Power struggles in Belgrade

The brutalist, concrete exterior of the Partizan Stadium seamlessly matches the atmosphere on a grey mid-February afternoon in south Belgrade. Flecks of snow and a sense of tension are in the air.

- Anthony Tomas

For once in this passionate sporting city, it is not football causing the tension. Since a tragedy in Serbia's second city, Novi Sad, in November, student-led protests have become a daily occurrence, the likes of which have not been seen for a generation.

With agitation bubbling away under the city’s surface, the last thing it needs is a Belgrade derby between two of the country’s most storied clubs. But that is exactly what this afternoon has in store mere days after violent clashes between rival sets of fans hit the headlines.

Today, however, Partizan will not be welcoming Red Star, the other half of the “Eternal Derby”, in one of football’s fiercest rivalries. Instead, the pocket of vocal away supporters is bedecked in blue and white, the colours of OFK Belgrade.

Omladinski Fudbalski Klub Beograd (Youth Football Club of Belgrade) may be the new kids on the Serbian SuperLiga block, having secured promotion last season, but they are not the fledglings their name suggests. The Romantics' name carries real weight in the region's history. Founded in 1911, OFK won five Yugoslav First League titles and two Yugoslav Cups between 1931 and 1941. Further cup triumphs and consistent league performances led to many European exploits - none better than a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final appearance in 1962-63, which they lost to Tottenham Hotspur.

A Yugoslav Cup three years later - their last major honour - and a UEFA Cup quarter-final in 1973 proved to be the end of their peak years, and they spent the following decades yo-yoing between the first and second tiers of Yugoslavian and then Serbian football.