| Full name | Fudbalski klub Zemun | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Zemunci, Munze konza | ||
| Founded | 1946 | ||
| Ground | Zemun Stadium, Zemun (Capacity: 10,000) |
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| Chairman | Dušan Ostojić | ||
| Manager | Slobodan Kustudić | ||
| League | Serbian First League | ||
| 2009-10 | Serbian First League, 12th | ||
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FK Zemun (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Земун) is a football club located in Zemun, a municipality of Belgrade, in Serbia.
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Immediately after the end of the Second World War the sports activities in Zemun are restored. By early 1945 a club FK Maksim Divnić is formed, named in honour of a player with that name that played before the war and who died as Partisan fighter during the war. After just a couple of played matches the club changes its name into FK Sremac Zemun. By the end of that year another club is also formed in Zemun, FK Sparta Zemun. On October 20, 1946, the two clubs were merged to form a new sports society who´s football section would be named FK Jedinstvo Zemun.[1]
By 1962 the club gets promotion into the group East of the Yugoslav Second League, that was divided back then into two geographical groups, East and West. It stayed at Second national level for two seasons, after which returned into the Serbian republic league, Yugoslav third tier. In the late 1960s the club struggled finantially, and on February 23, 1969, it is merged with FK Galenika, a club sponsored by the Galenika a.d. a pharmaceutical company located in Zemun. Under the new name FK Galenika Zemun, and with new finantial backing, the club soon returns to the higher leagues, winning promotion as soon as 1970 to the Yugoslav Second League.[2]
Coached by Ivan Čabrinović the club became one of the strongest teams in the second league, and after several times being close, it finally reached promotion to the Yugoslav First League in 1982. In that same season, the club reached the semi-finals of the 1981–82 Yugoslav Cup where they lost against the cup winners Red Star Belgrade. The club played in the 1982–83 Yugoslav First League however it finished bottom of the table subsequently relegated back to the Second League. On Januar 1, 1985, the club changed its name into the one that still carries nowadays, FK Zemun.[3]
During the late 1980s the club had fall into the lower leagues, but after the stabilization of their finantial situation the club had begin raising again. In 1990, after two consecutive promotions, the club was back in the 1990–91 Yugoslav First League. This time the club stabilized in the top league and even menaged to archive good results, like the 4th place in the 1992–93 First League of FR Yugoslavia, just behind the best Serbian clubs Partizan, Red Star and Vojvodina, or the 5th place archive in the 1993–94 First League of FR Yugoslavia. In the 1992-93 season the club had reached again the semi-finals of the Yugoslav Cup.[4]
FK Zemun competed in the top league all the way until 2007. In the season 2004-05 they menaged to archive 5th place once more.[5]
In 2007 Zemun had one of the most memorable seasons in recent history. They competed in the Serbian First League and unfortunately came away with the 15th position and an automatic relegation to the Srpska Liga, third tier. However FK Zemun enjoyed an unbelievable run in the 2007–08 Serbian Cup and found its way to the final. The club won three matches after penalties, defeated two first league sides and goalie Nemanja Jovšić was voted most valuable player. They would lose the final 3-0 to Serbian giants Partizan but since Partizan had already qualified for the Champions League Zemun were given the UEFA Cup spot as they were the runners-up. During the summer however, Zemun was not able to obtain a license from UEFA and had to give their spot to fourth placed side Borac Čačak. Borac then gave their Intertoto Cup spot to OFK Beograd.
In 2008-09, Zemun became the champion of Serbian League Belgrade and were back to the Serbian First League after only one season.
The official stadium of FK Zemun is Zemun Stadium and can host up to 10,000 spectators.
The supporters of the club are known as the Taurunum Boys. The group was formed in 1987.
The first organised supporting groups of back then FK Galenika begin to appear by mid 1980s. In 1986 the first ultras groups were formed under the names of Testas Caldas, Pajtosi and Godfathers. In 1987 the three groups united under the name Taurunum. The name comes from the Latin name of a setlment tht existed in Roman period in the place where today Zemun is nowadays, and that was named Taurunum. The group stands in the north stand of the stadium. Some supporting groups out of the town of Zemun are formed, the most important being the Rangers from Pančevo. In 1995 by the end of the Yugoslav Wars there is a generational turn-over, and the group standing in the east stand formed by younger supporters and named The Boys - Dragons, joins Taurunum in the north stand forming a bigger group renamed Taurunum Boys. The moto of the group becomes "One city, one club, only Zemun".
Nowadays the group is composed ao several sub-groups, and beside supporting their club FK Zemun, they are usually present at the matches of the Serbian national team.[6]
As of November 2010. Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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At beginning most of club players were from the town of Zemun itself, along with some players that came from elsewhere. Most of those players stayed for long periods in the club, with some even spending their entire careers in the club. From that period when the club was named Jedinstvo it is important to mention Pavle Letić, Franc Borovec, Momčilo Dimitrijević, Slobodan Marković, Dragomir Radosavljević, Ljubiša Arsenović, Eugen Gašparović, and the younger Oto Koh, Marjan Jantoljak, Mane Bajić, Stevan Jovanović, Žarko Eraković, among others. Vladica Popović, a future player of Red Star and the Yugoslav national team had begin his career in the youth teams of Jedinstvo.[7]
In the period when the club was under the sponsorship of Galenika, the most notable players were Svetozar Bošnjaković, Miroslav Veličković, Stevan Kovačević, Dušan Čelar, Slobodan Topalović, Zlatko Kežman, Gezim Ljalja, Dragan Lacmanović, Goran Kalušević, Sima Nikolić, Jovica Kolb, Vančo Nikolovski, Vlada Pejović, Slobodan Santrač, Ratomir Dujković, Miloš Bursać, and special attention deserves Siniša Gajin who, at the half century club anniversary celebration, was voted as the club best ever player. Two players who later became important FK Partizan players, Zvonko Živković and Dragan Mance played in the youth teams of Galenika.[8]
In the period after the club was renamed into FK Zemun, special attention deserve Dragan Vitorović, Dejan Đurović, Miloš Šestić, Boban Kitanov, Slavko Radović, Dragan Popov and Predrag Stanković. Also important to mention is that Mateja Kežman played while young in the youth teams and his first season as senior in FK Zemun.[9]
During more recent times a number of professional players had spells in the club.
The following list contains players that played in the club and that have national team appearances[10][11]:
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For the list of all current and former players with wikipedia article, please see Category:FK Zemun players.
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