WWin League: Against the champions in the first derby of the season

Zrinjski continues its fight for league points on Sunday with the first derby of the season against Borac, the reigning champion who replicated our success from last season and secured European autumn in the UEFA Conference League.

Borac achieved this in a very similar manner to how Zrinjski did last season—first eliminating the Albanian champion Egnatia (1:0, 1:2) in the opening round after penalties. However, the Greek PAOK (2:3, 0:1) proved to be too high a hurdle, unlike Klaksvik (1:2, 3:1) from the Faroe Islands, who was eliminated after extra time. The champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina also had a good chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League, but the lottery of penalties went in favor of the Hungarian Ferencváros (0:0, 0:0).

In the last five rounds, Borac has played only two home matches against Sloboda (2:0) and GOŠK (3:0), while their matches against Velež, Igman, and Sloga will be played later.

Although we played five league matches against Borac last season, four of which were in the spring part of the season, this season’s Borac is still a significant unknown for us.

Vinko Marinović was replaced on the bench by another former coach of ours—Mladen Žižović—and the player roster has undergone significant changes. Jovo Lukić, Maks Juraj Čelić, Jakov Blagaić, Jovan Nišić, Stefan Fićović, Alen Jurilj, and Marko Milošević are no longer wearing the Borac jersey, while around twenty new players arrived in Banja Luka during the transfer window. Among them, Dutch defenders Bart Meijers (from Petrolul) and Jurich Carolina (from Miedz Legnica), Stefan Savić (from Warta Poznań), and goalkeeper Damjan Šiškovski (from Ararat) immediately established themselves as regular starters at the beginning of the season.

On Sunday, Zrinjski has the chance to set another new record in the top tier of our football, as we will be aiming for a fifteenth consecutive victory in the league—the current record of fourteen wins also belongs to us.

The match HŠK Zrinjski – FK Borac will take place on Sunday starting at 19:45.