FK Željezničar celebrates its 95th birthday

On this day, 95 years ago, the most trophy-winning Bosnian-Herzegovinian club, Sarajevo's Željezničar, was founded. On this day, in 1921, Željo played its first match in history. It was against SAŠK Napredak, which was then considered one of the best clubs in BiH. The idea of founding Željezničar was proposed in 1920 by a young railway worker Dimitrije Dimitrijević, who was born and raised in the city center in Mejtaš, in Čekaluša, to his colleague and friend, a locomotive engineer, Ludvig Leple, reports the Patria News Agency.

Together with Stjepan Katalinić, they formed an initiative committee, from whose core the first management of the Club emerged, headed by a civil engineer, Austrian by birth, Hungarian by nationality, Hinko Tegzeš. All railway workers made a significant contribution to the founding of their club: a ball was bought, the first sports equipment, training took place at the Egzercir military training ground, club emblems were made, and the players' girlfriends embroidered a locomotive on the jerseys – the club's first crest.

Despite considerable problems with the authorities at the time, the Blues were admitted to the Sub-Association on September 19, 1921. Željo lost the aforementioned match against SAŠK Napredak 5:1, with Dimitrije Dimitrijević being the only scorer for our Club.

The very next day, a second conditional match was played. A 2:1 defeat against Sarajevski ŠK meant that Željezničar played its second match without issues, thus fulfilling the last condition for full membership in the Association. On Monday, September 19, 1921, the Association accepted the new club under its wing and included it in the competitive calendar of the Second League for the 1921/1922 season. Since then, the locomotive has been moving forward unstoppably for over nine decades.