FK Bor (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Бор) is a football club based in Bor, Serbia.
History
Early Years (1920s to 1960s) The club was founded in 1919 as a Serbian-French sports society under the name Association Sportive Bor (ASB). The club was financed by the French Society of the Bor Mines and managed by a Frenchman named Loren, the director of mechanical services in Bor mining company. Not much is recorded about the early club activity, until the first official game played in 1920. First ASB's head coach was Gallois, who also played for the club as well as for France national football team. ASB played only friendlies until early 1930s when it joined the Niš Football Subassociation where it played in the Timok Valley regional league with moderate success until the beginning of the Second World War.
At the beginning of the Second World War, the club was renamed BSK. This was the most successful club in the area of the Eastern Serbia and achieved good results in the Serbian football competitions during the war.
BSK and another local team Rudar merged in early 1945, to form a club with the name of Radnički. Next year, the club officially changed its name to FK Bor and was engaged in the first organized post-war competitions. Soon the prefix rudarski (meaning the miners) was added to the name and the club was known as RFK Bor until 1974, when it changed back to FK Bor.
Rise to Prominence (1960s and 1970s) Victories over Radnički Niš by 7–0 and Radnički Kragujevac by 9–1 are good examples of some great exhibitions made in the '50s. Bor played in the Eastern Serbia regional leagues until 1963, when it qualified for the Yugoslav Second League by defeating FK Sloboda Užice in a 3-game playoff. In 1963–64, their first season in the national level, they finished 2nd behind FK Sutjeska Nikšić. FK Bor stayed in the Second League for five consecutive seasons.
The season 1967–68 was by far the best one in the club's history. Coached by Radojica Radojičić, Bor not only won the East Division of the 1967–68 Yugoslav Second League, therefore getting promotion to the top division, the Yugoslav First League, but it also reached the final of the 1967–68 Yugoslav Cup and qualified for the 1968–69 European Cup Winners' Cup. Goalkeeper Jovan Hajduković was voted the best player of the East Division of the Second League.
In the domestic cup campaign Bor achieved two major upsets. In the round of 16, they eliminated the top side FK Radnički Niš in an away match by 2–3, with two goals in the extra time. After eliminating FK Sloboda Tuzla in the quarter-finals, Bor was drawn with another top Yugoslav club, FK Vojvodina. Vojvodina, who were crowned Yugoslav Champions just one year ago, was a clear favorite to win the game. However, backed by some 10,000 home supporters, Bor pulled off a 2–1 victory and qualified for a final with Yugoslav and European powerhouse Red Star Belgrade.
The final was played on 22 May 1968 in Belgrade. Although Red Star won easily with 7–0 securing the Double, Bor earned the right to represent Yugoslavia in the next year's Cup Winners' Cup.
Originally, Bor was drawn against Union Berlin but after the East German clubs withdrew from the competition, they were drawn against the Czechoslovak side Slovan Bratislava. Slovan won 3–2 on aggregate and eventually won the 1968–69 European Cup Winners' Cup trophy.
Bor finished its first season in the top level at 13th place among 18 clubs. They were selected to represent Yugoslavia in the 1969 Balkans Cup – a minor international club competition for Balkan nations. They were eliminated in the group stage with Dinamo Tirana from Albania and Universitatea Craiova from Romania.
After three seasons in the top division they were relegated in 1971, but immediately bounced back, finishing the 1971–72 Second League in front of Priština and eliminating Rudar Ljubija and FK Crvenka in the playoffs. Bor played three more seasons in the Yugoslav First League until 1975. They reached the quarter-finals of the 1970–71 Yugoslav Cup where they were again defeated by the eventual winner Red Star Belgrade.