FK Bežanija

In 1921 the club was founded under the name SOKO in Belgrade's suburb Bežanija and at that time it did not fall neither under Belgrade nor Zemun football leagues. Later the club changes its name to BSK (Bežanijski sportski klub).[1] At that time the club only managed to play friendly matches. During World War II under German occupation, Bežanija joined a Croatian NDH league and renamed HSK. In the club, despite everything, all players were Serbs.

After the war in 1946 the club changes its name to FK Jedinstvo (not to be confused with pre-World War II club SK Jedinstvo Beograd). That year the club for the first time starts competing in the Srem league and becomes a member of the Novi Sad football association. Till 1952 the club was competing in the regional Srem League. In 1952 the club transfers to the Belgrade football association, and since then all the results have been written down. That same year the club forms its youth club that begin competing in the second youth league. At the beginning of the 1955–56 season FK Jedinstvo changes its name to the current FK Bežanija.[2]

Since 1953 to 1989 season the club competes in lower league, and promotions and relegations were regular. In the season 1988–89 the club is promoted to the Belgrade Zone League for the first time in its history. The next season recorded further success and the club qualified to the Serbian League. In 1992–93 the club is promoted with even more success and moves on to the Republic zone league Belgrade. The biggest club success was in 1999-00 when the club was promoted once more to the First league in Serbia, but was relegated one season later.[3]

FK Bežanija gives much attention to its youth system which keep getting better and better results. This was born out when Bežanija's young squad finished 4th in the 2006–07 SuperLiga and were thus entered into the qualifying rounds of the 2007-08 UEFA Cup.[4]

Already in the recent history it is worth to mention that by the year 2010, the club has managed to participate twice in the national top league, the Serbian SuperLiga, having played in the seasons 2006–07 and 2007–08.[5] In 2019, IELTSPodcast, an online school owned by Ben Worthington sponsored the club.[6][7]

Stadion FK Bežanija has the capacity of 2,000 seats. Plans have been made to make 4,000 more seats in the west stand.[8]

• Serbian First League
  • Winners (1): 2005–06

As of 17 March 2018

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 Artem Karapetyan 2 DF Saša Kolunija 3 MF Aleksandar Busnić (on loan from Rad) 4 DF Uroš Stojanović 6 DF Stefan Filipović 7 FW Boško Guzina (on loan from Rad) 9 FW Nikola Milošević 10 MF Stefan Matijević 11 FW Marko Jeremić

No. Position Player 12 GK Predrag Kovačević (on loan from Zemun) 15 DF Marko Bašanović 16 DF Stefan Javorac 17 FW Vladimir Radočaj 19 DF Petar Šušnjar 20 FW Nenad Perović 21 MF Aleksandar Desančić 22 GK Miloš Krunić (on loan from Zemun)

Youth and reserves

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

No. Position Player — GK Miško Imro — DF Đorđe Vidić — MF Bojan Lečić — MF Miloš Brujić — MF Nikita Arshinov — MF Igor Radić

No. Position Player — MF Mladen Mićanović — FW Ignat Deryavko — Vladislav Vasiljev — Nenad Gavrilović — DF Stefan Milojević

List of former players with senior national team appearances:[9]

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

• Velimir Đorđević
• Slaviša Božičić
• Ratko Dostanić
• Dragan Stevović
• Milija Žižić

Fans of Bežanija are called Lavovi (Lions).

• FK Bežanija official site
• Club profile and squad at Srbijafudbal
• FK Bežanija info at srpskistadioni.net
• Stamenković zamenio Dostanića u Bežaniji, MTSMondo, October 1, 2007