Velez Mostar

Fudbalski klub Velez Mostar (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Beлеж Мостар; English: Football club Velez Mostar) is a professional football club based in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club has a history of being one of the most successful clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded on 26 June 1922. The club currently plays at Rodeni Stadium (7,000 capacity), but its historic stadium is the Bijeli Brijeg (9,000 capacity). Due to the divisions between Bosniak and Croat territories, Velez lost its previous home ground of Bijeli Brijeg. That stadium was largely used by Velez during the glory days of the club, when they triumphed in the 1981 and 1986 Yugoslav Cups. The club also reached the quarter-final stage of the 1974–75 UEFA Cup.

The club is named after a nearby mountain Velez, which in itself is named after one of the old Slavic gods, Veles.

During the time of former Yugoslavia, Velez was always in the Yugoslav First League and the team often ended the season in the top ten. Velez was the most popular and most successful team from Herzegovina to play in the top Yugoslav League. The team was very popular in Herzegovina, but also had fans all over Yugoslavia, and had a mixture of fans from all three main ethnic groups.

Today, Velez is in the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is active in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and regardless of the difficult and divisive political situation, still has a mixture of fans from all three main ethnic groups. The team was relegated to the First League of the Federation from the Premier League. However, Velez was promoted to the top league of the country in 2019.

In the summer of 2005, the club's assembly returned the five-pointed red star, also known as the petokraka, to their logo. The red star has been the symbol of the club since its founding in 1922.

This page also has a version in other languages :  ФК Вележ Мостар (russian)