, 3rd of Serbian First League. After a 3–1 loss away on 30 May 2015 and a 1–1 draw at home on 3 June 2015, Napredak were relegated to second tier.

Club colors and crest

Throughout its history Napredak has traditionally performed in the color red as a tribute to the Labour movement, but the club used also as away kit, an all-white jersey. The crest includes the colors red and white, as well as the year 1946 marking the year the club was established, a football in the middle and the top symbolizes the wall of the Kruševac Fortress, which was probably built by famous medieval Serbian ruler Tsar Lazar.

• 
  Used from 2012

Stadium

Mladost Stadium

The home field of Napredak is the Mladost Stadium, an all-seater football stadium, which has capacity for 10,331 people. The ground was built in 1976, in a record time of just 60 days. It's even more impressive than some other Eastern Block structures because it wasn't based on sloped land. Initial capacity of 25,000 also was a reason for pride, especially with current size of the stadium being under half of that historical figure,^[7] it is one of the few single-purpose stadiums in Serbia, because it lacks a track ring like in conventional multi-purpose stadiums, noise from the spectators is closer to the field and therefore composes a louder and exciting atmosphere for hosting and visiting teams alike. Biggest changes came in 2012, when Napredak carried out an extensive renovation project, installing seats throughout the stadium and erecting four floodlight masts. That year the stadium hosted the 2012 Serbian Cup Final and is also one of the venues for the Serbian national under-21 football team.

Supporters

The organized supporters group of Napredak are known as Jakuza, which was formed in 1988. They are in a brotherhood with the organized supporter group of Mačva Šabac, the Šaneri.

Honours and achievements

Domestic

National Championships

• Yugoslav Second League
  • Winner (4): 1958, 1976, 1978, 1988
• FR Yugoslavia Second League
  • Winner (1): 2000
• Second League of Serbia and Montenegro
  • Winner (1): 2003
• Serbian First League
  • Winner (2): 2013, 2016

National Cups

• FR Yugoslavia Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2000

Recent league history

European record

1R = First round, PR = Preliminary round, QR = Qualifying round, PO = play-off round.

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1980–81	UEFA Cup	1R	Dynamo Dresden	0–1	0–1	0–2
2000–01	UEFA Cup	QR	JK Viljandi Tulevik	5–1	1–1	6–2
		1R	OFI Crete	0–0	0–6	0–6

Players

Historical Squads

2000 Cup Finalist Lineup

Krnjinac Mijatović (c) Krstić Antić Atanasković Vidojević Filipović Kojičić Dragnjević Zajić Stefanović 2000 FR Yugoslavia Cup Final starting lineup vs. Red Star Belgrade (4–5–1)

Current squad

As of 10 September 2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Slobodan Janković 3 MF Boris Varga 4 DF Bojan Miladinović (vice-captain) 5 DF Miloš Simonović 6 DF Abraham Frimpong 7 MF Jovan Markoski (captain) 8 MF Nenad Šljivić 10 MF Miloš Vulić 11 MF Branimir Petrović 13 FW Bratislav Punoševac 14 FW Georgije Ilić 17 MF Aleksa Vukanović 18 DF Nikola Leković

No. Position Player 21 DF Dragan Žarković 22 MF Vladimir Jovović (on loan from Red Star Belgrade) 23 DF Josip Projić (3rd captain) 27 DF Slobodan Urošević 28 MF Dino Šarac 30 FW Jesse Sekidika 31 MF Saša Filipović 35 GK Nikola Petrović 72 FW Ibrahima Mame N'Diaye 77 MF Marko Gobeljić 88 MF Bojan Beljić — FW Mladen Sarajlin

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 9 FW Darko Lemajić (at Inđija until the end of 2016) 19 FW Marko Ristić (at Prva Petoletka until the end of 2016–17 season) 45 DF Nikola Radmanovac (dual with Prva Petoletka until the end of 2016–17 season) 66 MF Marko Stanojević (dual with Temnić until the end of 2016–17 season) 79 FW Andrija Majdevac (at Temnić until the end of 2016–17 season)

No. Position Player 97 GK Stefan Stojanović (dual with Radnički Obrenovac until the end of 2016) — MF Filip Krstić (at Jedinstvo Paraćin until the end of 2016–17 season) — Nikola Stanojević (at Bošnjane) — Dušan Marković (at Moravica Subotinac until the end of 2016–17 season)

For recent transfers, see List of Serbian football transfers summer 2016.

Club officials

Current technical staff
Position	Name
Manager	Dragan Ivanović
Assistant coach	Ivan Stefanović
Assistant coach	Zoran Stojanović
Goalkeeper coach	Miodrag Miletić
Club doctor	Nikola Kljajić
Physiotherapist	Svetomir Tomić
Physiotherapist	Saša Miletić
General secretary	Dragan Pajić
Economic	Veroljub Lazarević
Source: FK Napredak

Notable former players

List of former players with senior national team appearances:^[8]

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

Former managers

This is a list of former managers of Napredak Kruševac:^[9]

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FK Napredak Kruševac.

• Official website (Serbian)
• Club page at srbijasport.net