SPORTS RIVALRIES

Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about.

Red Star and Partizan Belgrade

The Eternal derby , also called the Derby of Southeast Europe and Belgrade derby , is the local derby in Belgrade, Serbia, between fierce city rivals Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade, two of the biggest and most popular clubs in Serbia.

The rivalry is present in a number of different sports but the most intense matches are in football and basketball sections of both clubs. It started immediately after the creation of the two clubs in 1945 and the two clubs have been dominant in domestic football since then.

According to a 2007 survey, Red Star is the most popular club in Serbia with almost 50% of the population supporting them. The second most popular is Partizan. They also have many supporters in other former Yugoslav republics and in Serbian diaspora.

The football rivalry is highly regarded worldwide as the, or among the, fiercest ones; for instance, in September 2009, the Daily Mail ranked the Eternal Belgrade derby 4th among the 10 greatest football rivalries of all time. The highest attendance for a Red Star–Partizan match was about 108,000 spectators at the Red Star Stadium.

Both Red Star and Partizan originate in political institutions of the post-World War II Communist Yugoslavia. Red Star was formed on 4 March 1945 by "United alliance of anti-fascist Youth", part of the new civil authority in Yugoslavia. A few months later, on 4 October 1945, Partizan was founded as the sports association of the Yugoslav People's Army. The first match between these football sections was played on 5 January 1947. Red Star won 4–3 and an intense rivalry has existed ever since. Partizan got its first win in the next derby. On 27 April 1947 Partizan won 1–0.

However, the tradition of a fierce Belgrade derby originates in the pre-World War II rivalry between BSK Belgrade and SK Jugoslavija. SK Jugoslavija was disbanded in 1945 and most of its property was attributed to the newly formed Red Star. BSK continued existing although changed its name a number of times being known since 1957 as OFK Beograd, and has lost its strength and its place in the derby to Partizan. Although OFK Beograd was successful, both Red Star and Partizan quickly overtook it in popularity.

Over time, from the purely athletic competition for the Yugoslavian Championship became a kind of power struggle between the Interior ministry and the Ministry of Defence . The two clubs were dominant in the post-1945 Yugoslav First League, with Red Star having won 19, and Partizan having won 11 Yugoslav championships. The clashes of these two against Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb, the third and fourth respectively in number of national titles, were similarly intense. The four clubs were known as the big 4. After the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992, the Belgrade derby further intensified, the two clubs having since then won all national titles except one, with Partizan winning a further 16 and Red Star winning 10 by 2019.

I hope you liked this post and as always have a chilled day from the Viking.