FK Napredak Kruševac

Napredak Kruševac
Full name	Fudbalski klub Napredak Kruševac
Nickname(s)	Čarapani (The socks man)
Founded	8 December 1946; 77 years ago
Ground	Mladost Stadium
Capacity	10,331
President	Miloš Nenezić
Head coach	Goran Stevanović
League	Serbian SuperLiga
2022–23	Serbian SuperLiga, 9th
Website	Club website
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

Fudbalski klub Napredak Kruševac (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Напредак Крушевац), commonly known as Napredak Kruševac, is a Serbian professional football club based in the city of Kruševac. The word Napredak means "progress" in Serbian.

The club's nickname is the Čarapani which translates in English to the sock-men, the origin of this nickname are from the times of the First Serbian Uprising, when the local insurgents took off their slippers and silently went to defend their homeland against the Ottoman occupation of Serbia, in socks. Another interpretation is related to the custom of men in this area who in urban legend in medieval times wore beautiful, long embroidered socks.^[1]

History

Napredak was founded on 8 December 1946, through the merger of three local area clubs Zakić, Badža and 14. Oktobar. In January 1947, they played their first official game against Vardar, the result was 1–1. The first goal in Napredak's history was scored by Marko Valok, who later became a famous player for Partizan Belgrade and Yugoslavian First League top scorer in 1950. In 1949, they became champions of Serbia, the first title of the club. In 1951, Napredak joined the Yugoslav First League for the first time, but they immediately relegated in the IV Zona (IV Zone), which was one of the 5 subdivisions of the Yugoslav Second League. Since the season 1958/59, they compete in the new format of the Yugoslav Second League.

In 1976, led by coach Dragan Bojović, the club won the second league and again provides a placement in the elite, thanks to the four goals by Jovica Škoro, three by Milomir Jakovljević and one by Dragiša Ćuslović, which brought the decisive 8–2 victory over Rad Belgrade, but they relegated again in the same season. In the season 1978–79, they joined the Yugoslav First League, and in that season, Yugoslav powerhouse Partizan suffered a sensational 3–0 home defeat from Napredak.^[2] In the season 1979–80, led by coach Tomislav Kaloperović, Napredak finished the championship as 4th and this in front of several Yugoslav top clubs, and qualified finally for the first time for a European competition, the 1980–81 UEFA Cup season, but they were eliminated already in the first round by Eastern Germany's club Dynamo Dresden. It got even worse, because in the same season the club finished the league unexpectedly in the last place and relegated to the Yugoslav Second League and competed there until 1988. In the season 1987–88, Napredak won the East Division of the second league and was promoted to the top tier, but the club could not keep in the first league and relegated for the third time in its history again in the debut season. Napredak remain in the second league until the season 1991–92, the last season of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and was one of the clubs, which were member of the newly founded First League of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1993, Napredak achieved a good six place, but the subsequent 1993–94 season, they relegated to the second league.

New Millennium (2000–2010)

They were during the nineties on the border between the first and second league and won finally in the season 1999–2000 the group East of the Yugoslav Second League and returned to the top tier. In the same season, Napredak's achieved its biggest success in a domestic competition, the reaching of the Yugoslav Cup final in 2000, but lost against the Serbian giant Red Star Belgrade. Their presence in the national cup final earned them a spot for the 2000–01 UEFA Cup season. This time, the team had a little more success than the first participation, eliminating Estonia's Viljandi Tulevik in the first round, but getting eliminated in the second by Greek club OFI Crete. The first league debut for the season 2000–01 was again, after the club history almost traditional, not a successful season and they relegated again immediately. The club received slowly the reputation to be an elevator team due to the frequent promotions and subsequent relegations. In 2003, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and the football leagues followed the renaming. In 2003, Napredak won the group East of the Second League of Serbia and Montenegro and promoted to the 2003–04 First League of Serbia and Montenegro season, but relegated again immediately, and this already in total for the fifth time in its history immediately after a promotion.

After Montenegrin independence in 2006, the clubs from Montenegro withdrew from the league and since then the leagues formed by clubs from the territory of Serbia only. In the season 2006–07, Napredak achieved the third place of the Serbian First League, the second tier in the Serbian football system. Then provided the first two places the promotion in the first league, but on 19 July, in 2007, the Football Association of Serbia decided that Napredak will be promoted to the Serbian SuperLiga and replace Mladost Apatin who withdrew from the competition after being unable to bear the financial burden of playing in a top division. In 2008, they missed barely a qualification place for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. However, two years later, precisely in 2010, Napredak relegated and played again in the Serbian First League.

New Management (2011–present)

Napredak began transforming from the beginning of 2012 with the arrival of new management and players alike. One of the players was striker Nenad Mirosavljević, one of the best known player in the Serbian football and one of the greatest players to have ever played for APOEL, who was signed from Olympiakos Nicosia. Less than a month after his signing, the club brought the new director Goran Karić, who had the task of bringing the club back to the top flight from the Serbian First League.

Napredak occupied after the first half of the season the bottom half of table, but the new team started a series of victories and they finished the 2011–12 Serbian First League season as 6th, barely missing promotion to the first-tier, the Serbian SuperLiga. On 17 September 2012, Karić was replaced by new director Vladimir Arsić.^[3] One of the first acts under the new management was the redesign of the club's logo.^[4] The renovation of Napredak's home ground, the Madost Stadium, was complete by the end of April 2012, and the club was able to play again at home. On 9 December, in 2012, Napredak celebrated its 66th birthday and the club's position at first place at the end of the first half of the 2012–13 Serbian First League, which was practically an unprecedented success for the club.^[5] Napredak finally promoted to Serbian SuperLiga after crowning First League as champions. Napredak finished SuperLiga as 9th in 2013–14 season. But, Napredak finished it as 14th in 2014–15 season and played play-out against Metalac, 3rd of Serbian First League. After a 3–1 loss away on 30 May 2015 and a 1–1 draw at home on 3 June 2015, Napredak were relegated to second tier.

Club colors and crest

Throughout its history Napredak has traditionally performed in the color red as a tribute to the Labour movement, but the club used also as away kit, an all-white jersey. The crest includes the colors red and white, as well as the year 1946 marking the year the club was established, a football in the middle and the top symbolizes the wall of the Kruševac Fortress, which is believed to have been built by Serbian medieval ruler, Tsar Lazar.

Stadium

The home field of Napredak is the Mladost Stadium, an all-seater football stadium, which has capacity for 10,331 people. The ground was built in 1976, in a record time of just 60 days, with initial capacity being of 25,000.^[6] it is one of the few single-purpose stadiums in Serbia, because it lacks a track ring like in conventional multi-purpose stadiums, noise from the spectators is closer to the field and therefore composes a louder and exciting atmosphere for hosting and visiting teams alike. In 2012 Napredak carried out an extensive renovation project, installing seats throughout the stadium and erecting four floodlight masts. That year the stadium hosted the 2012 Serbian Cup Final and is also one of the venues for the Serbian national under-21 football team.

Supporters

The organized supporters group of Napredak are known as Jakuza, which was formed in 1988. They are in a brotherhood with the organized supporter group of Mačva Šabac, the Šaneri.

People from Kruševac and district are supporting Napredak and all, are known as Čarapani. Song name "Svake noći tebe sanjam" and the chant "Samo napred Čarapani!", meaning "Long live socks wearing man".

Honours

Domestic

League

Yugoslav Second League
- Winners (4): 1957–58 (zone IV), 1975−76 (east), 1977−78 (east), 1987–88 (east)
Second League of Serbia and Montenegro
- Winners (2): 1999–2000, 2002–03
Serbian First League
- Winners (2): 2012–13, 2015–16

Cups

Serbia and Montenegro Cup
- Runners-up (1): 1999–2000

Recent league history

Season	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos
2006–07	Div 2	38	19	8	11	52	38	65	3rd
2007–08	Div 1	30	11	8	14	25	33	41	5th
2008–09	Div 1	30	10	8	15	28	37	38	6th
2009–10	Div 1	30	7	8	15	30	44	29	15th
2010–11	Div 2	34	13	10	11	35	32	49	6th
2011–12	Div 2	34	13	12	9	39	29	51	6th
2012–13	Div 2	34	25	5	4	74	25	80	1st
2013–14	Div 1	30	9	8	13	42	44	35	9th
2014–15	Div 1	30	8	7	15	23	34	31	14th
2015–16	Div 2	30	21	5	4	48	26	68	1st
2016–17	Div 1	37	16	8	13	44	36	56	6th
2017–18	Div 1	30	13	7	10	49	42	46	7th
2018–19	Div 1	37	12	12	13	46	50	28	6th
2019–20	Div 1	30	9	6	15	33	41	33	10th
2020–21	Div 1	38	14	8	16	44	51	50	11th
2021–22	Div 1	37	10	8	19	31	51	38	8th
2022–23	Div 1	37	10	9	18	27	37	39	9th
2023–24	Div 1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

European record

1R = First round, PR = Preliminary round, QR = Qualifying round, PO = play-off round.

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1980–81	UEFA Cup	1R	Dynamo Dresden	0–1	0–1	0–2
2000–01	UEFA Cup	QR	JK Viljandi Tulevik	5–1	1–1	6–2
2000–01	UEFA Cup	1R	OFI Crete	0–0	0–6	0–6

Players

Current squad

As of 10 August 2024^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	SRB	Vladimir Savić
2	FW	SRB	Mateja Bubanj
4	MF	SRB	Filip Krstić
5	DF	SRB	Stefan Bukorac
6	DF	SRB	Strahinja Ristić
7	DF	SRB	Nikola Vukajlović
8	MF	SRB	Filip Jović
9	FW	SRB	Nikola Karaklajić
10	MF	SRB	Saša Marjanović
12	FW	SRB	Nebojša Bastajić (captain)
14	FW	SRB	Đorđe Kotlajić
15	DF	SRB	Ivan Ostojić
17	FW	SRB	Miloš Milivojević
18	MF	SRB	Mateja Gajić
19	GK	SRB	Miloje Preković
20	DF	SRB	Nikola Marinković
22	DF	SRB	Petar Ćirković


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
23	DF	SRB	Nikola Miličić (on loan from Partizan)
24	DF	SRB	Uroš Ignjatović
25	DF	SRB	Nemanja Đeković
27	DF	SRB	Dragan Čubra
31	MF	SRB	Andrija Luković
33	FW	SRB	Dušan Stoiljković
44	MF	BIH	Damir Sadiković
45	DF	SRB	Jovan Marinković
55	MF	SRB	Mihajlo Petković
77	MF	MKD	Miloš Tošeski
84	GK	SRB	Lazar Balević
88	FW	SRB	Marko Šarić
89	MF	SRB	Andrej Smiljković
91	FW	SRB	Marko Obradović
95	MF	SRB	Vladimir Miletić
99	DF	SRB	Pavle Mihajlović

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	SRB	Mario Marković (at Radnički Svilajnac)
—	MF	SRB	Luka Laban (at Jedinstvo 1936)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	SRB	Damjan Jovanović (at Trayal Kruševac)

Club officials

Position	Name
Current technical staff
Manager	Goran Stevanović
Assistant coach	Milan Pavlović
Goalkeeper coach	Aleksandar Božović
Fitness coach	Duško Ljubičić
Analyst	Anđelo Stevanović
Club doctor	Daniel Tomićević
Physiotherapist	Saša Miletić
Physiotherapist	Svetomir Tomić
Physiotherapist	Bogdan Kostić
Economic	Saša Miladinović
Economic	Veroljub Lazarević
Secretary of the coaching staff	Zoran Ristić
Director of football	Mladen Dodić
Source:^[8]