Rugby league is a team sport that is played in Serbia, which now has almost 1000 registered players nationwide, many of which are juniors. Belgrade and Novi Sad are the two main bases for the sport, producing most of the country's players. The most successful Serbian club side are the Dorćol Spiders who have won the most premierships. The other club Red Star Belgrade who defeated Dorćol in the deciding game to claim the minor premiership. History Rugby league was introduced into Serbia in 1953, by then secretary of the Yugoslavian Sport Association, Dragan Maršićević. The first rugby league match in Serbia was held in Belgrade on November 26, 1953, between French students and Selection Provence. The game was part of an attempt by the French Rugby XIII Federation to stimulate interest in the sport in Serbia. The first rugby league club formed in Serbia was Partizan, on November 1, 1953, followed a couple of months later by Radnički. The two teams played their first match on April 26, 1954, with Partizan winning 21-11. In 1961, the Yugoslav national team played their first and only match against a French amateur XIII, with the team going down 13-0. While rugby league was played in Serbia, Croatia played the rival code of rugby union and Yugoslav authorities demanded that Serbian clubs switch to rugby union to unite Yugoslavia under one form of rugby football in 1964. Rugby league officially returned to Serbia in 2001, with the formation of the Serbian Rugby League Federation at meeting held in Kruševac. Journalist Slaviša Milenković was voted in as president of the new federation. The inaugural Serbian Rugby League Championship was held on November 10, featuring teams Donji Dorćol Belgrade, Morava Belgrade, Novi Sad and Beli Orao Kruševac. Belgrade's Dorćol team won the event. Dorćol is champion for the 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 years. In late 2015 the European Rugby League federation granted Serbia a donation from their funds which in turn helped in producing at least 4 more junior clubs and having a flow on effect in other Serbian regions. In 2013, Serbia helped spread the sport to the Serbian enclave of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially Banja Luka and Doboj. In October 2016 Serbia has two remaining world cup qualifiers to contest against Wales in Llanelli and against Italy in Belgrade. The match against a