belgrade soccer stadium murals

a mural of icons representing ‘heroes’ or ‘delije’ and the red stars plasters one of the stadium walls image © designboom

the stadion crvena zvezda – also known as marakana stadium after the infamous brazilian stadium –is a multi-use facility in belgrade, serbia. it has the capacity to house 55,000 fans and opened in 1963, three years after construction began. today, it is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home of the serbian red stars sports club which was founded march 4th, 1945.

stadion crvena zvezda’s field image © designboom

the word ‘delije’ has been painted onto the seats of the stadium by the sports club to show appreciation to the fans image © designboom

‘delije’ is the name which has been given to the supporters of the sports association red star belgrade. in english this means ‘heroes’ or ‘courageous and brave young men’. its singluar form is ‘delija’. during the 1990s, the name was used by a hooligan group.

delije of the northimage © designboomtoday, murals, graffiti and stenciled art cover the expanse of the stadium walls. they share a varied history of events, express political opinions and undertones, their support for the red stars belgrade and are a reminder of the struggle between support groups over the last decades.

during the 1980s there was a huge fan boom on the football scene. there were two big supporters from the north – the ultras and red devils emerged. the ultras approached football the italian way, singing long and melodic songs, with fireworks and choreographed routines. however, the red devils group was more aggressive with a lot of drinking, violence against rivals and consuming marijuana.

at the end of the 90s, ultra subgroups: brigate, goblins, heroes, iron boys, kenjaj, lunatics, north army, red boys, red devils, ultra boys united to become the belgrade boys. evidence of these subgroups can be found through wall art and graffiti around the grounds.

the belgrade boys, ultra boys, red boys… image © designboom

signs of the ultra boys, one of the serbian red stars supporting subgroups which has united into one of the most significant fan mobs, the belgrade boys image © designboom

the year 1989 is painted boldy across a wall marking the inaugural year of the delije group image © designboom

painted 1989s remind supporters of the delije’s beginnings image © designboom image © designboom

image © designboom

belgrade heroes image © designboom

it’s apparent that the ‘heroes’ are true heroes image © designboom

there have been violent clashes between supporter groups ultra boys and united force (F.C. rad belgrade fans). in the 1996 / 1997 season, 400 of them fought against one another in a violent brawl and several were wounded by knives. image © designboom

red devils, red stars… image © designboom

image © designboom

this stencil states ‘justice for uroš (mišić)’ a red star supporter who was sent to prison for 10 years, for the attempted murder of a policeman. mišić and a group of red star belgrade’s notorious ‘delije’ (heroes) tried to set him on fire with flares.image © designboom

‘justice for uros!’ – a portrait of the imprisoned supporter can be found stenciled on various walls image © designboom

‘selected heroes – justice for uros’ is loosely sprayed on a wall. beside it is uros’ painted portrait. image © designboom

large portrait of uros mišić image © designboom

a rough interpretation of belgrade’s city skyline image © designboom

you can see that graffiti has been painted over and then replaced by new work image © designboom

at the end of the 70s, the most intense fans moved to the central part of the stadium’s north side, where even today, the ‘crazy north’ begins, often illustrated in graffiti. image © designboom

in the 1970s, the very first supporters of the red star sports club started gathering before matches to raise spirits and get into game mode. on their way to the games, leaders would guide the large fan groups by walking in front of these crews. often if they happened to meet an opposing group along the way, a brawl would occur. ‘proud grail’ – pride of the north image © designboom