Radnicki Pirot

FK Radnicki Pirot (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК Раднички Пирот) is a football club based in Pirot, Serbia. They currently compete in the Serbian League East, the third tier of the national league system.

History

The club was founded immediately after World War II in 1945. They made their Yugoslav Second League debut in the 1969–70 campaign. Over the next 12 seasons, the club competed in the second tier of Yugoslav football, before being relegated in 1981. They were promoted back the following year and spent another six seasons in the Second League (1982–1988), before the competition was reorganized. In the 1975–76 Yugoslav Cup, the club made one of the greatest accomplishments in its history by eliminating Red Star Belgrade to reach the quarter-finals, eventually losing to Dinamo Zagreb.

Following the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia, the club competed in the newly formed Second League of FR Yugoslavia in the 1992–93 season, but failed to avoid relegation. They returned to the second tier three years later and subsequently placed third in Group East in their comeback appearance. However, the club suffered relegation to the third tier in 1998.

In the new millennium, the club surprisingly reached the quarter-finals of the 2004–05 Serbia and Montenegro Cup, being eliminated by Rad after losing 1–0 at home. They also earned promotion to the Serbian First League in the same season by winning the Serbian League East. The club spent the next three seasons in the second tier of Serbian football, before being relegated back to the Serbian League East in 2008. In the meantime, they achieved another success in the national cup by reaching the 2006–07 Serbian Cup quarter-finals, but lost 2–1 to Vojvodina at home.

After spending eight consecutive seasons in the Serbian League East, the club was promoted as champions to the Serbian First League in 2016. They bounced back to the third tier in 2018, only to return to the second tier in 2019.