INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER TO THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER TO THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Summary/Abstract: The present article explores the beginnings of organized football in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first football was brought to the country from Budapest in 1903 as a gift from Mostar-based banker Bernard Lajhner for his sons Alfred and Oskar. The football story of Sarajevo began in the spring of 1908 when freshmen from the Realna gimnazija Prep School in Sarajevo, incidentally Tuzla natives Emil Najšul, Fedor Lukać and Stevo Jokanović visited Zagreb, where they first came into contact with the game. The beginnings of football in Banja Luka date back to the second decade of the 20th century. University student Gusti Cengrić brought the first football and the first pair of football boots to the city. The football pioneers of Banja Luka were locals who studied at renowned universities throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Zagreb, Leoben, Vienna) where they first learned about the game. Based on available sources, it may be assumed that the first official football match on Bosnian and Herzegovinian soil took place in February 1911, when a team of preparatory school students from Sarajevo representing the Srednješkolski sportski klub Osman (Osman Preparatory School Sports Club) returned from a short tour of Split. During their journey home, they also visited Mostar, where they played two matches against the local Đački športski klub (Students’ Sports Club). The most successful Bosnian and Herzegovinian teams of the interwar period were the Serbo-Croatian Sarajevo-based city rivals Slavija and SAŠK. With the exception of the 1932 season, both teams interchangeably reached all National Championship playoffs held between 1923 and 1940. At this level, both teams recorded 2nd place finishes as their best respective results.

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