Red Star Belgrade - The Romantic Last Dance of the European Cup

In 1991, Red Star Belgrade represented the final hurrah of Yugoslav football, as they beat Marseille in the European Cup Final. The players, the manager, and the tactics are too long-since forgotten for a side so important in recent football history.
The first episode in the Football Context series by The Whole 18 Yards, as I deep-dive into select moments in football history that prove to be important context in understanding how the modern game came to be.
From Dragan Dzajic to Robert Prosenicki, this 30-year-long battle to supremacy is a highlight of youth development and targetted transfer acquisitions in football.
Written, Produced and Voiced by Chris Davies.
Twitter: / whole18yards_

[@markosebez7922]

That is story of my childhood.. Thanks

[@birdoffire983]

There were 10 minutes in the european super cup of 1991 where 17 year old Giggs shared the pitch with 25 year old Savicevic. Both left footed. Both capable of dribbling at speed. They even looked similar to eachother facially! It's one of the few instances where Giggs was outshone when it came to the amount of dribbles performed. Savicevic was also a supreme and instinctive passer of the ball......something Giggs improved on.....in the latter half of his career. But Savicevic was a unique talent.

[@BosonogiNebo]

This is one of the best videos I ever saw and I seen a lot especially about Zvezda puno hvala ,pozdrav iz Srbije

[@NHazel1]

What a force Yugoslav football would have been if it were not for the breakup.

[@callumhyde1365]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Looking forward to the next one!

[@thewhole18yards24]

Thank you very much mate - means a lot :)

[@BobSaint]

​@@thewhole18yards24Yugoslavia since 1947 was not under a Soviet influence.

[@Randomgenerator1999]

This is such a brilliant piece of work. A shame it hasn't gotten more attention

[@Brodie1yourmum]

Genuinely one of the best videos on this platform. Absolutely shocked you haven’t made more than the two over the last two years! Please return will happily contribute to a Patreon or whatever

[@Zanyy__]

ive only just found ur channel but i cant believe u dont have more subs, very underrated.

[@whiteeagle4248]

Thanks man...i'm so in love with Red Star ...

[@uququau4534]

what a great video ! love from Red Star fan

[@rakibmahmudovee5544]

The top four format of the current UCL ruined everything that makes football a great sport. it was harder to win the European Cup because you had to be champions of the domestic league. Now it's all boring and the usual suspects since Porto won it. Great video.

[@slobodanstojanovic8125]

To the CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED CHANNEL: So, this video or better film is best i ever saw on my club Red Star and i probably watch all that are available lol next, your aproach to the theme which is RS winning the title in 91' was amazing, from historic facts although you made few errors which are not that important for the topic like Yugoslavia being behind the curtain, we never was, we were even on the verge of war with Soviet Union after famous NO by Tito to Stalin, so we were neither west or east, even more when we found Non-Aligment Movement which at its peak had over 100 countries if im not mistaken, Tito, Gandhi and Nehru were founders, before getting back to your video i want to share interesting fact about Vasovic, huge legend here, he is the only guy who played from both Red Star and Partizan and coached both of them, also he went from red star to Ajax where he was a captain to Cruyff and he won with them first CL title for Ajax, Red Star always played attacking exciting football it was our club policy, coaches were selected who play attacking football, our youth academy played that kind of football so when then come to the 1st team they already know how to play that system, im saying this cos Vasovic brought Ajax style of playing, tactics 4-3-3 also we set our youth academy like Ajax, and football is sharing and thats how we got our style of football copied none other then Liverpool, we beat them in both legs in 73' and their famous manager Paisley said this is the future and we must adopt this style of playing if we want to compete with european clubs, they did adopt that style and they won 3 CL cups in next five years, this the video about that, British made kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYHGhayDedibepI So to get back to your film, you gave most briliant, in depth look, time you wanted to spend in researching all the things, also big praise for your prounnaciation its also the best i ever heared from a Brit, also im thinking you must've had great fun when you started looking in all this facts, historical data, all the things around the footballing part itself, then seeing Red Star history as a club, running the club, the players we produced, teams we produced, you know us winning that title was not a fluke or like yea you got 1 team gatthered and you won, no its decades of learning, decades of trial and error, for example older fans would say that team led by Džajic was our best team ever while we reach to the semid of CL and losing in most insane and misterious way, won 4-1 at home, Džajic got the red card for literally nothing so he was our for 2nd leg which we lost 3-0 by Panathinaikos and players till this day something weirg happened, like that the greeks put something in their soup cos they were so lethargic the entire game, also us selling the BEST player ever from the Balkans and for me one of the best players in history of football, Dragan Stojkovic Pixie, i dont know how much of him did you see but i urge you to go on binge watching videos of him plays, so we sold HIM and in incredible twist of faith we are in the finals with his new club Marseille, crazy, and btw he refused to shot the penalty in that last penalty shoot-out, and we won without him and that tells you how great we was, thats how Napoli sell Maradona and win, it never gonna happens lol, also us selling Pixie we then signed Mihajlovic biggest transfer in Yugoslavian history and pulled Jugovic from a loan, those 2 players were exactly what we needed to win the Cup, also interesting facts like you said here about Belodedic and his escape from Romania, Savicevic transfer was nuts, Hajduk Split was offering most money and Partizan being club of the state was most powerful in terms of like political power and influence in football, so all clubs from big 4 wanted him (big 4 are red star,partizan,hajduk and dinamo) but he only wanted to join red star, so red star officials went to Montenegro literally grabbed him and bring him back here, then they hide him so that Partizan officials cent get to him, they waited to the last minute of the deadline at midnight to sign him, how crazy it was they even didnt want to use the lift going in FA building to sign lol, 2 interesting fact about the Finals game, Bernard Tapi legendary owner of Marseille offered 500k eact to Savicevic and Pancev i think which they redused and other thing was that in yugo league year before they introduced new rule where when game ends in tie there was penalty shoot out to decide a winner which obviously helped us big time in the final game, so sorry for the novel lol but huge THANK YOU for this film, huge praise for briliant making, researvhing, editing, narration, prounnaciation, truth, inside info, etc...regards from Belgrade

[@thewhole18yards24]

Can I just say, thank you so much for visiting this channel and leaving such a thorough message. I grew-up enjoying the ex-Red Star players rampage Serie A on British TV, and always wanted to dive into the history/context of where they came from, how it all came together etc. I often think it's the lazy way to understand modern football to accredit everything to Cruyff and Barcelona. In my opinion, the move towards professional coaching (even if not with professional contracts) at Red Star and Dynamo Kiev under Lobanovskyi (likely my next video if I was to ever do this again :D) are the foundations for what Western European sides later refined. Either way, you've made my day with this comment - thank you so very much for your engagement and comment. Always great to see more people interested in the great stories of football history.

[@slobodanstojanovic8125]

@@thewhole18yards24 Also can you tell me whats your club that you follow if its not secret?

[@thewhole18yards24]

@@slobodanstojanovic8125 Haha, I'm a Hereford United/FC fan, in the lower leagues of English football. Due to a family connection, and 'needing' to support a bigger team that I can watch on TV etc, I have a soft-spot for Man Utd, but I definitely prioritise supporting Hereford as that's close to where I grew up.

[@johnw2019]

This was a fantastic description of the footballing world mid 90s Excellent content

[@rosefarrell2440]

❤ both teams because of this season and final. Watched Sportsnight on the BBC every Wednesday night when they'd show highlights.

[@matoridelija2936]

Nice one mate. Brings back the memories of hours and hours travelling to watch the games, including 48 hours trip in a rusty old bus to the final in Bari. Will we ever do it again? Of course we will ;) We are coming back! Just went to Man City away game, with more games planned. One of those things that get under your skin and never go away. As for unpronounceables, it's all forgiven, you did well, on some at least 🤣 Great story 👍

[@masw2636]

Great Video with a lot of details ! :-)

[@DanijelSrdanovic]

You forgot to say that Red Star won the European Cup (Champions League today) and also the intercontinantal cup and became the best club team of europe and the world. We won against Colo Colo champion of south america. Zvezda is constant present in qualification for Champion or Euroleague and who knows,maybe one day we do it again. Schock the world!

[@samuraininjarockstar9355]

Best ever Libero/sweepers 1/ Elias Figueroa 2/ Franz Beckenbauer 3/ Ronald Koeman 4/. Midorag Belodidici 5/ Daniel Passarella 6/ Aldair 7/Scirea 8/ Baresi 9/ Matthaus 10/ Ruud Krol

[@professor_of_logic]

Great video! BUT, Red Star FC today (2024/25) is again a European Powerhouse, playing Champions League, and investing milions in team and infrastructure... not to mention best Ultras on the Continent...Red Star FC Belgrade is back with a spectacular roster once again, these time a mix of a domestic and true quality foreign players, so let's watch and see... Respect!

[@michaelmetcalfe4882]

Only thing I wanted to quibble about: the Denmark team that won in '92 did so without Michael Laudrup, who for a few reasons chose not to participate. He was already a star anyway from his starring role in the exciting attacking but Spain-phobic 1980s team, and having been at Barcelona for a few years already by then. Cool video otherwise, a shame you haven't been able to do more so far.

[@Trenchfood]

The greatest tragedy of my football life.

[@valiciprian2061]

Besides the east european teams that won something prestigious,(CSA Steaua Bucharest, Red Star Belgrade, Dynamo Kiev, Dynamo Tbilisi and Fc Magdenburg.) There are east european teams that even if they didn't win something special were powerfull enough to reach semifinals and finals in european competitions.( Dynamo Bucharest., Gornik Zabrze, Ferencvaros, Videoton, CSKA Sophia, CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow etc).

[@slobodanstojanovic8125]

also Partizan Belgrade played in CL finals vs Real Madrif back in 66'

[@visi_inspektor_besevic]

Less then 4 minutes of this video and 2 huge mistakes. Both about maps. Map on 0:50 inaccurate - Yugoslavia shown without Istra peninslula. Today Croatia. Map on 3:45 talking about Iron curtain Yugoslavia was not the part of Eastern block as map shows. Not a single day. Yugoslavia was a part of Non-aligned Movement. Everything else is ok, good job.

[@thewhole18yards24]

The first map is one of Soviet influence, not of country/national/political boundaries. It is of my understanding that the Istrian peninsula was much more culturally-affected by Italian/Mediterranean influences, similar to that of Southern Slovenia, which may be why the peninsula isn't included on that map. Regarding the second map you talk of, I agree with you on the Non-Aligned Movement part, but during the early years of Soviet expansion etc, access for Western journalists etc was incredibly limited, and for the sake of our own experience and perspective, Yugoslavia's behaviour back then led to the (albeit incorrect in hindsight) conclusion by the West that the curtain *did* expand that far. Later developments would educate us better on Yugoslavia's stance with the USSR, but the collective trepidation of reporting 'normal life' (especially football) from there *at that time* led to the Iron Curtain most definitely having an effect on Western Europe's knowledge of their football league. So, yes, in the second map's case, I'll admit it's incorrect. But when you're not a graphic designer, and want something to illustrate your point, sometimes you lean into something that isn't *factually* correct, but tells the story anyway. Maybe I should have clarified that. Either way, thank you for bringing it to my attention, it's always fun to learn more on a subject.

[@SirDuncanTheTall-iq2pb]

bro Yugoslavia was not under the Iron curtain ,every westerner making the same mistake ,check your facts ,we were neutral ,bridge between west and east ,something like Austria at that time only communist ,also our communism was mild and very liberal comparing to Iron curtain

[@TheRealTurkFebruary]

They were until 1948, Mr. Eastern History Buff. Read a book.

[@Trenchfood]

Minus 7 points for cutting off the Soviet anthem with such disrespect.

[@samuraininjarockstar9355]

Red star were a magnificent team , even before they won it they would regular reach semi finals or quater , they held the great Milan side and drubbed Real Madrid 4-2 in 87, Savicevic, Prosinecki, Jugovic , Stoijkovic , Pancev, Binic, Belodidici , Mijhilovic all legends

[@Romul099]

RED STAR ULTRAS !!!