Mitropa cup

Among the numerous trophies our club has won in international cups, there are two curious pieces of silverware, the Mitropa Cup – also known as the Central European Cup. Our club won the now-defunct competition in 1958 and 1968.

The Danube Cup was the Mitropa Cup predecessor and was played from 24 May to 12 July 1958, featuring teams from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Romania.

In the round of 16, we met Dukla Pardubice from Czechoslovakia and beat them 2-0 on aggregate. We scored both goals in the home leg, with Bora Kostić and Ranko Borozan on target. Lokomotiva Sofia provided the opposition in the quarter-final. Bora Kostić hit four goals in the frantic away leg, which ended 4-4. The same player scored the only goal of the return leg in Belgrade and put the red and whites in the semis.

Radnički Beograd was our next opponent. The red and whites made the short trip to Zemun and won 2-1 in front of 4,000 spectators. Stupić scored in either half to secure the win that would prove decisive, considering the goalless return leg.The final was also a two-legged affair, in which we convincingly overcame Rudá Hvězda Brno from Czechoslovakia. We won 4-1 in Belgrade thanks to a Bora Kostić brace and strikes from Milošević and Milanović. We sealed the win in the tournament with a 3-2 win in Brno, thanks to goals from Kostić, Šekularac and Milanović. With the aggregate score in the final 7-3, the red and whites fully deserved the Danube Cup trophy.

Our squad that season was: I. Popović, Zeković, V. Popović, D. Stojanović, Spajić, Gajić, A. Stojanović, Radunović, Tomić, Stipić, Borozan, Kostić, Šekularac, Milanović.

Head coach: Milorad Pavić.

A decade later, our opponents on the road to silverware were Hungarian club Diósgyőri VTK, Inter Bratislava from Czechoslovakia, and Újpesti Dózsa from Hungary before losing the first leg in the final against Spartak Trnava.

It was the season of the last-ever Central European Cup, featuring champions of Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, along with three Italian clubs – AS Roma, Cagliari and Atalanta. Spartak eliminated Roma at the start of the tournament, then Željezničar from Sarajevo, and Vardar Skopje in the semis.

The return leg of the final was a spectacular occasion at our Marakana. Around 40,000 fans gathered to see if the red and white could overturn the one-goal deficit from the first match against an unbeaten opponent.

Miljan Miljanić had a team that feared no opponent, and the red and whites started the match brightly. The reward came 35 minutes into the match when a dangerous attack started by Dragan Džajić ended with Vojin Lazarević chipping the visiting goalkeeper to make it 1-1 on aggregate. However, a lapse in concentration allowed the Czechoslovakian team to level, thanks to a Kuna header. Zvezda had 45 minutes to try and overturn the tie.

And the red and whites turn on the style after the break. Džajić and Krivokuća combined well and created a move that ended with Lazarević heading in the rebound to make it 2-1 on the day just before the hour mark.

Zoran Antonijević gave us the 3-2 aggregate lead just eight minutes later when he squeezed the ball through a crowded Spartak box and beyond goalkeeper Kozinka

The victory and the Mitropa Cup was sealed 20 minutes before time when Lazarević tucked in the rebound after Kozinka could only parry a great long-range effort from Branko Klenkovski. It was a fantastic win over a quality Spartak side that would go on to reach the European Cup semi-final the following season, where Ajax beat them narrowly to make the final.

The year of 1968 remained one of the most successful in the long and proud history of Crvena zvezda. We won three trophies that year – the national title, the Yugoslavian Cup and the Mitropa Cup.