Establishment of Sarajevo FC

1946-1950

On 7 October, a joint session of the City Gymnastics Board Sarajevo, "Sloboda" Youth Sports Association and "Udarnik" Workers Sports Club was held. It was estimated at the meeting that the city of Sarajevo does not have enough quality athletes to have them separated into several associations, and the main conclusion of the session was the decision to merge the two associations into one at a joint session of two associations which was scheduled for 24 October.

So, the historical session was held on Thursday, at which the members of both clubs first submitted detailed reports on their activities, and then proceeded with the appointment of the Presidency of the new association. Safet Džinovic was appointed President of the association, with Vojo Marković and Alojz Stanarević as Vice-Presidents. After the Presidency, the Management Board and Supervisory Board were also appointed, and the name of the new association was the next item on the agenda. At the suggestion of Šefket Maglajlić, who was appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board, the new club was named “Torpedo”, after the Moscow-based club of the same name.

Immediately after the establishment of the new association, the clubs continued to operate, and the Football Club Torpedo was in the spotlight. Considering the fact that Udarnik ended the first part of the season at the forefront of the Republic League, with seven wins and two losses, Torpedo took over Udarnik"’s results and assumed its place in the proceeding Championship. Josip Bulat was appointed coach and the best players from both teams were selected for the Torpedo team. Udarnik players who joined Torpedo were Hodžić, Vlajičić, Šarenkapa, Pauković, Fizović, Konjević, Radovć, Viđen and Mustagrudić, while Mantula, Glavočević, Tošić, Pecelj, Novo, Strinić, Đ. Lovric and Alajbegović from Sloboda joined the new team.

On that day, upon a suggestion made by the former editor-in-chief of "Oslobođenje" Daily Newspaper, Mirko Ostojic, the Torpedo Sports Association officially changed its name to "Sarajevo", under which the clubs of this Association achieved their greatest results. Thus, the Sarajevo Football Club was born, a club that would become the symbol of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sarajevo FC dropped from the First League in this year, followed by a year-long struggle to return to it.

In September 1948 Sarajevo FC welcomed a star player of the Yugoslav football, Miroslav Brozović from Mostar. Brozović was a genuine reinforcement, primarily because of his experience, but also since he was captain of the national football team and Partizan FC, having won the title and the Yugoslav Cup with Partizan. Brozović was offered a position of player-coach, which he accepted with pleasure, and together with Franjo Lovrić, led Sarajevo to the First League.

While many expected Sarajevo FC to be more convincing, in the fall season our team was not exactly brilliant. True, the autumn mid-season ended without a single defeat, but the result consisting of four wins and five draws was just not enough to satisfy the fans’ appetites. After the end of the autumn mid-season in November the 1948 Cup was played, and Sarajevo FC was once again eliminated by means of draw, this time in the 1/8 finals, after the 120-minute duel with Locomotive at the stadium April ended with no goals.

The combination of youth and experience proved to be successful, so Sarajevo FC secured return to the First League several rounds prior to the end of the championship.

In February 1950, Sarajevo FC went on a brief tour in Belgium, which was its first appearance outside the territory of Yugoslavia. Sarajevo FC team stayed in Belgium for three weeks, representing the Yugoslav football in the best light. Namely, Sarajevo FC firstwon5-3 against Olympic Charleroi, and then drew against Racing Tirlamon, 3-3, while in the final game it may have achieved the best result. In Liege, Sarajevo FC played the last game before leaving for home against the top 11 players in the First League of Belgium, and won 2-1. The tour was judged to be highly successful, and the most effective player was Frannjo Lovrić, who scored six goals, while the other four goals were scored by Arih, Đ. Lovric, Švaljek and Švraka.

At the end of the comeback season, due to two successive championship defeats, Sarajevo FC was ranked in the middle of the table, despite staying at the top few rounds before the end.