Twelve clubs from six nations are taking part in the seventh Balkan Super League, which kicked off last weekend. For the 2023 version, defending champions Red Star Belgrade, will compete in Division 1 alongside fellow Serbian clubs Partisan 1953 and Radnicki Nis, and Arsenal Tivat (Montenegro), Locomotive Sofia (Bulgaria) and AEK Athens (Greece).

In Division 2 North, Zemun Belgrade (Serbia), Valiacite Pernik (Bulgaria) and Bilgi Badgers (Turkey) will face each other, and in the South, Tirana (Albania), Morava Cheetahs Leskovac (Serbia) and Mornar Bar (Montenegro) go face to face.

Dragan Pavlovic, director of the Balkan Super League, noted: “The 2023 season will be very interesting, Red Star and Partisan will start as favourites but clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Turkey are constantly improving. 

“We are glad that after the Covid pandemic and the interruption of almost three years, a Greek team is back this gives added value and strengthens our competition because Greece has an excellent competition and is also the leader in the Balkans in terms of domestic development.”

In the opening game, Partisan 1953 (pictured) opened with a narrow 26-20 win at Sport Center Cair Soccer Academy field in Nis. Pavlovic added: “It was a great way to kick off the season, a truly competitive game with Partisan holding on against a young side from Nis. The sport in this region is really starting to make inroads.”

This weekend, Radnicki Nis will travel to Tivat to take on Montenegro’s best club side Arsenal, who won their domestic championship finishing ahead of Mornar (Bar) and Boka (Herceg Novi).

The Balkan Super League Grand Final will be in mid-June 2023.