FK Olimpik Sarajevo

Initial stages

Olimpik was formed amidst the Bosnian War on 3 October 1993 in Sarajevo. It all started when a few people came to the idea of founding a football club, not suspecting where it might end up, or in what direction it would go. Ramiz Krilašević, brothers Šefkija and Edhem Okerić, Mustafa Ruvić, Suad Osmanagić and Sakib Trtić were the people who were with the club from the very start and the ones who helped organized equipment and kits for training. Everybody was aware of the fact that war was ongoing, and so it was very difficult to organize and begin "working". Work is within quotation marks simply because it was known that there were no fields to play upon, since half of the city was being showered in grenades daily, there were no competitions similar to the Premier League the way it is today. Even then the team began their trainings under the leadership of manager Slobodan Rajević. And at the time the following players played at Olimpik were: Kolar, Demirović, Subašić, Sužnjević, Ahmetagić, Muhović, Toromanović, Memišević, Tozo, Ćurt, Babić, Dogan, Salman, Smajović.

The team managed to win the Asim Ferhatović "Hase" Memorial Cup in futsal in 1993. That very same year the cantonal competitions for the filling in of teams into the future Bosnian and Herzegovinian football leagues were played. Olimpik participated in the Sarajevo Canton, and managed to go on to the coming tier, after playing a total of 8 matches and scoring 28 goals while conceding only 1. So the team left the following year to compete in the inter-cantonal competitions in the group of Tuzla where they met opponents such as Sloboda (Tuzla), Gradina (Srebrenik), Turbina (Jablanica), Natron (Maglaj) and Travnik (Travnik).

In that competition they became runners-up and thereby guaranteed themselves a starting spot in the new Bosnian league that was to be formed and called the First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was organized under the frame of the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Another notable, contemporary achievement which should be mentioned is that the team participated in the war olympiad in Tuzla, and subsequently went on to win the whole tournament.

Post-war period

The 1995–96 season had the team play in the First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and unfortunately that very same year they were relegated from the top tier of Bosnian football. The team would regularly enter and fall out of that tier for the next couple of years. Those moments brought along a myriad of various scenes, everything from euphoria whenever the team returned to the top tier to despair whenever they fell back out again. Those years the club was still in its infancy and was not yet ready to tackle the largest clubs in the country, the system was not put up yet with realistic grounds which would, throughout the following years, appear as a basic problem of the club. Many skilled, quality players who later participated both abroad and in the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, acquired their affirmation through Olimpik. Some of them were not able to reach success by means of realistic predispositions, and some reached their maximal ability.

Olimpik can with pride mention the names of players who carried its jersey during the period after the war. Names such as Almedin Hota, Zajko Zeba, Samir Muratović, Munever Rizvić, Šopović, the brothers Dalibor and Miodrag Nedić, Muamer Vukas, Muamer Jahić, Sead Bučan, Edin Đuderija, Edis Čindrak and many more players who shared both good and bad moments with everybody in the club.

Olimpik in the merged league

During the seasons of 2000–01 and 2001–02 will remain in the history of the club as some of the most successful. The team managed in those two seasons, led by the trainers Boris Bračulj and after him Jusuf Čizmić, to carve out a spot in the newly merged league with the previous First league of Herceg Bosna, in which the team competed with a force equal to many other clubs who competed with them there, and in the last round of the season 2000–01 with a win against FK Sarajevo and the goals made by Gredić and Cerić, made sure they would remain in the elite for another year. The team consisted of the following players at the time: Alen Krak, Dženan Uščuplić, Almir Seferović, Nihad Suljević, Nihad Alić, Muamer Jahić, Samir Mekić, Emir Obuća, Almir Gredić, Tarik Cerić, Aner Ljeljak, Sead Bučan, Zajko Zeba, Elvir Ljubunčić, Ahmed Hadžispahić, Hasanović and Edis Čindrak. After the successful run to remain in the league, the team was relegated the following year, and in that moment difficult times came upon the club. What was stated earlier was being iterated again, that the club did not have a strategy nor vision of development and even if it had a good quality at the time for competition in the Bosnian top league, simply experienced relegation.

On the edge of existence

Namely from the season of 2002–03 until the season of 2006–07 the club was being abandoned, almost to the point of being left to its own devices completely, and was at the brink of existence. The club kept falling all the further down so that at one point the survival of the club was being questioned. The club first fell into the First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina so that it would later fall into the Second League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Center. Alongside the club remained only a handful of enthusiasts who would not allow the club to be shut down. Damir Hadžić as the district head of the municipality Novi Grad helped the club as much as he possibly could as well as people like Kolar, Spahić, Trtić, and the occasional person who would show up every now and then to help the club within the limits of their ability. Players who played for the club then were young men who were looking for affirmation or some old players who found their refuge in Olimpik. Timkov, Čakić, Močević, Kapetanović, Janjoš, Đuderija, Fatić, Garčević, Dudo, Derviši, Murtić, Ortaš, Suković, Šabotić, Kaljanac, Dević, Šišić, Kaljić, Imširović are just some of the players who wore the jersey of Olimpik back then. Throughout this entire dark stage Kolar has been with the team as head of the coaching staff even if at times Asim Saračević and Samir Jahić would take the lead.

New horizons

The season of 2006–07 the trainer Kolar starts off with the junior team at the start of the season. In the 8th round in the position of the president of the club comes Nijaz Gracić, a prominent businessman, and former president of FK Sarajevo, who starts to organize the club with the clear goal of entrance into the Premier League by his extended experience of organization from leading a company and the experience from Koševo. Even if many at that moment pronounced him to be Don Quixote in the struggle against windmills, mr. Gracić rolled up his sleeves and started slowly sorting the mosaic tiles with his collaborators. The first thing that was important was that the club had huge debts to former and contemporary employees which they needed to solve, the club did not have a stadium neither for training nor for playing matches, and they did not even have kits; the club was unintelligibly "deep in the negative". Halfway into the season a few experienced players come in who made up the backbone of the team. Unfortunately due to the bad start of the team, with only 3 points away from the first place that year, the team does not manage to place themselves in the First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during which Ozren leaves the club. The players which were carriers of the game that year were: Bećirović, Žerić, Garčević, Radonja, Smječanin, Redžović, Makić, Toromanović, Kapetanović and Timkov.

At the end of the season, the team eventually takes second spot but the goal of the president and the employees of the club for the season of 2007–08 remains the same: a place in the First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Led by Faik Kolar with players who were added and Haznadar, Hondo, Sikima, Bubalo, Mešetović, Majčić and Ferhatović already in the autumn half of the season almost ensured a place in the FBiH. At the end of the season the team conquers a formidable first place with 17 points ahead of the second-placed team. All club segments were lifted onto a higher level and the club has solved the question of training and playing matches, solved the concern about the kits, the players were now receiving their wages on a regular basis and in the season of 2008–09 went ahead to tackle the goal called: the Premier League.

Campaign for Europe

In the season of 2010–11, Olimpik barely missed the spot for the qualifying phase of Europe League, finishing 5th place in the league. In the subsequent season of 2011–12 they didn't play up to par in their first two matches (they had one draw and one loss, although being candidates for one of the top places of the table) of the championship, resulting in a mutual agreement between the club and manager for a managerial change, with Mehmed Janjoš being replaced by his assistant, Nedim Jusufbegović. He continued to lead the team on to land on the same 5th place in the league as they did last year, but this time even closer to Europe than before, only two points away, and a goal difference far superior to 13 out of the other 15 clubs participating in the Premier League. The following year in 2012–13 started out with two draws against two weaker teams, namely OFK Gradina Srebrenik and FK Rudar Prijedor, as well as a bare victory against another weak team GOSK Gabela, and a loss against FK Sarajevo. Therefore, Jusufbegović was replaced in September 2012 by Husref Musemić who led the team throughout a successful campaign helping the team insure a confident third place right up until after the winter break when FK Sarajevo placed an offer on the table for the manager, and so Denis Sadiković was appointed in February as manager, whose start was somewhat better than Jusufbegović's, but after a series of unsuccessful games and the team's slow demise, he was replaced with Nedim Jusufbegović.

The third time the coach returned to the team he is currently coaching, he was a mere victory away from landing the team a spot for European competition, but fell in the very last match, and stuck to a well-deserved finish at the by-now traditional 5th position on the table for Olimpik. Part of what caused the club not to do better than they did last year could be blamed on one of the matches against FK Velež Mostar which resulted in a 1–1 draw, where the referee Eldis Prošić's decisions were questionable, and caused a lot of irritation among Olimpik's players, the manager as well as the fans. However this was not the first time Olimpik has been dealt with unfairly, within the first half of the season of 2012–13, there were complaints about at least another four games where allegedly it has been suspected^[] that the team was being intentionally given incorrect refereeing decisions. Due to this, the team has been on the verge to opt out of the league altogether, much like FK Borac Banja Luka's own situation at the end of the season where complaints came aimed at the national association from several clubs. The teams between third and eighth position were all refused an UEFA license for participation in Europa League 2013–14, save for NK Široki Brijeg, and in the end HŠK Zrinjski Mostar were the ones to receive the final spot for the competition.