By the time the mid-1950’s came around, FK Partizan found their glory days were far behind them, the years of being a much loved and very successful Yugoslav People’s Army team now a fading memory. They had moved on from their close connection with the army, and a club of Partizan’s stature, popularity and ambition was not satisfied with the meagre success they had achieved over the last 15 years, so big changes had to be made. In 1958, Partizan abandoned their blue and red playing strips, replacing them with their now famous black and white vertical stripes. This was followed by radical alterations to Partizan’s playing squad, which led to the emergence of the generation known as the Partizan Babies. Just like Manchester United’s Busby Babes, this team was comprised of talented young players brought up through Partizan’s youth ranks and developed by the club itself. Moreover, with their development monitored and guided by Stjepan Bobek, they were to become one of the greatest sides that European football had ever seen.

 

The decision to use home-grown talent paid off with Partizan winning a hat-trick of league titles in 1961, 1962 and 1963 – the first time this had been achieved in the Yugoslav league. From their attractive and efficient performances came their other nickname, Parni Valjak (The Steamroller). Their rivals Red Star beat them to the title in 1963-64, but in 1964-65, Partizan lay claim to their fourth title in five years, despite some serious internal turmoil taking place behind the scenes. At this time, two separate factions emerged: one supporting clubs dissenting General Secretary Nenezic and one backing club president Radakovic. The dissenting group conducted a mutiny and refused to travel to Skopje for the final match of the season. Missing half the team and their manager, the care taker coach managed to scrape together 11 players and the club retained their position at the top of the league. The day after this debacle, their head coach was fired and a showdown was scheduled for January 1965 at Belgrade University’s Faculty of Law. The two factions kissed and made up, but the conflict reached the highest echelons of power in Yugoslavia, and Marshal Tito had every board member involved in the row sent to another location. 

Partizan’s crowning achievement in this era, would have to be their 1965-66 European Cup campaign.  They eliminated FC Nantes 4-2 on aggregate, took down German champions Werder Bremen 4-0 over two legs and were then drawn against Sparta Prague in the quarter finals. In Prague, Partizan found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline and were not given any hope for the return leg in Belgrade. But miraculously, they came out with a convincing 5-0 victory meaning that they were through to the semi-final with a 6-4 aggregate score. The semi-final, against Manchester United, was an emotional match for all involved. It was United’s return to European competition following the tragic Munich air disaster, and it also saw their return to JNA Stadium, the scene of their final game before that fateful jouney home. Partizan managed to defeat one of United’s best ever sides, featuring players such as George Best and Bobby Charlton, with a 2-0 score. In the next leg at Old Trafford, Partizan resisted heavy pressure from the English giants and conceded just a single goal, which gave them a 2-1 aggregate score, eliminating Manchester United and booking Partizan a place in the 1966 European Cup final against the famous Real Madrid. For a team of home grown players to achieve such a feat, is quite remarkable.

 

The final was played on the 11th of May at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, and Partizan led 1-0, all the way up until the 70th minute before eventually going down gallantly 2-1. Partizan had come so close to a famous victory, but now the chance was gone as the team was broken up with many of their star players heading to the west.  Their goalkeeper Milutin Soskic went to Koln in the Budesliga. Fahrudin Jusufi also headed to Germany where he joined Eintracht Frankfurt along with Branko Rasovic and Jovan Miladinovic who signed with Dortmund and Nurnberg respectively. Partizan appearance record-holder Josip Pirmajer became a Nimes Olimpique player in France. Velibor Vasovic established himself as one of Europe’s best defenders with Ajax. Regardless, Partizan had achieved an amazing feat – becoming the first Eastern European team to play in a European Cup final. 

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Achievements:
Yugoslav First League: Champions x4
European Cup: Runners-up x1

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Star player: Velibor Vasovic, DoB 3 October 1939, PoB Pozarevac, Kingdom of Yugoslavia

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Vasovic was easily one of the greatest defenders of his generation, equipped with superb defensive positioning, tactical awareness and a never say die attitude. Born on the eve of World War II to a tax office clerk father and a home maker mother, Velibor was the youngest of nine children. When the Nazis invaded Yugoslavia, his father spent four years in German captivity while his four older siblings joined the Partizan resistence movement. Thanks to his uncles position in the State Security Administration, Vasovic was able to move to Belgrade with his family for his studies. His footballing talent was spotted by FK Partisan in 1955 and he was signed up to the big clubs youth system along with other talented teenagers. This led to a 5 year stint in the full squad which began in 1958, before, controversially, he transferred to arch rivals Red Star Belgrade in 1963. This event caused a hailstorm of fire and brimstone – Vasovic asked Red Star director Aca Obradovic to hire him after Partizan threw wads of cash at Jusufi to try and get him to stay at the club, but didn’t extend that courtesy to Vasovic. Red Star dug into their emergency fund and signed him, but when Partizan found out they offered to pay Vasovic double what Red Star offered. Partizan organised fan protests, phoned Vasovic constantly and sent letters continuously. He even received a death threat in letter format, including the senders full name, address and phone number, threatening to shoot the player with a sniper rifle during a match. Another transfer saga followed in which Partizan pulled some strings with some Yugoslavian political heavy hitters, resulting in Vasovic finding himself back at Partizan shortly after. He struggled to win the respect of his team mates, who saw his actions as blackmail and disliked the manner in which the club bent over backwards for a single player. His transfer to Ajax came in 1966 – he was that clubs first foreign captain. He played 5 seasons for the Dutch giants, as was part of their greatest ever squad.  Vasovic retired in 1971 – due to his asmthma he was only able to play professionally for 13 seasons. He became a manager until 1989 before returning to Belgrade and working as a lawyer.