Following the tradition that is over four-decades-long, this summer Vojvodina Football Club will organize the memorial tournament Stevan Nešticki, honouring the tragically-deceased member of the first championship generation of Vojvodina FC.

This year, tournament will be held from June 6th until June 8th at the pitches of FC Vujadin Boškov, and aside from the home team of Vojvodina, other teams that participate are: Partizan FC (Belgrade), Stari Aerodrom (Montenegro), Nacional (Sofia), Djurgården (Sweden), Rijeka FC (Croatia), Zenit (Russia), and Borac (Banja Luka).

On this occasion, we held the press conference at FC Vujadin Boškov today, where the director of Youth Academy, Duško Grujić, president of the Organizational board of the 43rd memorial tournament, Slobodan Jovanović, the coach of Vojvodina’s team Marko Jović, and the team captain, Veljko Pejović.

  • It is a great honor and pleasure to be the president of Organizational board of the tournament in which I participated for many years. What especially pleases me is the fact that after several years, there will finally be eight teams from seven different countries, which gives adds to the importance of the tournament. I hope that everything will go according to the plan, and that the competition will be fair and correct to the satisfaction of all participants, to whom we wish good health, happiness and success. We, veterans of Vojvodina FC are emotionally attached to this tournament, because we had participated in the organization many times from the start of the tournament, and it was always a great honour for us. At that time, it was done under the wing of the Youth committee, and it was all on a voluntary basis, and now, from this point of view, when we reflect on all the names from ex-Yugoslavia that participated in this tournament, it gives it an even greater significance. All our players who were born in 1968 and later, participated in this tournament that has retained its continuity throughout the years. I believe that this memorial tournament will last for many years to come. In the past, we as a committee often had a hard time organizing this tournament, and thanks to the engagement of Duško Grujić, director of the Youth Academy, the tournament has finally reached a level that Vojvodina deserves. One should always love Vojvodina, we loved Vojvodina even when they played in the lower ranks, and when they were champions. Vojvodina is the one and only, and we will always love Vojvodina – Slobodan Jovanović said.

Duško Grujić, director of the Youth Academy, also expressed his gratitude, because this year’s tournament will be of even higher quality, and those present will enjoy good matches.

  • I am glad that we are hosting the 43rd memorial tournament Stevan Nešticki, one of the oldest and the only tournament that never made a pause in the organization, even during difficult times. We kept the tradition, and it is one of the oldest tournaments held in continuity. This year we were lucky that with the support of the Club’s management and the regional government we can welcome 7 teams (with us as the eighth team), who will compete in the period between June 6th and June 8th.

Our guests are Djurgården from Sweden, Russian Zenit, Stari Aerodrom – the best team from Montenegro, our standing guest – Borac from Banja Luka, and Bulgarian Nacional. Also, aside from us as the hosts, there is another home club which is also a standing participant of this tournament, and that’s Partizan FC. Just like every year, this year we will also give our all to be the best hosts, and to maintain the highest level of the competition. I have no doubt that things will go well, because we gained a lot of experience from the previous years, and we will confirm it this year. What matters is what the president of the Organizational board also said, and that’s the audience on the stands, because we haven’t had this level of quality at the tournament for a long time. And I truly believe that those boys deserve to play in front of large audiences, who will enjoy their performance. I will not say that the aim of the tournament is to find the winner, for me the most important trophy at this tournament is the trophy for the best player with number 6, because that is a truly significant tradition – Duško Grujić said.

The coach Marko Jović is aware of this tournament’s importance for all in Vojvodina FC.

  • It is a great honour to represent our club at such a big tournament. We know how important this memorial is for our town and region; hence we are aware of the significance of our crest and jersey, and what this tournament means for us. The previous two generations failed to win this tournament, but we are hoping that this year we will return the trophy to Novi Sad, and remain the team that won the most trophies at this memorial tournament.

Team captain, Veljko Pejović also hopes for the first place.

  • I would like to thank my coach for choosing me as the team leader at such an important tournament with a 43-year-old tradition. It is a great honour and I hope that I will succeed in leading the team to the trophy at this tournament, and bring it back our shelves.