It was officially opened in November 2023, but football is still not played at the stadium in Zaječar. However, OFK Belgrade will not play there as a host, but will play their championship matches in Loznica. Where citizens are protesting against lithium mining and where Vučić marked the anniversary of the "Storm" on August 3
Although it was officially opened in November 2023, stadium in Zaječar who are citizens of Serbia paid 24 million euros "gathering dust" instead of gathering football fans. That the stadium fiasco in Zaječar is continuing was confirmed once again a few days ago when OFK Belgrade canceled their home matches in Zaječar, so they will play their league matches in Loznica. writes H1.
Why? Because the stadium in Zaječar still does not meet the requirements for first league football.
"It is about the details of the telecommunications connections at the Kraljevica facility, I believe that everything will be resolved in time," said recently the director of FSS stadiums doo Ljubisav Sekulić, who is in charge of managing the newly built stadiums in Zaječar, Leskovac and Loznica - pride and joy Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Nothing has been resolved in the meantime, and there is no official announcement about the reasons.
The stadium was empty last season as well. At that time, it was speculated that the water pipes had burst in February, and damage of around 300.000 euros was mentioned. On those days, Ljubisav Sekulić declared that "there was no accident", but also that "he still has no real authority to speak or act".
And this time nothing is clearer. According to the councilor of the local Municipal Assembly, Miloš Stojadinović, there is no official information.
"It was mentioned that he does not have a use permit, that there are problems with electricity, but officially nothing." Local authorities say that the stadium is under the management of the Football Association of Serbia. And the stadium is empty, football is not being played, and we are spinning in a vicious circle, because no one knows why it is like that," says Stojadinović for N1.
Ceremonial opening during the pre-election campaign
Stadium "Kraljevica" in Zaječar was officially opened as part of the election campaign on November 19, 2023.
As "Vreme" previously wrote about stadium fever, in November 2023, "Kraljevica" roared for the first and, for now, the only time, with several thousand people - in shirts, ties, suits and national costumes. Then the president of the Football Association of Serbia, Dragan Džajić, in the company of the president of the country Aleksandar Vučić, the president of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik and the first man of UEFA, Aleksandar Čeferin, officially opened the stadium, wishing the people of Zaječar that their clubs play in the higher leagues year after year, because "it would be a sin that the best clubs of the country do not play in such a magnificent stadium".
Football club Timok 1919 from Zaječar, although currently leading the table of Zone "East", cannot be classified as one of the best clubs in the country. That is exactly why the construction of a new stadium worth around 24 million euros for the fourth division club was a surprise to many. In addition, even after it was built and - during the pre-election campaign - ceremonially opened, the "Kraljevica" stadium is not used because the local club Timok 1919, like decades before, plays matches at the City Stadium in the immediate vicinity of the newly built "Kraljevica".
Not only Zaječar has a new stadium
Zaječar is not the only one with a brand new stadium. Last year, football stadiums also appeared in Loznica and Leskovac, areas which, like Zaječar, are not really known for their long football tradition, so the question arises as to how meaningful it was to invest tens of millions of euros of state money to build stadiums for clubs without a significant fan base, which do not can they fill the stands?
According to data available on the Public Procurement Portal, the construction of the "Dubočica" stadium in Leskovac cost about 18 million, while about 22 million euros were allocated from the state treasury for the "Lagator" stadium in Loznica.
And it was at the stadium in Loznica that the commemoration of the anniversary of the victims and exiles of the "Storm" action was recently held, which was attended by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, the indispensable President of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, representatives of the two governments, as well as the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije. It was a nice opportunity to finally fill the stands with people brought in organized buses.
This gathering in Loznica itself was interpreted as a "counter-rally", a show of muscle, to show citizens protesting about lithium mining the supremacy of Vučić's machinery pushing the "Jadar" project, he wrote Davor Lukač in the commentary.
It seems that the newly opened stadiums in Serbia are used for political gatherings and lucrative jobs for people close to the Serbian Progressive Party, and there is time for football - when cars fly over Belgrade.
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A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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