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thefootballlife · 2 years

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Serbian Superliga Preview 22/23

It seems like only yesterday that the 2021/22 season ended with the final Nations League games but the crowbarring of Qatar into the world footballing schedule has pushed the start of the Serbian Superliga to begin on 9 July with many clubs beginning their pre-season preparations at the very start of June. As a result of Qatar, the league will shut down on 13 November, reawakening on 4 February as Crvena Zvezda (or Red Star Belgrade, if you prefer) look to secure a sixth title in a row and look to match Partizan’s six in a row record from betwee 07/08 and 12/13. Could this even be a season where we get a three horse race rather than a two as the potential for Cukaricki to break further away from the pack seems closer than ever?

While it perhaps wouldn’t be entirely fair to expect the latter, they’re a very good place to start given that they’ve made moves this summer with four excellent pick-ups to complement the side. The first of those is former Limassol manager Dusan Kerkez who won a cup on that island and, crucially, hung around for a while, a distinct change to many of his predecessors. He’ll start hoping to arrest a slide at the end of last season after manager (and all around legend) Sasa Ilic left during the final rounds of games.

But, for a side where their attacking roster looked a bit weaker than the rest, the business they’ve done so far has been mightily impressive. Luka Adzic, who looked very good in his Zvezda days, returns to Serbia after an injury impacted time in Belgium and the Netherlands. Dorde Ivanovic returns to Serbia after winning a title at Maribor. Yet the most impressive get might be that of the highly rated Stefan Tomovic from relegated Proleter (who have ceased to exist, merging into RFK Novi Sad) - going into the advanced stats, he was one of the very best attacking midfielders in the league with a great range of passing and intent that showed out as he scored 8 in 26 from midfield last season. In with better players and in with a more attacking set-up (Proleter are a notoriously negative side), a continuation of that form could produce a very eye-catching return for what is the nation’s smartest club.

While there will be players going (not least giant centre back Stefan Sapic who is more than due a big move), keep an eye out for Viktor Rogan, a right back that has recently signed a long term new deal - Cukaricki have a good track record producing in that position and have another good prospect in him. On pure first team quality alone, they now have a squad that can go toe-to-toe with anyone and matching or exceeding their record top flight points total of 74 this time around would not be a shock. In terms of improvements still to come, they do look a striker short but that is a pretty minor thing given what else they have in attack and it’s fair to note that many of the army of wingers at the side can play centrally also without losing too much in the way of impact.

Staying in Belgrade, Partizan have a new manager in Ilija Stolica. Stolica is well regarded and the tactical shift into forcing overloads upon the opposition will be something to look out for. However, it’s also quite hard not to get the feeling that the deman on Stolica is also to do more with a bit less. A fair few players have gone, most known of those being Lazar Markovic, but Nemanja Miletic and Milos Jojic are players they’ll miss too. Incomings have focused on the defensive area with Zlatan Sehovic (who returns after two years in Israel) and Aleks Filipovic (coming from BATE Borisov and likely looking to make a run at the national team) coming in joined also by Patrick Andrade, a fellow Cape Verdean of Ricardo, from Qarabag. They pale in comparison to bringing back Svetozar Markovic to the club - having departed for Olympiakos in 2019. Much of the focus on Partizan will be more about how they adapt to Stolica rather than the sheer power of the side. They came extremely close last season but, ultimately, lost it at the last through silly points being dropped more than failings of talent. If this side is mentally robust enough, then surely a similar run of dropping only 13 points all season will see them win the title.

Their eternal rivals of Crvena Zvezda come into the season looking interesting. Their pre-season hasn’t gone all that well, with some iffy results against smaller sides. But you would be a fool to bet against them - the outgoings are limited really only to Milan Gajic as any sort of loss (Srdan Babic was already at Almeria on loan - he’s the only fee they’ve made this summer). Coming in is the impressive Kings Kangwa from Arsenal Tula and Osman Bukari from Gent, two players who look like good deals and the sort of ones you buy for a shot at Europe, not at the Superliga. Add to that the natural progression they’ll get from young stars like Nemanja Motika, Petar Stanic, Nikola Stankovic and, if he stays around (albeit there’s a big bid in from Zenit currently being decided on), Strahinja Erakovic and you’ll see why it’s hard to bet against them. If you wanted to oppose them, you’d argue that surely Aleksandar Katai isn’t going to repeat his form from last season, arguably the best and certainly the most clutch individual season a player has ever had in the Superliga, and that Partizan lost the title last time out as much as Zvezda won it. On a personal note, I’m still undecided as to whether Stankovic is actually a good manager or not - he may have the titles, but Zvezda were often a chore to watch last season and much of their Autumn form was stodgy at best and still they only dropped 11 points all season. They begin the season as favourites, but ones where the only doubts are more around maintaining their impossible standards of the past two seasons rather than doubts of whether they can challenge.

The final Belgrade side are found up on the roof and, after a great season that got them close to Europe last time around, Vozdovac will be looking to build on that. Justas Lasickas is arguably the only major loss and much of what’s come in has been attacking related - Borislav Burmaz’s second tier record is more than good enough to suggest he will deal with the step up, particularly at a stronger club than his loan at Radnicki Kragujevac. Niksa Vujanovic comes with a good record from Rudar Pljevlja, particularly given he was the standout in a struggling side - albeit it’s worth noting you could say similar about the likes of Milos Zecevic and Vuk Strikovic, who have both struggled with a step up from that league. Arihiro Sentoku comes in also from FK Podgorica and, more than anything, offers a real attacking utility man given he can play on both sides, up front and in midfield. There’s also the imminent potential of Dragan Stoisavljevic, who will be a very good player if he gets up to speed this term - he’s due a breakout season. This season, perhaps more than last, they have a chance to breakthrough into the European places.

TSC will be looking to make progress again but have been relatively quiet this summer. You suspect their chances are directly related to how long they keep Mihajlo Banjac for and if he can repeat his form of last season. Much of the work has been around making a more robust side around him and it’s fair to note that the longer Martin Mircevski was at the club (joined in January), the more he looked like he was ready for another step up the footballing ladder. If they keep everyone together, they’ve got a chance of getting into Europe but it will be on the back of the form of Banjac and Mircevski.

Spartak had a surprisingly poor season last time out and look quite a bit weaker coming into this one. Lazar Tufegdzic, who they turned big money down for in 2021 hoping for another great season and a bidding war, has gone of under £500k after not having a great season and the club not having one with him (this was primarily down to behind the scenes nonsense). With Nemanja Nikolic gone to Vojvodina also, they’re a side you look at with concern, particularly as without both he and Tufegdzic, they look mightily weak up front.

Moving south slightly to Novi Sad and while there’s two clubs from the city in the league once more, Vojvodina will be joined not by Proleter but by the Coyotes of Mladost GAT who have secured four successive promotions to appear for their first go at the Superliga.

Vojvodina still have a bunch of players who you would have expected to have moved on by now. New on that list is Jovan Milosevic, a striker that took the Euro U17s by storm and is heavily linked to move to Benfica as soon as he hits 18. But similar moves will happen for more established types such as Mirko Topic and Dejan Zukic also. Milan Rastavac comes in as manager with a very good CV for what you normally see in dugouts in this league. The incoming players of Nemanja Nikolic (proven at this level over and over), Yves Baraye, Mamadou Traore and Lazar Carevic should all be of a level that they will make the team better. They’ve not really come all that close to making a side in recent years that actually is good enough to provide adequate support to some of the great talents the club has been producing - this season, they look closer to that than before.

Mladost are hard to judge given the sheer breakneck speed of their rise will obviously raise questions about exactly what quality is at the club, but manager Branko Zigic (Nikola’s brother) knows how to set a team up to not lose and has brought in a few seasoned defenders to shore the side up. Expect them to be absolutely eye bleeding but safe.

The other Mladost, the Uranium Boys of Lucani have recently put together a very productive youth system and their pathway’s first genuine star is Dorde Gordic who broke into the first team last season and has already been linked to most of Europe’s elite. He is both an extremely good young midfielder and an extremely recognisable one, given he comes with a hair style that can only be described as “David Luiz but Frizzy”. The club, as a whole, have bet big on their kids and, with a lot of players going out this summer, their gamble is that some are ready to make the step up alongside Gordic and lead the club on already - look out for Nikola Jojic and Uros Sremcevic as Mladost race to chase down Cukaricki as the best pound for pound youth system in the country. While that can often be a recipe for disaster, at least in the early stages of it being in practice before consistent talent comes through, there’s certainly poorer sides than them in the league

Radnicki Nis rounded off the European places last season but the top three were absolutely miles ahead of them. While not worse than last season, they aren’t better either and any side that thinks Sava Petrov is the answer to a question up front is one to have doubts about. They are unlikely to struggle, but it’s fair to say that the sides around them at the end of last season look like they’ve done more to progress than the Real sa Nisave have.

Radnicki Kragujevac were saved at the end of last season by the management of Nenad Lalatovic, who promptly went off to join Borac Banja Luka, because god knows the only club he’d fit at outside of Serbia itself is the main club of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska. He was able to inspire fight from a team that looked gone and managed to start a fight with a few fans as well. Lalatovic will probably win a title there given Borac have been raiding the Superliga for players but the side he brought from doom to being saved through the playoffs will be happy just to stay up. Three have gone to the Republika Srpska with their manager. That said, the incomings aren’t bad - Milutin Vidosavljevic has plenty of experience coming on loan from Cukaricki, Luka Zoric showed enough at a decent IMT side last term in the second tier to suggest he’s ready to step up, Dusan Cvetinovic comes back to Serbia after years in the J League and will bring experience and technique to the defence and Dusan Stoiljkovic is coming for a redemption season after an iffy one last time out. If it clicks, they can push for the top eight but it’s very rare that any side is better for Lalatovic leaving them (and he leaves sides a lot!) - recovering from the loss of arguably the league’s best and most colourful manager may be the biggest hurdle.

Napredak had a very decent season last time out. This time, there’s a little less rosiness - Milan Spremo is a big loss and the experience of Sasa Marjanovic going to Radnicki NIs is also something to recover from. Then you look at the replacements - Klemen Bolha comes to replace Marjanovic at the base of the midfield having been part of a dog of a relegated Aluminij side in Slovenia last season. Nikola Vukajlovic replacing Spremo has limited top tier experience and that was as part of a Novi Pazar side that was terrible, in the lowest quality Superliga season ever (20/21, when it had 4 extra sides, all of them bad). Take out two players that lifted the side and replace them with a bunch of players that have been iffy for sides in relegation mixes and it’s fair to say that a repeat of their top half finish isn’t on the cards.

Kolubara have made one of the most interesting signings of the summer - Croat Ante Vukusic from Tuzla City. He has had a disrupted past 18 months but everyone who watched him at Olimpija knows the bare facts - if Vukusic gets the supply and stays fit, he can score plenty of goals. Hence bringing in Vanja Ilic, one of the better wingers from the second tier, is a handy get. They need a couple of things to fall right for them and they need a little more depth in midfield, but the gambles they’ve made one be ones you expect to pay off.

Radnik’s season last time out wasn’t great but they coined it in with the sale of Milan Makaric to Aalborg last autumn and spent it on, well, a big old painting of Piksi Stojkovic and you can only say “fair enough”. They’ve done little business with the only incomings being Andrija Milic, a cast off of Spartak after loans in the second tier, and Vukasin Bogdanovic, a cast off of Vojvodina after loans in the second tier. That said, Uros Milovanovic did well last season fitting Makaric’s boots and a bit more growth this time into a 15-18 goal a season striker will do them wonders. They don’t have a defence to speak of, though, so they could be a fun watch.

Javor are, at this point, bouncing between the top and second tier like a Serbian Norwich so if you expect relegation, you might not be far off. That said, there’s some interesting players there. Norman Campbell was excellent in the second tier two seasons ago, then moved to Cukaricki, got racially abused on the first day and disappeared for the rest of the season - with a proper pre-season and a proper go at the Superliga, we should see his qualities. Luka Lukovic is a known entity at this level, as is Petar Gigic. MIlan Obradovic is also an interesting one returning to the league after a disappointing spell at Wisla Plock. They have a bunch of players who needed pathways open them for first team football at this level and this season will absolutely be sink or swim and the fate of Javor’s season will depend on how many floaters they’ve got.

Finally, Novi Pazar. It’s hard to know what to say about this club given that they are (rumoured to be!) immensely dodgy behind the scenes. Their incomings this seasons are certainly the most high profile of their three seasons in the top tier so far - Zan Medved was highly thought of in Slovenia but couldn’t hit the proverbial cow’s backside with a banjo at Celje last season and was sent packing from his loan early - plenty of xG but a serious lack of xFactor. Mitar Ergelas is a nice loan from Cukaricki also. But they really should have gone down in 20/21 (when they saved themselves by fixing matches) and last season also - they lack depth, they don’t look like they have goals in them - surely this season will be the one they finally drop.

The Mozzart Superliga has too many clubs and that’s not a particularly controversial opinion to hold. With sixteen sides in the league, we’re seeing this season that there may be becoming a definite top five or six (or a top two and a second four) and then everyone else as the quality of the sides lower down the league (and the financial stability of them) continues to lag far behind the better clubs in Serbia and clubs in a similar role in other nations. That we’re beginning to see other clubs such as Vozdovac and Mladost copy the Cukaricki model of backing youth and daring to be a sane, well run club in a nation where the top two clubs are solvent only because the state has a never ending patience of allowing them to run up debt (and unpaid taxes) is a definite positive. This season starts with a small amount of clubs looking better but the gap between them and the big two - Cukaricki in third were 38 points behind Partizan in second last season with Radnicki Nis a further 9 back. Those were the only clubs to amass even half of the total of Partizan, never mind Zvezda.

22/23 may well feel like the gap has closed at the top, but that gap begins the season as a chasm and the next nine months are unlikely to see that disappear entirely.

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