History of Partizan

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Fudbalski Klub Partizan (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Партизан, English: Football Club Partizan) is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. It is a major part of the Sports Association Partizan. The second division team FK Teleoptik is also owned by Partizan. According to UEFA, Partizan has the second-ranking youngster school in Europe, after Ajax Amsterdam. According to a recent poll, Partizan Belgrade is the second most popular football club in Serbia, with 32.2 percent of the population supporting the club.The club played in 2003/04 UEFA Champions League season, after eliminating Newcastle United in the last qualifying round. Partizan also played in a 1966 European Cup final against Real Madrid, after eliminating Manchester United in semifinals.Partizan was founded on October 4, 1945, as a part of Yugoslav Sports Association, and was named after the partisans, the communist resistance military formation during the World War II in Yugoslavia. The club is still a member of the same association now renamed to Sports Association of Serbia, including 25 clubs in different sports, as well as the Football Association of Serbia, but it has complete independence regarding organisation, management, finances, material goods and facilities.The club was initially formed under Yugoslav People's Army, and the stadium was named for most of the time Stadion JNA (Stadium of Yugoslav People's Army). In the early 50's club became independent from the Army. The first international match was played on December 6, 1945, against CSKA Moscow (then known as CDKA).There are several companies in the Partizan business system, which are working together with the club. There are also few own public organs such is a radio station "MIP" ("Music & Partizan") and magazine "Samo Partizan" ("Only Partizan").Partizan's current colors are black and white, after blue and red for the first thirteen years.Partizan's fans, known as Grobari (Gravediggers), were formed in 1970. The nickname itself was given by their biggest rivals F.C. Red Star Belgrade fans, referring to club's mostly black colours which were similar to official uniforms of cemetery undertakers. The other theory is that the name arrives from the Partizan's stadium street name - Humska (Graves'). They generally support all clubs in the Sports Association Partizan. In 1999, organized fans who traditionally occupy South stands at the stadium split into two groups. Newly formed group named Južni Front (South Front) accused several top members of Grobari organization for abusing their privileges, and the club itself for favouring those individuals. Last year fans settled their differences and today there are three major fan groups: "Južni Front", "Grobari 1970" and "Grobari Beograd". As of November 2005, all fan groups are boycotting the FC Partizan matches until sports director Nenad Bjeković and general secretary Žarko Zečević resign. Bjeković finally resigned in May, and Zečević in September 2007.The primary stadium of the club is now named "Stadion Partizana", although it was known as "Stadion JNA" (Stadium of the Yugoslav People's Army) for most of its history, and is still sometimes called that. The stadium seats 32,710 people.Stadium was used from mid fifties until 1987 as the final point of yearly festivities called the "Day of Youth". Each year on May 25th, the baton of Relay of Youth was finally passed into the hands of Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia.The Sports Centre "Partizan-Teleoptik", also known as "Zemunelo" (the name being composed to show the resemblance to the A.C. Milan's sports center, Milanello), is situated on the surface of almost 10 hectares, in the west part of Zemun, on the intersection of two major highways and in vicinity of the airport. Regarding funcionality, architectural solutions, modern equipment and building materials used, this centre is among sports buildings of the highest value. At present, it's a training and preparatory base of all Partizan selections, consisting of around six hundred sportsmen- beginning with the first team, through the 2nd division team of Teleoptik, down to the youngest categories of large Partizan family.