Football Association of Republika Srpska

National football association

Founded = 1992
FIFA affiliation = none
Region = UEFA
Region affiliation = none
Website = [http://www.fsrs.org Official Site]
President = Mile Kovačević
Coach = Velimir Sombolac

The Football Association of Republika Srpska is a football association in the Serb run entity of Bosnia called Republika Srpska. The association supervises over 300 football clubs of which 3 are women's teams. The referee association has around 1,200 members. There are also around 600 coaches in the association. The association also works with the youth teams in Republika Srpska by giving money to established youth systems and by building new football schools. It has all of the jurisdiction in Republika Srpska and works just like any other national association would. However, the association is not recognized by FIFA or UEFA and can't compete in international competitions. There are many rumors that the association may join the New Federations Board but no official word has been given.

Early Role

It was formed on September 5, 1992 by Bosnian Serbs who had declared independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Not many notable events took place during the war and the main goal of the Bosnian Serbs was for their clubs to be able to compete in the Yugoslav League or be recognized internationally as an independent association and not apart of Bosnia's in any way. After they failed to join the newly formed Yugoslav League the association decided that even though they were not recognized they would still continue to boycott Bosnia's League and try to hold out in the hope that they would be able to compete in international competitions as an independent association with no connection to Bosnia and its association.

After the conflict in Bosnia ended, the Bosnian league was split into three ethnically-based sections. The Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina, NSBiH, created to represent all three organisations, was recognised by the world football governing body FIFA in 1996 and UEFA in 1998. As the Bosniak football federation was the only one to join, its clubs alone were allowed to compete internationally and contest the newly formed Bosnian Premier League.

The Herceg-Bosna (Croatian) Football Federation joined up with the Bosniak's to form the Football Association of The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in April 2000 but the RS league continued to press for separate international recognition. Then finally on May 23, 2002 the Football Association joined in as well and the league now contained teams from the entire country.

"Its in the interest of us all, including our teams," said the former RS Football federation vice president Slobodan Tesić. Indeed, the quality of Bosnian Serb teams has suffered the most during the years of division because of limited competition.

In a joint statement, UEFA and FIFA hailed the latest move as being "for the good of football in Bosnia-Herzegovina and, in particular, for the development of football in Republika Srpska".

Champions

The association had its own Champion before the merge in 2002. The league which is still called the First League of the Republika Srpska used to be much like a sovereign nations league. The clubs only played against other teams from Republika Srpska and were declared the champions of Republika Srpska. After the leagues united the Bosnian Football Association decided to keep the league and it become a second division in the country. For more information on the current format look into Bosnia's Premier League. Below are the results from the seven seasons before the merge. Note none of these champions where recognized by FIFA or UEFA and could not participate in any European club competitions.

Current Status

The association is still in tact and has continued to operate as it always has. It still organizes a national cup, a domestic league which forms the second level of football in the country and even a national team that has represented Republika Srpska in less than a handful of occasions.

External links

* [http://www.fsrs.org// Official Site]