In the footsteps of a legend: A Lesson In History

I will almost every time start my save by getting myself acquainted with the club, it´s history and the story which all of that is telling me. Today I will draw you with me to have a look of the history of FK Vojvodina.

FK Vojvodina or Voša as it is know to it´s fans was formed in secrecy on the 6th of March 1914. Amongst it´s founding fathers were a group of students from the local Serbian Orthodox high school with some help from the local intellectuals and craftsman. The founding meeting was held at the local weaving mill. Secrecy was needed since the under aged were not were not allowed to gather in large numbers according to authorities. Name of the club Vojvodina was derived from the word “vojvoda” roughly meaning “war leader”.

Voša played it´s first match in Kovilj against local club FK Šajkaš winning 5-0 with a team consisting local students and pupils. The success was short lived though since the wheels of history were about to turn pretty soon. After the first big bout in europe club  was formed again with the support of a czech team Slavia Prague(which some of the Voša players and management were members also). In honor of this support team chose to wear the same colors as Slavia Prague and their first coat of arms was also modeled after SP´s.

First trophy which the club reeled in was the Novi Sad Subassociation league victory in 1926. After winning that title several times Voša competed seriously for the Yugoslav First League top places until 1940/41 season when league halted due to the second big bout in europe. 1962 Vojvodina fought and finished runner-up in the YFL. However they started to make a dip to a dive motion shortly after that and entering the relegation battle for the next couple of seasons. Not until 1964 a familiar figure you will run into in this series  Vujadin Boškov took over as a technical director the team started to re-shape itself. A former player for the club Boskov modernized the club from top to bottom starting tradition that still reigns today. Club put huge efforts in infrastructure and scouting also hiring a new coach  Branko Stanković who introduced the discipline and running as cornerstones for their play. In 1966 was time to reap the rewards and lift the YFL trophy for the first time in club history.

After the split of Yugoslavia(which influenced heavily on all the football clubs in that region and not in a good way) Voša became know as “eternal third” finishing six times in a row third in the league. 90´s was a difficult time since clubs where not allowed to enter european competitions and solely played competitive matches on their home soil. In 1998 club enjoyed great success in the Intertoto Cup losing to Bremen??? in the final. Irony here anyone?

The start of new millenia was proving to disastrous for the club. During these dark times the club was in the bring of financial and competitive collapse all the time. Not until the gathering of supporters openly making their dissatisfaction felt in 2005 the club started showing signs of healing. Under the watchful eye of  eccentric new president Ratko Butorović club started to heal itself. Club was able to signs better players, finances were improving and huge reconstructions were made on the facilities of the club.

Fast forwarding ourselves to the year 2015. Voša is one of the most prestigious clubs considering youth development in it´s region. This is due to it´s extensive youth scouting network and excellent facilities the club has managed to build. Not surprisingly the training facility and youth academy base is named FC Vujadin Boškov . While the club has not been lifting league trophy since 1989 it enjoyed recent silverware 2014 in the form of Cup glory. Maybe not rich in success recently but still considered a major player in the Serbian league. I quess the supporters are really wondering why they hired an unknown Finnish manager.

The whole table of honors for Voša:

National Championships:2 1966, 1989 (YFL)

Serbian Cup: 1 (2014)

Mitropa Cup: 1 (1977)

Uefa Intertoto Cup:1 (1976)