Fudbalski klub Radnički (), commonly known as Radnički Niš (), is a professional football club based in ok Niš, Serbia. Its name means Labourers in Serbian and stems from the relationship with the Labour movement which the club had during the first half of the 20th century. Radnički Niš was one of the most stable clubs in the former Yugoslavia. The team spent a total of 29 seasons in the Yugoslav First League, achieved two 3rd-place finishes in 1980 and 1981, and one 3rd-place finish in 2018. In international competition, Radnički Niš won the 1975 Balkans Cup, reached the final in 1989, and played against Hamburger SV in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1982. History Beginnings (1923–1945) The club was founded on April 24, 1923, in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. One of its founders was the communist activist Miloš Marković (who also founded Sloboda Užice in 1925). In the same year, the club played its first unofficial matches. Two years later, in the 1925–26 season, the club became part of the professional league of the Morava Banovina, and won the championship on two occasions, in the 1924–25 and 1927–28 seasons. Following the proclamation of the royal dictatorship in 1929, the government began to persecute leftist activists, and Radnički changed its name to Građanski. As Građanski Niš, the club played in the 1935–36 Yugoslav Football Championship which was played in a straight-knockout competition format, and was eliminated in the round of sixteen by Građanski Skoplje. At the end of that season the club reinstated its original name, and played until 1941, when, because of the war, the club ceased its activities and its members and players joined the resistance. At the beginning of World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941, the club terminated the activities, which were renewed in 1945, one year after the liberation from the occupation of Nazi Germany. The rise and stabilization (1962–1975) In 1962, Radnički Niš were promoted to the Yugoslav First League for the first time in the club's history. On 23 September 1962, Radnički fans displayed their first big choreography on the first league match against Red Star Belgrade. A large banner reading "Real sa Nišave", which translates to "Real from Nisava" was raised on the east stand, and the club bears this nickname to this day. The banner could be seen at every home game throughout