On this day, exactly 45 years ago, Vojvodina won the Central European Cup, the former official UEFA competition, which to this day remains the only international trophy in the showcases of the Old Lady.
Vojvodina took part in the oldest international football competition in Europe – the Central European Cup – and on the 50th anniversary of this competition, in 1977, it managed to win the trophy. In the competition between Fiorentina, Sparta (Prague) and Vasas (Budapest), the red and whites were the best and deservedly brought an international trophy to Novi Sad.
Vojvodina played its first game on the third of November 1976 against Fiorentina in Florence and played a draw with a score of 0-0. The home team attacked more and had the ball in their possession more often, while Voša opted for a solid and condensed defense, although she seriously threatened the opposing goalkeeper several times from the counterattack. Nevertheless, a draw was the fair outcome of the match, and the players of Vojvodina were satisfied with the point won.
In the second round, Voša welcomed Sparta Prague on November 24. With the goals of Jurčić and Mišić, the red and whites celebrated with a score of 2-0 and thus fueled their fans’ hopes of winning first place.
However, that hope was already a little shaken after the third round game and Vojvodina’s visit to Budapest on December 8. Against the traditionally unpleasant rival Vasas, which at that time was a highly respected European team, Vojvodina was defeated by a score of 3-2, so it had a difficult road ahead of it to achieve its goal.
The next round was played on March 16, 1977, and Vojvodina welcomed Vasas in Novi Sad, and numerous Voša fans came to support their team in the hope that they could get revenge for the defeat from Budapest. At the very beginning of the game, Vojvodina took a 2-0 lead and it seemed as if it would record a sure victory. However, in just a few minutes, the Hungarians managed to score two goals and return to Budapest undefeated.
Nevertheless, Vojvodina still held everything in its hands, and probably played the key match on April 6 against Fiorentina in Novi Sad. Already in the sixth minute, the purple ones took the lead by Kazarza’s goal, but then the brilliant Slobodan Vučeković entered the scene. Having scored a hat-trick (goals scored in the 17th, 19th and 44th minute), he managed to turn the score around and provide his team with a safe advantage by halftime. Already at the beginning of the second part of the game, in the 49th minute, Šandor Mokuš increased the score to 4-1, and all the guests managed to do until the end of the match was to reduce the score to 4-2 through Braglia in the 72nd minute.
In the last round, Vojvodina faced Sparta in Prague on August 3rd and by winning a point (0-0) managed to reach the trophy. In this way, that generation of Vojvodina was written in golden letters in the history of the club, as the only one that managed to win an international trophy. In 1977, the following players played for Vojvodina: Petar Nikezić, Vasa Rutonjski, Đorđe Vujkov, Šandor Mokuš, Martin Novoselac, Vladimir Trifunović, Željko Jurčić, Ratko Svilar, Slavko Ličinar, Miladin Purać, Rajko Aleksić, Laslo Lerinc, Slobodan Pavković, Josif Ilić, Miroslav Vukašinović, Slobodan Vučeković, Dragan Todorović, Dragan Bošnjak, Milorad Kosanović, Branislav Novaković, Mile Dragojević, Momčilo Bošković, Dušan Stakić, Zoran Mišić, Nebojša Vučković, Dušan Nenadić, Ivica Radosavljević, Luka Titov and Brane Anikić. During most of the competition, the coach of the team was Todor Veselinović, but before the last game in Prague, Branko Stanković took over the team.
