Europe and Serbia: The case of "Red Star"

19.August 2026 Vojkan Kostić

How the football club became a business-political project

The big pink elephant in the room, which is still silent, is the question of the status of "Red Star" in Serbian football and how all those previously won titles and cups reflect on the possibility of the red and whites to make some results on the European level as well. An even bigger problem is the fact that it is somehow taken uncritically, for granted. And that a large number of sports journalists participate in this, who do not see anything unusual in the fact that a club is undefeated in 159 games in a row, and it is not about "Real Madrid" during the reign of Francisco Franco.

Red Star Celta Europa League

Football

30.January 2026 NM

Zvezda's path in the Europa League: Who are the next opponents?

With a draw with the Spanish Celta in the last round of the Europa League, the Red Star team did not manage to get a direct passage to the round of 16 of the second strongest UEFA competition. What awaits Zvezda in the knockout phase of the Europa League?

Wild construction in Belgrade

03.April 2024. SZ/N1/BIRN

Three buildings of Dejan Stanković: How to legalize the air in Vračar

Former football player Dejan Stanković illegally legalized thousands of square meters in Vračar. The Prosecutor's Office opened a case on illegal construction, but the proceedings are not initiated. BIRN reveals that Stanković's company Stefial legalized the building in the center of Belgrade before it was built, which is a peculiar phenomenon in the wild construction in the capital.

Urbanism

26.August 2023 BG

Demolition at Slavija: Profit goes before the law

After the expiry of the status of previous protection, despite public pressure, the institutions did not take any action, says the former chief architect of Belgrade Đorđe Bobić, with the assessment that those buildings have become hunting grounds for investors.

Research by BIRN

07.June 2023 Aleksa Tešić

All squares of Dejan Stanković

The city of Belgrade legalized the illegal construction in the central parts of the capital by a company co-owned by a famous football player without clear legal grounds.