Interesting. So what teams are there in Serbia for hockey? Last I read, there were four teams. Are there any new teams that are sprouting up?
Going north to south...
There is HK Spartak in Subotica. They play on the open arena. They don't play every season in the league.
In Novi Sad, there was historically the team called HK Vojvodina. They won like seven or something like that serbian championships in a row from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s.
After the bombing of Yugoslavia, in 1999, civilian infrastructure was so hurt in Belgrade that hockey was shut down in Belgrade for some time. So, a new team formed in Novi Sad, called HK Novi Sad. When the global financial crisis hit (the 2007 one to be precise), that team folded. Its main sponsor was a criminal banker and he went to jail because of illegal transactions or things that were very shady. Shortly afterwards HK Vojvodina folded also - and by the way, a fire destroyed all their equipment actually. Another team, HK NS Stars sprung up however. For a while they only had some teams for kids, nothing on the senior level. So that there would be some senior hockey they had a senior team, and well, they're not participating this season. So, it looks bleak.
That leaves Belgrade.
Historically there were only three teams in Belgrade. Partizan, Crvena Zvezda (red star), and OHK. OHK folded in the early 1970s if I remember correctly. Partizan and Zvezda dominate most sports in serbia. They have this disguisting moronic rivalry, where fans of both teams like complete idiots like to fight one another or something like that. It's sickening. And it really showed on the serbian hockey forum (back when it existed), when supports of one team openly went out of their way to harass those who do not share their opinions, or whom they deem to be supporting the other team. Really scary stuff.
In the mid 1990s a team HK Tas appeared. But they disappeared shortly thereafter, and to this day they exist but only have junior teams.
There was one more team, which popped up in the mid 2000s... HK Beostar. They have their own Arena actually, in the area called New Belgrade. They were in the league for a bit, then they left when the financial crisis came, and had only junior teams, and then they appeared back last season, and are around this season too. I wonder how they got two imports (a ukrainianor russian and a czech guy), I suspect they will win the season as they have those two guys.
Finally there is HK Vitez. They appeared on the senior arena more recently. Basically, after the financial problems, the league went to *****. Partizan left it to play in the slo-hokej league, and in serbia itself the domestic league got worse and worse. Games being delayed became the typical thing, and it got so bad that one season almost no games were played. HK Vitez formed because some players were just pissed off because they did not have an opportunity to play. Imagine hockey in serbia, especially belgrade, being an oligopoly where partizan and zvezda are in cohoots with one another. These two bullies came together and prevented HK Vitez from playing because they wouldn't let their players sign with them. In Serbia there is no Free Agent as there is in say the NHL. Basically, a player is tied to their team unless if they take their papers away, and well, one season partizan and zvezda preferred that they do not give those papers, so that the there will not be a third senior team in belgrade. Disgusting, really, but, the following season HK Vitez appeared, and so they exist also.
So um, yeah, that's it in a nutshell. I don't think there are any plans for anything else to happen as of late, no expansion no new arenas, no nothing. It would be a nice improvement to see the outdoor rink in subotica getting covered, as then they will probably be able to play regularily. And hopefully novi sad can scrap up some funds or something to play also. As some guy said, the biggest problem there is in terms of organization, and so, the issue is that they are not organized well. It can get frustrating.
On a side note - as of last season, a hungarian team is playing in the league, which is interesting. It's kinda cool.