Borac Banja Luka
The club
Fudbalski klub Borac Banja Luka were founded on 4 July 1926 in Banja Luka, in what is now Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name means "Fighter", and was suggested by the writer and activist Veselin Masleša, one of the founders, who was said to have asked why a club backing the workers' struggle should be called anything else. They play at the Banja Luka City Stadium on Platonova street, capacity 10,030. The nicknames are Crveno-plavi, the Red-Blues, and Velikan iz Platonove, the giant from Platon street, and Krajiski ponos, the pride of Krajina. The first-choice kit is blue with red socks. The club president is Zvjezdan Misimovic, the former Bosnia and Herzegovina international.
Recent seasons
Borac finished third in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2021/22 with 54 points, and second in 2022/23 with 58 points from 33 matches, 18 wins, 4 draws and 11 defeats. They won the title in 2023/24 with 78 points, 24 wins from 33, and reached the national cup final. In 2024/25 they were second on 81 points with 26 wins and only four defeats, conceding 13 goals in 33 games, and Djordje Despotovic scored 15.
The 2025/26 season was the best of the run. Borac won the league with 86 points from 36 matches, 27 wins, 5 draws and 4 defeats, scoring 76 and conceding 20. Luka Juricic scored 27 goals. They also won the Republika Srpska Cup, but went out of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup in the first round, and out of Europe at the first hurdle, beaten on aggregate by Santa Coloma of Andorra.
Honours and landmarks
Borac have won the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina four times, in 2010/11, 2020/21, 2023/24 and 2025/26. They won the First League of the Republika Srpska five times, a record, in 2000/01, 2005/06, 2007/08, 2016/17 and 2018/19, and the Republika Srpska Cup eight times, also a record, most recently in 2024/25 and 2025/26. They won the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup in 2009/10.
The two landmarks the club is built on are older. On 11 May 1988 Borac won the Yugoslav Cup, beating Red Star Belgrade 1-0 at the JNA Stadium in Belgrade in front of 25,000, Senad Lupic scoring on the hour under coach Husnija Fazlic. They remain the only second-division club ever to win that competition. Then in 1992, with war under way at home, they travelled to Foggia and won the Mitropa Cup, drawing the final 1-1 with BVSC Budapest on 27 May 1992 (Almir Filipovic scoring after four minutes, Tuboly equalising on 63) and winning 5-3 on penalties.
Notable scorelines
The record European win is 9-0 against US Rumelange of Luxembourg in the first round of the 1975/76 European Cup Winners' Cup, a tie Borac took 14-1 on aggregate after winning the return 5-1. In the second round of the same competition they beat Anderlecht 1-0 in Banja Luka but lost the tie 3-1 on aggregate; Anderlecht went on to win the trophy that season, and Borac were the only side to beat them in it. The 1-0 defeat of Red Star in the 1988 Yugoslav Cup final is the result the club is best known for at home. The club's all-time record domestic win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here.
European record
Borac's European history to 6 August 2026 reads 49 matches, 16 won, 14 drawn and 19 lost, 63 goals scored and 71 conceded. That splits as 10 games in the Champions League, 10 in the Europa League, six in the Cup Winners' Cup, 21 in the Conference League and two in the Mitropa Cup.
The Cup Winners' Cup run of 1975/76, described above, followed a Yugoslav Cup final defeat to Hajduk Split in 1974. In the modern era Borac lost 2-1 on aggregate to Lausanne-Sport in the 2010/11 Europa League second round, and were beaten 5-1 by Maccabi Haifa in the 2011/12 Champions League first qualifying round before winning the return 3-2 with two goals from Branislav Krunic and one from Nemanja Vidakovic. In 2012 they went out to Celik Niksic of Montenegro on away goals at 3-3. Linfield beat them 4-0 on aggregate in 2021/22, B36 Torshavn knocked them out on penalties in 2022/23, and Austria Wien beat them 3-1 in 2023/24.
The high point is 2024/25. Borac lost on penalties to Egnatia in the Champions League first qualifying round after a 2-2 aggregate, went out 4-2 to PAOK in the second, beat KI Klaksvik 4-3 on aggregate in the Europa League third qualifying round on 15 August 2024, and lost the play-off to Ferencvaros on penalties after 1-1 over two legs. That took them into the Conference League league phase, where they finished 20th of 36 with eight points: 1-1 at home to Panathinaikos, 1-0 away at APOEL, 0-2 away at Vikingur, 2-1 at home to LASK, 0-3 away at Shamrock Rovers and 0-0 at home to Omonia. They then beat Olimpija Ljubljana 1-0 on aggregate in the knockout play-off and lost 3-2 on aggregate to Rapid Wien in the last 16, the second leg going to extra time. That made Borac the first club from Bosnia and Herzegovina to come through a European league phase.
In 2026/27 Borac drew 1-1 at home with Levski Sofia in the Champions League first qualifying round on 7 July 2026, Juricic scoring a ninth-minute penalty and Armstrong Oko-Flex equalising on 55, then lost the return 4-0 in Sofia on 14 July, out 5-1 on aggregate. Dropping into the Conference League, they beat Petrocub Hincesti 3-0 at home on 23 July in front of 7,352 and drew the return 3-3 in Moldova on 30 July, through 6-3.
Quotes
- "We played a good match, but there is still some regret that we did not manage to score at least one more goal." - Stefan Savic, Borac defender and scorer of the only goal, on the club's own site, 6 August 2026. https://www.fkborac.net/en/news/european-night-in-banja-luka-borac-defeat-vitebsk
- "I would like to praise the entire team for their performance. We played a very good match, but unfortunately we were unable to score a second goal." - Vinko Marinovic, Borac head coach, on the club's own site, 6 August 2026. https://www.fkborac.net/en/news/european-night-in-banja-luka-borac-defeat-vitebsk
- "We are entering the new season with the clear objective of defending our title. In the opening round, we face Velez and I expect another demanding match." - Vinko Marinovic, Borac head coach, on the club's own site, 8 August 2026. https://www.fkborac.net/en/news/premier-league-campaign-first-test-against-velez
- "We are entering a busy period and we will not have too much time to prepare between matches. We have enough depth in the squad and quality options in every position." - Vinko Marinovic, Borac head coach, on the club's own site, 8 August 2026. https://www.fkborac.net/en/news/premier-league-campaign-first-test-against-velez
- "I'm ready to fight until the very end for this club. I know that our first goal is to qualify for the UEFA Conference League, and I believe we can achieve that. We will also be fighting for every domestic trophy, and I can promise that in every match I will give everything I have to help the team reach all of its goals." - Anderson Esiti, Borac midfielder, on signing, club site, 10 August 2026. https://www.fkborac.net/en/news/ready-for-new-victories-anderson-esiti-joins-borac
Right now (2026/27)
Vinko Marinovic is the head coach and this is the club's 101st season. The summer business has been steady rather than dramatic. Amar Milak arrived free from Velez Mostar, Ante Roguljic from Diosgyori VTK and Dani Romera from Rudar Prijedor, all three registered on 1 July 2026 and the latter two for undisclosed fees. Ivan Kukavica signed a two-year contract on 31 July, Petar Kunic returned to the club on 3 August, and the Nigeria international midfielder Anderson Esiti signed a two-year deal on 10 August 2026, also from Diosgyor. Dino Skorup went back to Sepsi OSK at the end of his loan on 30 June.
The Premier League season began on 7 August 2026. Borac opened the defence of the title at home to Velez Mostar on Sunday 9 August and won 3-1, the highest-scoring match of the round. Srdjan Grahovac and Omer Sijaric were unavailable for that game.
The European tie they are in right now is the Conference League third qualifying round, Champions Path, against ML Vitebsk of Belarus, whom the football feed lists as "MKK-Dnepr". Borac won the first leg 1-0 at the Banja Luka City Stadium on 6 August 2026 in front of 8,350, Stefan Savic scoring on 14 minutes, with Joey Kooij of the Netherlands refereeing. The second leg is on 13 August 2026, but not in Belarus: Belarusian clubs must play home matches at neutral venues and behind closed doors, so it will be at the Mezokovesdi Varosi Stadion in Mezokovesd, Hungary, with Andrew Madley of England in charge. The winners meet the losers of Thun against Vikingur Reykjavik in the play-off round on 20 and 27 August 2026.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FK_Borac_Banja_Luka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_FK_Borac_Banja_Luka_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Premier_League_of_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Champions_League_qualifying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_(third_and_play-off_round_matches) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_(first_and_second_round_matches) https://www.fkborac.net/en/news/european-night-in-banja-luka-borac-defeat-vitebsk https://www.fkborac.net/en/news/premier-league-campaign-first-test-against-velez https://www.fkborac.net/en/news/ready-for-new-victories-anderson-esiti-joins-borac
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.