FK Arsenal Tivat

FK Arsenal Tivat

Full name	Fudbalski klub Arsenal Tivat
Nickname(s)	Arsenal
Founded	1914;111 years ago (1914)
Ground	Stadion u parku, Tivat, Montenegro
Capacity	2,000
Chairman	Dejan Kandić
Manager	Božidar Tujković
League	Montenegrin First League
2023–24	Montenegrin First League, 7th of 10
Website	fk-arsenal.me
Home colours Away colours
Current season

FK Arsenal is a Montenegrin professional football club based in the coastal town of Tivat, founded in 1914. Currently, the club is competing in the Montenegrin First League.

History

1914–1940

Founded in 1914, Arsenal is the second oldest football club in Montenegro, after FK Lovćen which was founded a year before. The club was first established as NK Orjen. During 1930, the team was merged with another club from Tivat - NK Zrinjski. After the fusion, the team started to play under the new name NK Arsenal. The name was derived from the nearby naval repair facility "MRTZ Sava Kovačević", known colloquially as Arsenal.
NK Arsenal made biggest successes in history in the period between 1925 and 1940. Team from Tivat at that time played in the Montenegrin Football Championship, with remarkable success at season 1937 – with winning the title of Montenegrin champion. Arsenal became the only club outside Podgorica and Cetinje who won the title on Montenegrin championship in the period between 1925 and 1940.

1945–2006

After World War II, NK Arsenal played in the first season of the Montenegrin Republic League (1946), together with Budućnost, Lovćen and Sutjeska. NK Arsenal gained promotion to the Yugoslav Second League (Zone B) with debut in the 1955–56 season. They played three years in the Second League, and got relegated to the Republic League after the 1957–58 season.

Most seasons in the period between 1958 and 2006 Arsenal spent in the Montenegrin Republic League, with second place in the 1958–59 season as a major success. During the 1980s and 1990s, Arsenal produced many talented players. Its youth team which included the generation of players born in 1971–72 is regarded within the club as the most talented one. It was coached by Radovan Vukotić and Zlatko Vuksanović and produced players such as Ivica Kralj (played with Partizan, Porto and PSV), Željko Buzić (Hajduk Kula), Slaven Borović (Čukarički) or Zoran Vuksanović (Radnički Niš and Hajduk Kula). ^[1]

2006–present

After Montenegrin independence, FK Arsenal became a member of the Montenegrin Second League in its inaugural season (2006–07). With often relegations to the Montenegrin Third League, Arsenal spent ten seasons in the Second League until now.

During this period, Arsenal won the Southern Region Cup three times (2009, 2010, 2011). ^[2] In the 2021–22 season, Arsenal were placed in second place of the Montenegrin Second League, after which they defeated FK Podgorica in the playoffs and were promoted to the Montenegrin First League for the first time in its history. ^[3]

First League Record

See also: Participants of Montenegrin First League

For the first time, Arsenal played in the Montenegrin First League in the 2022–23 season. Below is a list of FK Arsenal scores in the First League by every single season.

Season	Pos	G	W	D	L	GF	GA
2022–23	3	36	13	11	12	39	39
2023–24	7	36	9	15	12	43	58

European record

As of match played 20 July 2023

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Agg.
2023–24	UEFA Europa Conference League	1QR	Alashkert	1–6	1–1	2–7

Notes

• QR: Qualifying round

Honours and achievements

• Montenegrin Championship (1922–1940)  – 1
  • winners(1): 1937
  • runners-up(3): 1929, Spring 1930, Autumn 1930
• Montenegrin Third League (South Region) – 3
  • winners(3): 2011–12, 2016–17, 2017–18
• Montenegrin Fourth League  – 3
  • winners(3): 1979–80, 1983–84, 1987–88
• Montenegrin Cup  – 0
  • runners-up(2): 1971, 2023
• Southern Region Cup  – 7
  • winners(7): 1974, 1984, 1989, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018

Players

Current squad

As of 15 August 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   MNE Bojan Zogović 2 DF   MNE Periša Pešukić 3 DF   MNE Mihailo Živaljević 4 MF   MNE Jovan Nikolić 5 DF   MNE Gojko Petović 6 MF   MNE Vladimir Kašćelan 7 MF   SOM Abdulsamed Abdullahi 8 MF   MNE Irfan Šahman 9 FW   MNE Matija Kuč 10 MF   MNE Petar Ražnatović 11 MF   ARG Julián Montenegro 12 GK   MNE Luka Petković 14 FW   MNE Damjan Mugoša 15 FW   MNE Luka Maraš 16 DF   MNE Ćetko Manojlović (captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW   MNE Neđeljko Kovinić 18 MF   MNE Viktor Lesjak 19 DF   MNE Darko Bulatović 20 MF   MNE Aleksandar Macanović 22 FW   SRB Nikola Milić 23 DF   BIH Armin Imamović 24 DF   MNE Vukota Baštrica 25 FW   MNE Šaleta Kordić 26 MF   GHA Obeng Regan 28 MF   MNE Aleksa Ćetković 29 DF   MNE Toni Pataki 31 GK   MNE Nikola Pejović 77 FW   MNE Staniša Mandić 99 DF   MNE Marko Merdović

Notable players

Below is the list of players who, during their career, played for Arsenal Tivat and represented their countries at the full international level.

• Ivica Kralj
• Branislav Janković
• Miloš Milović
• Darko Nikač
• Damir Kojašević
• Šaleta Kordić
• Abdulsamed Abdullahi

Stadium

Main article: Stadion u parku

The club plays at Stadion u parku (Park Stadium) in Tivat, near the Porto Montenegro Marina, which was formerly the naval repair facility MTRZ Sava Kovačević, popularly known as Arsenal, after which the club was named. Stadium capacity is 2,000 seats on one stand, and it doesn't meet UEFA standards for European competitions.

See also

• Montenegrin Football Championship (1922–1940)
• Montenegrin First League
• Montenegrin clubs in Yugoslav football competitions (1946–2006)

References

1. Devedeset godina FK Arsenal iz Tivta (Ninety years of Arsenal from Tivat) at Pobjeda, 24-2-2013, copy of text here Archived 2016-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
2. "fkarsenal – My WordPress Blog". 5 February 2024. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020.
3. Popadić, Dragan (3 June 2022). "Arsenal prvoligaš". radiotivat.com (in Montenegrin). Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2022.

External links

• "Arsenal Tivat on Soccerway".