FK Velež Mostar is a football club from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, founded on 26 June 1922 as the workers’ sports club RŠK Velež. The club’s official colors are red and white, and its supporters are known as Red Army Mostar. The club’s visual identity is built around the red five-pointed star, a symbol that has been associated with the club since its earliest days.
Design and History
The red star has been the club’s symbol since 1922, predating the socialist period in Yugoslavia. According to a report from Klix.ba, a club member who attended a congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in Vienna received a letter with a stylized five-pointed star, and upon returning to Mostar, asked local graphic workers to create a badge for Velež featuring the star. The club began playing in red kits in 1925, after board member Vaso Pućarić brought red shirts from Zagreb. The club’s first derby against local rivals Zrinjski was cancelled after Zrinjski players demanded Velež players remove the red stars from their kits, which Velež refused to do. The club was banned in 1940 by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia authorities, and resumed operations in 1945, when the five-pointed star was placed in the club’s crest, where it remains a symbol of the club today. [1] [2]
During the 1990s, the red star was removed from the club’s crest. In the summer of 2005, the club’s assembly voted to return the red star to the logo. The star was not imposed by the communist regime, but had been part of the club’s emblem since its founding in 1922. [3]
For the club’s centenary in 2022, a special jubilee crest was created. The anniversary emblem featured the five-pointed star, a triumphal laurel wreath, the number eight, and the ceremonial slogan “Rođeni za vječnost” (Born for eternity). The crest also displayed the club’s founding year and the current year, with the text “100 GODINA” (100 years) in the center to mark the club’s centenary. [4]
The jubilee crest was featured prominently on the club’s home kit for the 2022/2023 season, named “Rossi per l’eternità” (Italian for “Red for eternity”). According to the club’s official website, the front of the shirt featured the jubilee crest in its full graphic form with the inscription “Rođeni za vječnost” and the club’s founding year alongside the current year. [5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The dominant element of the Velež crest is the red five-pointed star. A Czech academic thesis on Balkan football club symbols describes the star as symbolizing the working class and a certain Yugoslav nostalgia. The same source notes that the club’s name was taken from the nearby Velež mountain, and like the name Mostar, it references the club’s local identity. [6]
The club was founded as a workers’ sports club (RŠK, Radnički šport klub) on the initiative of a group of citizens, mostly workers and students of the Teachers’ School. The name Velež was chosen from several proposals (including Radnici, Napredak, Sloga, Jedinstvo) after the nearby mountain. [7]
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