BOSNIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 25th WEEK

 THE STRUGGLE IS NOT AT THE TOP ANYMORE, BUT IN THE BOTTOM

Sarajevo and Borac had a 1-1 draw in Banja Luka, which made it clear that the maroon whites are no more in the struggle for the championship. Sarajevo found the first goal by the young scorer Alen Melunovic in minute 11. However, the equalizer goal came at 66th minute by Admir Rascic.

The leader had an unsurprising 4-0 victory in Grbavica against Gradina Srebrenik who will not be in Premijer League next season.

The draw result with Sarajevo made Borac to lose the advantage against Olimpik Sarajevo with whom they are struggling for the third position to have the right to compete in UEFA Championship. Now they have the same point: 44.

However, a difficult match waits for Olimpik against Zeljo next week while Borac may lose points against Velez in Mostar as well.

If both will lose points, surely Çelik may gain some advantage and have a claim for the third place as well. They have defeated Zrinjski in away match this week and next week they will have an easy match against Radnik Bijeljina.

Since Gradina Srebrenik’s relegation is arithmetically proved, the second team who will relegate is the mention of interest. Currently GOŞK Gabela with 23 points is the one who is below the red line. Just above is NK Travnik with 24 points. GOŞK had an important one point in away match against Radnik Bijeljina and since Travnik had a home defeat against Velez Mostar the point difference between GOŞK and Travnik is reduced to “one”. Next week GOŞK will play against Şiroki Brijeg at home and it is not expected that Catholic fraternity will made the things worse for GOŞK where Şiroki Brijeg is focused more on Bosnian Cup. Travnik, on the other side must have points against Leotar who had a good start to season, but could not sustain.

ŞIROKİ BRIJEG THROUGH THE BOSNIAN CUP

The first leg of the Bosnian Cup final was played in April 30 in Grbavica. Şiroki Brijeg had an early goal at 5th but the railroaders found the equalizer goal at 19th. Since Zeljo could not manage to score any more goals, Şiroki Brijeg returned back to home with advantage before the second leg in Şiroki Brijeg at May 15th.

The results of the matches played in the Bosnian Premier League in the 25^th week are as follow:

Borac Banja Luka: 1 – FK Sarajevo: 1

FK Slavija: 3 – Rudar Prijedor: 1

NK Travnik: 0 – Velez Mostar: 0

HŞK Zrinjski: 0 – Çelik Zenica: 2

Zeljeznicar: 4 – Gradina Srebrenik: 0

Radnik Bijeljina: 1 – GOŞK Gabela: 1

Şiroki Brijeg: 1 – Leotar Trebinje: 1

Zvijezda Gradacac: 0 – Olimpik Sarajevo: 1

Standings of the teams by the end of 25th week:

(Source: www.rezultati.com)

Next Week’s Schedule (Week 26)

Velez – Borac

Çelik – Radnik

GOŞK – Şiroki Brijeg

Gradina – Slavija

Leotar – Travnik

Prijedor – Zrinjski

Sarajevo – Zvijezda

Olimpik - Zeljo

FK SLOBODA TUZLA

Sloboda had a magnificent performance in the second half of the season and became a candidate of the leadership, however had a surprising home defeat against Rudar Kakanj and lost the claims to be leader by not using the advantage while the leader Vitez and runner-up Radniçki had a 2-2 draw. Currently Sloboda (with one match played less) is 7 points below Vitez and 4 points below Radniçki and will play against Vitez next week, which will determine if Sloboda will continue to struggle or not.

FK NOVI PAZAR: TEAM FOR HARD TIMES

FK Novi Pazar continued the tradition this week as well. Pazar had a very important one point by not allowing the leader Partizan to score a single goal. However, there are still just 3 points difference between Novi Pazar and Radniçki 1923 who is just below the red line. Pazar has the same point with Donji Srem and just one point above Hajduk Kula and Borca.

Novi Pazar will have an away match against Sloboda Uzice this week. Borca will host Spartak Subotica who is not in danger of the red line, nor do they have a claim for upper ranks in the league. It is almost certain that Donji Srem will have three points from Smederovo. Hajduk Kula will play home match against Javor and if Javor will have a defeat, they will be closer to red line as well.

Standings of the teams in Serbian Prva Liga by the end of 25th week:

(Source: www. utakmica.rs)

(Photo: Oslobodjenje)

BOSNIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 22nd WEEK

The most publicly spoken match of the 22nd week opf the Premijer Liga was Sarajevo-Leotar which was played in Koşevo. The match was not spoken over the quality of the game, nor over the goals scored, but over a banner on the rows put on the fences during the match.

In the first half of the match, due to the banner put on the fences of the northern rows of stadium, the Banja Lukan referee Ognjen Valjiç stopped the match. “Armija RBiH” was written on the banner implying the anniversary of the Army of Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina” and the banner was opened by Horde Zla (Horde of Evils, the fan club of Sarajevo). The match continued after the banner was taken aside.

However, the referee blackmailed the security forces on posponing the match unless they will take out the banner since it was hang on the fences again during the half-time break. After half an hour of bargaining between Sarajevo club officers and fan leaders the banner was taken out  and the second half of the match started.

Since both sides were not effective in scoring a goal, the result of the match was a 0-0 draw which caused a six points difference between runner-up Sarajevo and the leader Zeljo.

On the other side, railroaders had an easy 3-0 away victory against Radnik Bijeljina by goals from Hodziç, Çoliç and Adiloviç.

After a home defeat against Velez, it seems that GOŞK Gabela is closer to the end of a fairy tale which lasted for years. Travnik, the team which is closest to the redline have collected seven points more than GOŞK did and it seems quite difficult to close the gap. On the other side, by the three points they gathered, Velez had a breath by being further from the red-line.

The most spectacular match of the week was in Zenica. Duşko Stojiç, the experienced scorer of Çelik draw the destiny of the game by the goals he scored just at the second and ninth minutes of the match. Two more goals by Horiç and Popoviç from Çelik, and a single honorary goal from Saviç of the guest team Zvijezda determined the score of the match: 4-1. The result was a good motivator for Çelik just before the away match in Grbavica inferno.

The results of the matches played in the Bosnian Premier League in the 22^nd week are as follow:

Olimpik Sarajevo:  2 – Şiroki Brijeg: 1

Çelik Zenica: 4 – Zvijezda Gradaçac: 1

Gradina Srebrenik: 0 – NK Travnik: 1

Rudar Prijedor: 1 – Borac Banja Luka: 1

Radnik Bijeljina: 0 – Zeljeznicar: 3

GOŞKGabela: 0  – Velez Mostar: 1

HŞK Zrinjski: 2 – FK Slavija: 1

FK Sarajevo: 0  – Leotar Trebinje: 0

Standings of the teams by the end of 22^nd week:

(Source: www.rezultati.com)

Next Week’s Schedule (Week 23)

Travnik – Olimpik

Borac – Gradina

Zvijezda – Rudar

Leotar – Velez

Slavija – Radnik

Şiroki Brijeg – Sarajevo

Zeljo – Çelik

Zrinjski - GOŞK

THE WEEK OF “FIVES” FOR FK SLOBODA TUZLA

Sloboda had a spectacular 5-0 home victory against Troglav. The better performance was done by FK Rudar Kakanj. Rudar had a 1-0 home victory against the leader Vitez and this result made the difference between Sloboda and Vitez to decrease to “five”. Miners from Kakanj will play against runner-up Radniçki and we expect them to display the same performance. Sloboda will have a hard game against Branitelj in Rodoç next week and probably Fukare will not let them to be alone in Herzegovina. Leader Vitez will probably have an easy away match against Jedinstvo Bihaç.

FK NOVI PAZAR: TEAM FOR HARD TIMES

Pazar continues the habit of loosing matches, but having victories in difficult ones. They became closer to the relegation line because of the easy losses during the latest games, but managed to defeat strong Jagodina in 2-1 home match. The first half of the match was already 2-0 by Admir Kecap and Mladen Popoviç’s goals. The second half was remarked by unavoidable attacks by Jagodina. However, Novi Pazar managed to end the game by 2-1 victory.

Novi Pazar will play away match against OFK Beograd next week and it is not expected that they will return to Sandzak with a point. However, it has to be noted, two other candidates for relagation; Donji Srem and Radniçki 1923 will play against each other and another candidate Borça will host Red Star. Thus, a loss against OFK Beograd will not be that much tragic for Novi Pazar.

Standings of the teams in Serbian Prva Liga by the end of 23^rd week:

(Source: www. utakmica.rs)

(Photo: Oslobodjenje)

SECOND ROUND MATCHES IN CUP BiH

The second round matches for the Cup Bosnia and Herzegovina will be played tomorrow (October, 3, 2012). The match Schedule including the place of the matches and the previous qualification matches of the rival teams are listed below:

Zvijezda Gradaçac  – Velez Mostar

15:30, Gradaçac

Zvijezda Gradaçac: 5 – Rudar Ugrljevik: 0

Velez Mostar: 3 - Mladost Donji Svilaj: 0

HŞK Zrinjski – FK Sarajevo

17:00, Mostar

Rudar Prijedor: 0 – HŞK Zrinjski: 1

FK Sarajevo: 1 – Gradina Srebrenik: 0

Hajduk Oraşje – Şiroki Brijeg

15:30, Oraşje

Modrica Maxima: 0 – Hajduk Oraşje: 1

Branitelj Mostar: 0 – Şiroki Birjeg: 2

GOŞK Gabela – Radnik Bijeljina

15:30, Gabela

NK Travnik: 1 – GOŞK Gabela: 3

Radnik Bijeljina: 6 – Rudar Zenica: 0

Sutjeska Foça – Sloga Doboj

18:30, Foça

Sloga Doboj: 4 – Tomislav: 0

Sutjeska Foça: 1 – Famos Napredak: 0

Çelik Zenica – Rijeka Vitez

15:30, Zenica

Çelik Zenica: 2 – Podgremec: 1

Rijeka Vitez: 2 – Drina Vişegrad: 1

FK Slavija – Zeljeznicar

Lukavica, 15:30

Leotar Trebinje: 0 – FK Slavija: 1

Mrkonjic Grad: 0 – Zeljeznicar: 3

Olimpik Sarajevo – Çapljina

Otoka, 15:30

Olimpik Sarajevo: 1 – ECOS Vitez: 0

Çapljina: 2 – Borac Banja Luka: 1

The second leg matches will be played at October 17, 2012.

BOSNIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 21st WEEK

(Click here for the original Turkish text in Haber Boşnak, published April 12, 2012.)
(12 Nisan 2012 tarihinde Haber Boşnak'ta yayınlanan özgün metin için buraya tıklayınız)

Since the second period of the season had started because of the heavy winter conditions, the 21st Week scheduled matches were played yesterday (April 11, Wednesday)

Çelik, who hosted the capital city team Sarajevo last week in Zenica and destroyed Sarajevo’s hope for a claim to continue the struggle of championship, was guest of Zeljeznicar, the other team of capital city. After the goal scored by Svraka at 6th minute, just in the beginning of the of the game, the first half ended 1-0 while offence of Zeljo kept silent for the next forty minutes. However, the rail workers glowed in the second half of the game. The Zeljo storm started by Jamak’s goal at 51st minute and calmed down by Svrako in 89th minute, who was the scorer of the first goal of his team and thus who scored his second and his teams fifth goal in the match. Not only by the two goals that he scored, but also with his brilliant game in the midfield, Muamer Svraka was the man of the match. (Photo: Oslobodjenje)

Since Şiroki Brijeg also had a home 2-0 victory over Velez, the difference between Zeljo and Şiroki Brijeg remained four points.

Borac was third and Sarajevo was fourth in the table before the matches of 21st week. However, Sarajevo had an easy away 3-1 victory over Kozara with the excellent game of Asmir Suljiç, and Borac had an away 1-0 defeat against Zrinjski. After those results, Borac is currently the fourth in ranking and FK Sarajevo is third, which approved our prediction. At this point, if we will say that the struggle for the title of Bosnian Premier League is between Zeljo and Şiroki Brijeg, it will not be wrong.

The bottom of the table was warmed up last weekend after the victory of Slavija over Kozara, but an expected defeat of them in Leotar away match, the relegation struggle cooled off a bit. Kozara and Slavija are still the main candidates of relegation. Leotar Trebinje, the champion of the 2002/2003 when the Bosnian Serb, Croat and Bosniak teams began to play in the same competition since the war, had risen to 12^th rank on the table after the defeat of Sloboda and GOŞK.

The results of the matches played in the Bosnian Premier League in the 21^st week are as follow:

Zeljeznicar: 5– Çelik Zenica: 0

Olimpik Sarajevo: 2 – Zvijezda Gradaçac: 0

Zrinjski Mostar: 1 – Borac Banja Luka: 0

NK Travnik: 3 – Sloboda Tuzla: 0

RudarPrijedor: 3 – Gabela GOŞK: 0

Şiroki Brijeg: 2 – Velez Mostar: 0

Leotar Trebinje: 2 – Slavija: 0

FK Kozara: 1 – FK Sarajevo: 3

Standings of the teams by the end of 20^th week:

(source: www.nfsbih.ba)

Top goal scorers:

Adiloviç (Zeljo): 14 gol

Haskiç (Sarajevo), Wagner Marjanoviç (Zrinjski), Kajkut (Borac), Wagner (Şiroki Brijeg): 7 gol

Zeba (Zeljo), Obuça (Sarajevo): 6 gol

Next week’s schedule:

Borac - Olimpik

Çelik  - Kozara

GOŞK -  Travnik

Zvijezda – Zeljo

Sarajevo – Leotar

Slavija – Şiroki Brijeg

Sloboda – Zrinjski

Velez - Prijedor

BOSNIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 20th WEEK

(Click here for the original Turkish text in Haber Boşnak, published April 9, 2012.)
(9 Nisan 2012 tarihinde Haber Boşnak'ta yayınlanan özgün metin için buraya tıklayınız)

Half of the eight matches played this week in Bosnian Premier League was draw and three of them were 1-1. Both teams from capoital city, Sarajevo and Zeljeznicar got only one point in this week’s matches.

Zeljeznicar had also lost two points against Zrinjski in away match in Mostar last week, despite a very succesfull start of the second half of the season, not only by the magnificient matches, but also by the surprise results of the rivals which made them to catch the leader and even make a gap of 8 points between them and the runner up. This week, they could not avoid a point loss with a result of 0-0 against Olimpik Sarajevo, one of the crabby teams of Bosnia. Irfan Fejziç was surely the man of the match who bravely supported his gate during the match which was played under heavy rain and with only 3000 supporters of Zeljo. (Photo: Dnevni Avaz)

Thus the point gap between Zeljo and Şiroki Brijeg dropped to four.

Another crabby score was in Zenica. Zenica’s Çelik team loves to be crabby against Sarajevo teams. Sarajevo, simply unsuccessful in the second half of the season was obliged to get three points for a claim in championship struggle. However, they could not avoid Smriko’s goal at 27th minute. They replied with Suljiç at 57th minute. But, they lost the third place to Borac who defetaed Travnik in a home match with an easy score of 1-1.

We also have to mention that Çelik will be playing against Zeljo as their other bloody rival from the capital next week.

It was expected that GOŞK Gabela, without a chance in the championship struggle and being –at least currently- away from dropline would not be compelling Şiroki Brijeg a lot and Şiroki Brijeg needed a sure victory to reduce the gap between them and the leader. However, the host team scored a goal at 27 by Tomiç. It is a bit difficult to score against Şiroki Brijeg, who had seen only 8 goals in their nets until now. In addition to that, it was not expected from the second least scorer team of the league with only 12 goals. Şiroki Brijeg, good in defence, but not that good in offence with the least goals scored among the other teams in the championship struggle surprised us by replying two goals: Varea’s at 39th and Misiç’s at 82th minutes.

The critical match of next week is between Zrinjski and Borac. Borac will likely to loose points against Zrinjski who will play with the love of “Şiroki Brijeg”. In this situation, only two candidates of champion will be left: Şiroki Brijeg and Zeljeznicar.

It seems, the bottom of the league is a bit warmed up this week. Currently there are five teams from Republika Srpska (RS) and four of them occupies the bottom four ranks of the standing table. That is to say, probably both of the teams which will drop will be from RS and since only one team from RS will be promoted to Premier League, there will be only four teams representing RS next season. Slavija, who had stuck in the bottom of the league had defeated Kozara and equalized the points with Kozara. If they will be able to defeat Leotar in away match next week, surprisingly the team who was stuck at the bottom since the beginning of the season will be able to jump through the relegation line. But, one should keep in mind that it is not that easy in Bosnian football to beat host team.

The results of the matches played in the Bosnian Premier League in the 20th week is as follow:
Çelik Zenica: 1 – FK Sarajevo: 1
FK Slavija: 2 – FK Kozara: 1
Velez Mostar: 1 – Leotar Trebinje: 1
GOŞK Gabela: 1 – Şiroki Brijeg: 2
Sloboda Tuzla: 1 – Rudar Prijedor: 2
Borac Banja Luka: 1 – NK Travnik: 0
Zvijezda Gradaçac: 1 – Zrinjski Mostar: 1
Zeljeznicar: 0 – Olimpik Sarajevo: 0


Standings of the teams by the end of 20th week:



Top scorers
Adiloviç (Zeljo): 13 goals
Haskiç (Sarajevo), Wagner Marjanoviç (Zrinjski), Kajkut (Borac): 7 goals
Wagner (Şiroki Brijeg), Zeba (Zeljo), Obuça (Sarajevo): 6 goals

Next week’s schedule:
Zeljeznicar – Çelik
Olimpik – Zvijezda
Zrinjski – Borac
Travnik – Sloboda
Rudar – GOŞK
Şiroki – Velez
Leotar – Slavija
Kozara - Sarajevo


FK NOVİ PAZAR
FK NOVİ PAZAR
Novi Pazar had a surprising result this week. Probably, the 2-0 away victory against Borac was the best welcome to Bekvalac, the fresh trainer of Novi Pazar in his first match. )He was previously the third trainer.)

On the other hand, the expectations of Novi Pazar from the other matches partly came true. Both Javor – Jagodina and Radniçki 1923 – Hajduk matches were finished with the same result: 0 – 0. On the other side BSK Borça lost home match against Sloboda Uzice 2-0 which can be a slightly surprising score. Thus, as I have mentioned three days ago, the fault line at the bottom part of Jelen Super Liga is still existing, but BSK Borça is now added to the lower part with Borac and Novi Pazar.

Above all, a difficult home match for Novi Pazar against Red Star awaits for next week.

Next week’s schedule for the teams at the bottom of the league is as follow:
Sloboda – Borac
Hajduk – Vojvodina
Partizan – Javor

After the 5-0 defeat by Red Star, we re-consider Metalac again as the team who will relegate from the Super League. Thus, our eyes are on those 3+2 teams.

Looking objectively, it seems impossible for Novi Pazar to steal some points from Red Star this weeks. But, we cannot know if the subjective reality will surprise us. There is also probability that Borac may turn back to home with points from Uzice. If they will come with a victory, Novi Pazar may again be under the red line.

I do not think that Hajduk will gain some points from the match against Vojvodina. Javor will also probably be defetaed easily by Partizan.

Considering those options, this week which we identify as a difficult week for Novi Pazar may not be that much difficult looking beyond the matches of the rival teams in the relegation basket. At least, there is a probability that the rankings in the standing table be the same next Sunday evening.


(Source: www.utakmica.rs)