FK Velež Mostar

Football club infobox
clubname = FK Velež Mostar


fullname = Fudbalski Klub Velež Mostar
nickname = Rođeni
founded = June 22, 1922
ground = Vrapčići Stadium | capacity = 7.000
chairman = Salem Bubalo
manager = Emir Tufek
league = Premier League of BiH
season = 2007-08
position = Premier League of BiH, 9th
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FK Velež ("Fudbalski Klub Velež"), successor of "RŠK Velež", is a football club from Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the city of Mostar, founded on June 22 1922. [cite web
publisher = FK Velez Mostar
title = FUDBALSKI KLUB "VELEŽ", MOSTAR
url=http://www.fkvelez.ba/o_klubu.php
accessdate=2008-04-22] The club currently plays at Vrapčići (7.000), but its historic stadium is the Bijeli Brijeg (25.000).

The club is named after a nearby mountain Velež, which again is named after one of the old Slavic gods, Veles.

FK Velež is a successful football team in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the time of former Yugoslavia, Velež was always in the Yugoslav First League and the team often ended the season in the top ten. Velež was the most popular and most successful team from Herzegovina to play in the top Yugoslav League. The team was very popular in Herzegovina and had a mixture of fans from all three main ethnic groups.

Today, Velež is in the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is active in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The team was relegated to the First League of the Federation from the Premier League for the 2004/2005 season. However, after two seasons in the second best league, Velež was promoted to the top league in the country in 2006.

In the summer of 2005, the club's assembly returned the red star to their logo.A red star has been the symbol of the club since 1922.

Achievements

** Yugoslav First League:::Runners-up 1973, 1974, 86.Yugoslav 3-rd place/bronz medal: 1970, 87, 88.

** Yugoslav Cup: champion 2::: 1981, 1986.Runners upp: 1958, 89.

** Prva Liga Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine: "2-nd div" 1::: 2006.Vice champion: 2004, 2005.

Yugoslav Second league (West) champion: 1952, 55.

European mitropa cup runner upp: 1975.

Balcans cup winner: 1981. (& runners upp 1972.)

Cup UEFA 1/4: 1975.

Olimpic turnament/Mostar open cup runners up: 1924.

Yugoslavia U-18 Cup champion 1: 1989.

Velez 67-74,The first golden era

For the 67-68 season Velez selected a new coach, the former Velez player Sulejman Sule Rebac. He was the second ever Mostar-born coach of Velez. (Haldun Hrvic was the first coach between 61-64). The season before Velez had ended in 10th place. It was time for a change. The team was getting old with players like Muhamed Mujic near the end of their playing careers. Rebac decided to promote young players from the Velez youth academy to the senior squad. The first ones to be brought in were Dusan Bajevic and Enver Maric. Despite this, the 67-68 season was even more worse than the previous season with the team ending in 14th place.

For the 68-69 season Sule brought in Franjo Vladic, Marko Colic, Jadranko Topic and Vladimir Pecelj from Leotar Trebinje. The results were becoming better with Velez ending in 8th place in the league. The following season 69-70 became the breakthrough season for Velez with the team ending in third place. Dusan Bajevic became the joint-top scorer in the league with OFK's Santrac, scoring 20 goals. He also made his debut for the Yugoslav national team in 1970.

For the season 70-71 Velez was determined to take the league home to Mostar. New players like Marjan Kvesic, Mirko Corluka, Dubravko Ledic, Boro Primorac and Aleksandar Ristic from FK Sarajevo were to help bringing home the league. They started the league good with after 4 matches 2 wins and 2 draws. But the next 10 following matches resulted with mixed results. The season ended with a big disappointment with the team ending at 8th place. The season 71-72 became a bit better than the previous with the team ending at 6th place. The only positive thing that year was that the goalkeeper Enver Maric had become the first goalkeeper for the national team, and the young leftwinger Momcilo Vukoje from Leotar who had impressed together with Ahmed Glavovic. The team was very young at that time. The year average in the team was 23-24 years, so the best years were to come.

The season 72-73 was Velezs best ever with the team ending at 2nd place. With two new players, center Vahid Halilodzic and back Dzemal Hadziabdic the team was completed. Big results were beginning to show. For instance the team trashed Vardar Skopje 4-0 and in the next following game the finished Radnicki Nis off with also a 4-0 win. By this time everybody knew how the team looked. Enver Maric as goalkeeper, in front of him Dzemal Hadziabdic and Aleksandar Ristic, in front off them two Velez had Boro Primorac, Vladimir Pecelj and Marko Colic. The five attacking players were from the right Jadranko Topic, the left Momcilo Vukoje, in the middle Franjo Vladic and Vahid Halilhodzic and as the team leding goalscorer Dusan Bajevic.

In the season 73-74 Velez fought the entire season with Hajduk Split for the first place. There were many games to remember like for example the 31 October when Velez won 5-0 at home against OFK or 4-2 in March 74 at home against Crvena Zvezda (Red Star). For the last match of the season Velez had to play away against FK Sarajevo while Hajduk took on OFK also away. Both teams had 42 points ( I think it was 42 points), but Hajduk had better goal difference. Velez managed to defeat Sarajevo 3-1 but Hajduk won there game and became champions. After the season 73-74 Sulejman Rebac left the team as the coach after 8 seasons. For the FIFA World Cup 1974 in Germany Enver Maric, Dusan Bajevic and Franjo Vladic (The famous BMV) were selected in the Yugoslav squad and Rebac was one of Yugoslavia's 5 coaches. Other players in Velez also played for the national team like for instance Boro Primorac who played 14 games, Vahid Halilodzic who played 15 and scored 7 goals and Dzemal Hadziabdic with 20 games.

Ten Best Players of All Time

10. Sead Kajtaz, a rightwinger who played for Velez between 1983-1990. A good player who quite didn't manage to show how really good he was. Played also 1 game for Yugoslavia.

9. Momčilo Vukoje, a leftwinger who also played in the golden generation. A fantastic dribbler who played more than 200 games for Velez.

8. Džemal Hadžiabdić, a leftback who played in the golden generation in the 70s. He played for Velez until 1980 before going of to Wales. Managed to play 20 games for the Yugoslav A-National Team. Was famous because of his stamina.

7. Blaž Slišković, a midfielder who played during the late 70s and early 80s for Velez. Won the Kup Marsala in 1981. Went on then to play for Hajduk Split, Marseille and Pescara. Was recently the coach for the Bosnian A-national team. Played in his carrier 26 games for Yugoslavia.

6. Vahid Halilhodžić, a forward who had a massive powerful shoot. Played for Velež during the late 70s and early 80s before going off to France. Won the Kup Marsala in 1981 where he scored 2 goals in the final game against FK Željezničar Sarajevo. Was twice the top scorer in the French League and also won the league in 1983 with his club Nantes. Played for Yugoslavia in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Played a total of 15 games for Yugoslavia where he scored 7 goals.

5. Muhamed Mujić was the first Velež player ever to play for Yugoslavia. He played 32 games and where he scored 17 goals! Played also in the FIFA World Cup 1962 where after breaking a leg to a Soviet player became suspended playing for the national team. Played for Velez during the 1950s and 60s. Played also for Dinamo Zagreb.

4. Semir Tuce, the best player for Velez in the 80s. A fantastic leftwinger who dribbled like no one other. Played for Velez between 1982-1989. Later he would go on to play in Switzerland before ending his carrier in 1994. Played also 7 games for Yugoslavia and scored 1 goal.

3. Enver Marić, Velez's best goalkeeper all times. One of the three famous "BMV" players. He has played more games for Velez than nobody else, exactly 451 games. Played in the 70s and 80s. Was the goalkeeper for Yugoslavia in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Totally he played 32 games for Yugoslavia. Later went on to play also with Schalke 04. Is today goaltrainer for Hertha Berlin.

2. Franjo Vladić, also on of the famous three "BMV"s. After Enver Maric Vladic has played the most of games for Velez. Was also a member of the Yugoslav squad in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Was famous for his leftfoot and his passings.

1. Dušan Bajević is without no doubt the best ever player that has played for Velez. He is a symbol of Velez. Is the third member of the famous "BMV". Was a centerforward who scored 170 goals in 370 games! Played in the 1974 FIFA World Cup where he scored a hattrick against Zaire. Was also coach for Velež in the 80s where he won the Kup Marsala Tite in 1986. Played also in Greece where his status is huge. Was recently the coach for Crvena Zvezda.

Other notable Velež players

Current squad

upporters

FK Velež Mostar fans are called Red Army Mostar and they are politically left-oriented.They were founded on 01.04.1981.Nowadays, the supporters of Velež are mainly Bosniaks, but there are also Serbs and Croats(as time passes, there are more non-Bosniak players in Velež and members of the fan club); the fan organization is called "Red Army". In the former Yugoslavia, Velež was supported by all three ethnic groups of Mostar and Herzegovina. The current political situation in Mostar is that the Croats claim the west side of the city (divided by the former front) and their new football club, while Bosniaks claim the east side and the football club Velež.

References

External links

* [http://www.fkvelezlive.com/ FK Velez Live streaming Website]
* [http://www.fkvelez.ba/ FK Velez Official Website] bs icon
* [http://www.fkvelez.net/ FK Velez Unofficial Website] bs icon
* [http://www.redarmy-mostar.ba/ FK Velez Supporters R.A Mostar Site] bs icon
* [http://www.rodjeni-mostar.com/ FK Velez Supporters R.A Ilidza Website] bs icon