Cries against the government, fights in the hall, a chase in the regime media... The president of KK Partizan these days is torn between the club he loves and the regime in which he got rich. "Vreme" reconstructs what happened
"He almost took my pants off. I don't know what's wrong with them," complained one fan before the match between Partizan and Barcelona last Friday (October 31). People are not used to the zeal of the guards who normally search with authority. But that day they went into a squat and felt up to their ankles.
It was an interlude in the silent war between the fans, the regime and the president of the Partizan basketball club, Ostoja Mijailović. It intensified in that triangle seven days earlier (October 24) during the game against Paris - there was a beating and more politics than ever. The cheering fell apart, as did Partizan on the field.
It is a high-stakes game, an attempt to silence support for student protests and insulting chants against the country's president, Aleksandar Vučić. And the attempt of national Partizan to swim between the regime and the sentiments of the fans.
In another life, Mijailović could have been a small entrepreneur from Čačak. In this life, Mijailović joined the Serbian Progressive Party and built a business empire. And became known for his passion, Partizan. He was in the football club and at the head of the Yugoslav Sports Association, and since 2017 he has been the president of the basketball club.
In recent days, tabloids and party colleagues have shown Mijailović that being a successful progressive and a good "undertaker" can be contradictory in Vučić's Serbia. In the gap between the regime he belongs to and the club he loves and leads, Mijailović could do poorly. And with him and KK Partizan.
HOW IT BEGAN
In the match against Paris, riots started after several people from the group of passionate fans moved to the other stand, the one behind the Partizan bench, to take away the banner supporting the students held by the fan Velimir Đurović.
The fans defended Đurović, but immediately afterwards, in the fans pit, a brutal fight broke out. As the reporter of "Vremena" observed, the same thugs who went to collect the banner a little while ago and some others attacked the part of the dugout that accepted chants of "Vučić, faggot" and "Aco, Shiptare". Several people were trampled. Everyone looked in that direction, as if in a daze, and basketball fell into the background. Some children in the hall were crying, shaken by the scenes.
"Vreme" managed to identify several of the batterers. Among them was TK from Kosovska Mitrovica, whom a "Vremena" source says is a "classic guy". Some claim that he lives in a tent camp between the Presidency and the Serbian Parliament. The other attackers from the hall have a similar profile - they deal with petty crime and support the authorities so they don't go to prison.
One source close to KK Partizan and familiar with the events in the stand says that the most ardent fans are divided into groups. Lately, the one that refused to cooperate with the regime has dominated. "And that bothers a lot. Every time they chant against the government, five or six of them are taken into custody. They have a record as hooligans and it just slips out of the drawer."
Mic by mic, the tribune was crowned. According to several sources of "Vremen", the strikers from the match against Paris were beating to show their loyalty, that is, so that they too would not be detained. Supporter leaders arrived late to break up the clash.
What the hall thinks about it was clearly heard. "Gypsies, gypsies", chanted that group of about 120 fans who stayed by the bar, or: "Go to Ćaciland". The rest left the pit or sat down. That's how cheering and team play broke up. But the political game has just heated up.
THAT STARTS WITH THE LETTER P...
President Vučić found time to make an announcement from Uzbekistan. "Did they tell you that they received a million euros yesterday? They didn't report it? And that two weeks ago they received another million euros. I'm talking about KK Partizan. Why don't you brag about it? But I accept it, they didn't, I'm a fag, let's move on," said the president.
At every opportunity, he repeats the infantile insult chanted by his fans. It became an expression of resistance and violation of censorship when, back in 2014, at a football match between Serbia and Albania, a fan - the media reported that it was Igor Mikić, a member of Radikal, who was later detained - burst into the RTS footage and shouted what he shouted. The shocked grimace of sports commentator Predrag Strajnić became an internet sensation.
It's hard for Vučić to believe that it doesn't affect him. Mijailović once described what it looks like when he goes to Vučić to ask for money for Partizan - it's no secret that the president is asking about that too. "The president says that he will help because it is his duty, but that insulting him as a human being bothers him and I just shut up."
According to the research collectives, the long-time Secretary General of the Government, Novak Nedić, once organized a criminal group to take over the southern stand and suppress shouts in the stadium. Rada and Crvena Zvezda fans are harnessed for these needs. The most famous names, Veljko Belivuk aka Velja Nevolja and Aleksandar Stanković aka Sale Mutavi, are no longer on the stand - one is awaiting a long prison term, the other was killed in a mafia ambush.
When the team around Belivuk fell (2021), better times came for Partizan's tribune. In the same year, Željko Obradović, the most decorated European coach, returned to KK, soon Partizan became a regular in the Euroleague, and basketball - due to the rivalry between Partizan and Zvezda - was again the main game in the city.
That's how the cry of "Vučić, faggot" entered the Belgrade Arena, silenced by the controllers of Arena Sport, which now broadcasts all the matches. As a source familiar with the events on that television told "Vreme", the matches are broadcast from the studio because it is not possible to silence the chanting if the commentator is in the hall.
FROM BODYWORK TO EMPIRE
The matter intensified with student protests. "Absolute support because if you don't support youth and young people, who are you going to support?" said coach Obradović in December 2024. And that caused Vučić's reactions, and a series of twisted apologies from Ostoja Mijailović.
Mijailović is a member of the main board of SNS and the owner of about twenty businesses - mainly import, rental, car insurance. He started from a sheet metal-painting service in Čačak, and came a long way with lucrative deals with the state. All the way to the sale of vehicles for the hated Oko sokolovo in Belgrade.
Before the start of the season, he ritually praised the government and the president for supporting Partizan. Ali hinted in the same interview that the club now earns 22 million euros from tickets and other things, while the "state" is counting on five million.
It was unthinkable for a man in Mijailović's position. Many read it as a response to stories that Partizan is a "state project" with an apparently unlimited budget. And as a reminder that Crvena zvezda, Vučić's favorite club, still receives more state funding.
The first home game of the season against Efes showed how tough Mijailović is. For a long time, the fans insulted the president of the club because of the statement about Vučić, but also because of the commercialization.
The prices of season tickets, significantly more expensive than those of city rivals, range from 28.000 to 200.000 dinars, the "services" of online payment and printing of a plastic card cost a few thousand extra. In addition, it is mandatory to pay for the membership card, which, by the way, serves no purpose. The new club TV platform Part+ is paid for additionally.
"In Partizan, you don't just smell basketball, you smell organization," said Mijailović recently, claiming that there is a "group of people" who pay other people to criticize the fact that Partizan "charges for everything and anything" on social networks.
"FINDINGS" INFORMER
Now Mijailović is under attack from party comrades. After the match against Paris, the troubadour of the regime, Dragan J. Vučićević, presented "information" that allegedly people from the club's management gave fan Đurović a banner supporting the students. "Then Ostoja Mijailović claims that he doesn't know what happened. Well, it happened that your closest collaborators introduced this politician to cause an incident," claimed Vučićević.
A video showing two Partizan officials ushering Đurović into the elevator was shown. However, the surveillance camera records the date October 26 - two days after the "disputed" match against Paris, in the match against Borac from Čačany. In a statement, Partizan condemned the "inaccurate and malicious information that appeared in certain media". It was clarified that it was discussed with Đurović and that he did not bring any banner to that match.
Đurović told "Vreme" that he was subjected to "special treatment" upon entering the hall, that a guy from private security called someone. There was a fight and a fight, and Partizan officials - above all the head of marketing Marko Vukomanović Geri - managed to calm the situation.
And Vukomanović, the owner of the Kafeterija chain and co-owner of the Partizan boutique chain, was targeted by "Informer". His photo was published at an assembly of citizens of Voždovac. As some sources tell Vreme, Vukomanović lives there and stopped by the first gathering to see what was happening. By the way, he is neither a "blockader" nor a "boyfriend", but his business is doing quite well in this system.
BETWEEN TWO FIRES
Although mostly anti-regime, not all fans agree on how much politics is needed in the hall. Some are jealous of Đurović, who has a history of bringing in transparencies - he was once questioned about this by BIA officials. On social networks, some call him a poser who does not take into account how much he is harming the club. He receives support and praise for his courage from others.
Đurović says that the accusations against him are hypocritical because he did not bring politics into the Arena. Right before the match against Paris, the fan club unfurled a banner with the image of the late general Nebojsa Pavković, convicted of war crimes, otherwise a fan of Partizan.
To the astonishment of most of the hall, it was released over the official loudspeaker Victory song bishop Nikolaj Velimirović.
"Like the atmosphere of the SNS rally. And then a hundred people harass the other nineteen thousand," says Đurović. "I'm not bringing in a banner for the sake of a banner. It is necessary to expose the situation in the hall. After all, if no one had attacked me, there would have been a little banner, there would have been some shouting of 'Vučić the fag' and the game would have continued."
The universal SNS soldier Vladimir Đukanović, MP, lawyer and owner of a dozen real estates also responded. In a column for "Kurir", he asked for the party's reaction, alluding that Mijailović "used himself so much" from the government, and against it he organizes "harangues" and cooperates with those who want "death, prison, persecution" for the progressives, and "all the worst" for Vučić and his family.
One interlocutor from Partizan sums it up in a vernacular way: "In short, whoever arrives, everyone has an agenda, and most of them don't really care if the club will succeed."
PARTISAN WEIGHT
Balancing continued - Đurović, the son of famous football referee Raka Đurović, had his season ticket revoked. On the other hand, the club announced that it has identified the six who participated in the incident in the stands and that they will no longer be allowed in the hall.
Although the initials have not been published, a source from the club claims that they are the batterers, and not those who defended themselves or shouted against the authorities. So far, the MUP has not detained anyone because of that fight, even though the names and characters are known.
"I'm not a fool, it's clear to me that Partizan doesn't have full control over the events in the hall and is trying to swim," says Đurović. He does not deny the certain merits of Ostoja Mijailović for the success of Partizan, but adds that Mijailović still listens to the "big boss" and at the same time is "looking for a lifeline" for the time when there are changes in the country.
"Supporting Partizan carries weight. Now the club is mostly financed by the fans, not by the state and sponsors. And it would not have this kind of support if for the last twenty years those fans had not maintained an identity that insists on defiance and does not turn their heads for one victory, one sponsor or a gifted title," says Đurović.
He is convinced that Vučić "allowed" Partizan to be competitive in basketball, with the return of Željko Obradović, just to appease the voters who support Partizan. "As I believe that half of the star players vote for SNS only because it enabled them to dominate in football."
VUCIC'S INFLUENCE ON THE FIELD
According to his own account, the president, a former Zvezda hooligan whom no one from the stands remembers, got involved in sports a long time ago. Lately it has come down to the field and reflected in the results.
The last time was when it was decided that the players of Serbia would meet Albania at the miniature stadium in Leskovac, where tickets would be distributed to those eligible and no shouts against the government would be heard. Serbia lost and probably said goodbye to the World Cup.
Previously, during the European Basketball Championship, several fans testified for "Vreme" about the presence of beaters in Riga, where the games were played. They should have drowned out chants in support of the students. The families of the basketball players also came under attack, as they wandered around the stands, hiding from the thugs. Some claim that it left its mark on the game as well.
While Zvezda matches can be peaceful - the northern stand, engrossed in tenders and infrastructure projects, stifles any hint of resistance - Vučić is bothered by what happens at Partizan matches. Many fans will look at the end of the basketball season as a litmus test - that's when Ostoja Mijailović's mandate and Željko Obradović's contract expire.
The familiar chant will be heard many times in the Arena by then. Velimir Đurović will also be in the stands, even though his season ticket has been cancelled. "I understand that I am not banned from entering the hall. I don't have a seasonal pass, but I will certainly continue to go."
In the game against Barcelona, which Partizan lost by a three-pointer from almost half the field, something unprecedented happened - the opposite of the game from seven days earlier. A group of guys with caps, who came to the hall hours before the game, tried to "intervene" when chants against the authorities were chanted. The fans confronted them, they took off the cap of one of them. And then rushed them from the hall.
Why is there nothing else between the overcome regime and the changes? What does the regime mean when it says it is defending Serbia? Why is the Student Movement indomitable? Who has the knowledge and real experience, and who leads without a day of work experience outside of politics? And why students win
After almost two years of protests, hundreds of kilometers walked, arrests, persecution and unprecedented social mobilization, Serbia is holding elections that could mark the end of a political era. Sociologist Marija Babović tells "Vreme" that the hope for change has not been so great since October 5, 2000, but she also warns of the danger that, if changes are not made, the country will face an even tougher authoritarian regime.
Their only weapon now is the media they control: like, we don't have an agenda, which is not true; as, we will betray the national interest, which is not true. One of their arguments is that we are afraid to go to the debate with Vučić. They do not understand that it is their punishment. This is a punishment for Aleksandar Vučić, who for 14 years conducted exclusively a monologue. For fourteen years he did not allow anyone any kind of dialogue, and now he would like to be rewarded or pardoned with the opportunity to talk to us. Well, he won't be able to. What he sowed is now reaping
These elections are not elections about Serbia's membership in the European Union, Kosovo and Metohija, gay marriage, tax policy or any other single political issue. Although parties on the fringes of political power try to impose these themes, at the heart of the upcoming political election is a much simpler dilemma: change or preserve the existing order. For more than a year now, surveys have shown that this is the primary dilemma on the ballot
In the RS, 19.800 people registered for the elections in Serbia, who will be able to vote at 28 polling stations. It remains unknown how many of them will cross the Drina on October 25 and vote in Serbia. In any case, I do not believe that the voters from Republika Srpska are the ones who will decide the winner of the elections in Serbia. Realistically, the voters from Republika Srpska can influence a little, but it seems that they are symbolically very important to both Vučić and the opposition.
There is, literally, no difference between the one who claims it is day in the middle of the night, or the one who claims to be a giraffe, from the claims we read on billboards: that Vučić is working to unify Serbs and that Serbia is doing better and better day by day.
The pre-election arrests due to the alleged "overthrow of the state" testify to the regime's panic. The bad news for them is - they can't arrest the whole people who decided to defend themselves from progressive beatings and election theft
The ring that tightens around Ćaciland Student list is getting narrower. Because there are more and more spoiled people who see the false prophet for what he is: a street obscener who is fighting Serbia
The 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.
See all
