Who are the owners of the land, how do they operate and how far has the reconstruction come?

The news that the football club OFK Belgrade will be playing at the recently built stadium in Zaječar from next season, as they said, was due to the reconstruction of its decades-old home in Belgrade’s Karaburma. The field and stands of the “romantics” have long been in bad condition and it is not disputed that they need serious renovation, but it is very unusual that no step has been taken so far towards obtaining a building permit, which is necessary for any work on that building. The plot on which the stadium is located is majority owned by the city of Belgrade, part belongs to the state of Serbia, and the minority owner is a private person and businessman. There is also a tenant for 99 years.

The “Kraljevica” stadium in Zaječar, opened last year, which is the home of football players from the lower-ranked club Timok, will also become the sports house of “romantics” from Karaburma from August.
Namely, OFK Belgrade is returning to the Super League of Serbia, and as it was announced, they sent confirmation to the Licensing Commission of the Football Association of Serbia that they will play their comeback season in the top tier of the domestic competition in Zaječar.

Not even a real step towards a building permit

And why? The club announced that they are moving in order to reconstruct the Youth Stadium, which normally does not meet domestic standards for playing matches.

“In order to bring the stadium to a state in which it will be able to host teams from the Super League, it is necessary to carry out fundamental works on the improvement of the infrastructure, installations, dressing rooms, part of the stands, the media area, the medical block, and other rooms. Until these works are completed, our club will temporarily play matches outside of Karaburma,” the club’s announcement reads.

However, the surprising fact is that, as can be seen in the “Check point” database, not a single step has been taken towards the building permit, which means that the request for location conditions, which is the first step in any project, has not been submitted either.

We tried to find out what has been done so far in the OFK Belgrade club itself, some by phone, some by email. However, our questions remained unanswered.

We also contacted the members of the club’s Board of Directors – vice-presidents Stefan Babović and Kostadin Terzić, but they also remained silent on our calls.

By the way, it is not known who could finance the reconstruction of the stadium of OFK Belgrade, since that club has been blocked without interruption since April 2019, i.e. for 1,828 days already. Although it ended 2023 with a surplus of about two million euros, according to NBS data, the total amount of the blockade as of April 24 is 200,904,831 dinars or about 1.7 million euros.

The stadium is owned by the city, the land is also owned by private individuals

As can be seen in the Real Estate Cadastre, the stadium itself is owned by the City of Belgrade, while the huge plot on which it is located is majority owned by the City. The owners of the plot are partly the state of Serbia, as well as the private entity Dragoljub Cicmil, while the company for production, trade and export-import services “Stevčević co” has the right to lease the building land for 99 years.

Dragoljub Cicmil, who owns a small part of the plot on which the Youth Stadium is located, is the owner of an independent catering shop in Kosuta. He owns the company “MCD Romantičari”, and there were at least three other companies that are no longer active: “Romantičari doo”, “MCD star catering” and “Evečiti Mladoženija”.

Terzic announced a new stadium, but did not say where

Specifically, Konstadin Terzić, the son of FSS president Zvezdan Terzić, announced the rise of the club from Karaburma last June.

“We made a five-year plan where we see OFK Belgrade in European competitions and in a new modern stadium. Step by step we are moving towards the goal”, said the younger Terzić at the time.

Although many then and now understood the new modern stadium to be the building in Karaburma, since Terzić himself did not specify, in light of the latest move, it could also be a sports facility in Zaječar, some 250 kilometers south of Belgrade.

For this stadium, which was opened in November last year, huge sums of money have been set aside for local Serbian standards – as much as 28.5 million euros, and lower-tier Timok plays there.

Although its construction was expensive, information quickly reached the public that there was a problem with that complex. Uglješa Đuričković, member of the Citizens’ Group “Zaokret” in the Zaječar Assembly, announced that there was damage in one part due to a problem with the plumbing, and there were also unofficial reports that damage of 300,000 euros had been caused. This, however, was denied by the company FSS Stadioni DOO

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