Red Star ’91: Conquering Europe as Yugoslavia Collapsed – Part One
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to It Was What It Was, the football history podcast. This week hosts Rob Draper and Jonathan Wilson explore the history of Red Star Belgrade, focusing on their monumental 1991 European Cup win against a backdrop of Yugoslavia's political turmoil and impending civil war.
This episode explores the club's founding, cultural significance, and key players, including the dramatic escape of Miodrag Belodedici from Romania. They also detail the influence of notorious figures like Arkan and the emotional scenes in Belgrade during this turbulent time.
Part Two will release on Friday.
00:00 Introduction
06:19 Political Tensions and Football
09:31 The Riot at Maksimir Stadium
16:36 Arkan's Criminal Background
25:04 Arkan's Bonkers Wedding and Return to War
27:23 The Rise and Fall of Arkan
29:39 Red Star Belgrade: Historical Context and Formation
31:13 The Intellectual and Working-Class Roots of Red Star
36:24 Red Star's European Struggles and Triumphs
39:52 The Escape and Signing of Miodrag Belodedici
44:32 The 1991 Season and Key Changes
47:48 Conclusion and Teaser for Part Two
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There was the river, the border of Romanian Serbia, a beautiful river. |
| 0:11.0 | I have this image in my head. The Romanian military would not let us bathe in a river, |
| 0:16.0 | but the Yugoslav military did allow their children to bathe in the river, |
| 0:19.0 | and I used to hear the people laughing and having fun. |
| 0:21.8 | And the children in my village could not have the same fun as they did in Yugoslavia. |
| 0:26.6 | Welcome to It Was What It Was. I'm Rob Draper and I'm here with Jonathan Wilson. And this is a really special edition, which I'm hugely looking forward. |
| 0:35.0 | It's actually one that was suggested to us by a listener, Jonathan Aspe, |
| 0:38.5 | and I think Dushan also said he'd like to have this edition. It's on Red Star Belgrade, |
| 0:45.3 | and it's particularly on that team at the very end of Yugoslav. They're breaking up a |
| 0:51.0 | Yugoslav and descent into conflict. We're going to start, I think, Jonathan, when they reach, obviously their absolute peak when they win the old European Cup, the Champions League. |
| 1:01.7 | We're going to take in an enormously significant game between Red Star Belgrade and Dino Muzar Greb, which descends into a riot and many people would see is precipitating the start of |
| 1:12.9 | this war. You'll maybe demythologize that for us a little bit, but I think it is one of the most |
| 1:17.0 | significant football games in history that many listeners will be aware of and have seen the |
| 1:22.6 | astonishing video footage from. But Jonathan, first of all, can you just give me a little lesson on pronunciation? |
| 1:30.5 | Red Star Belgrade is Savenia, Svetsia? |
| 1:35.4 | Svna Svester. |
| 1:37.3 | Slower? |
| 1:38.9 | Zovina? |
| 1:39.6 | Zvina Svester. |
| 1:40.5 | Svina Svester. |
| 1:42.4 | Yeah. |
| 1:42.8 | I mean, I, what I don't understand is why they're the only club in the world where we translate their name. |
... |
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