Dejan Čurović (, ; 10 August 1968 – 11 August 2019) was a Serbian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker. A powerful forward, Čurović played with four clubs during his career, namely

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...

and Partizan in the former Yugoslavia, as well as Vitesse and

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

in the Netherlands. He secured legendary status at Vitesse by scoring the last ever goal at the Nieuw Monnikenhuize and the opening goal at the GelreDome.

Playing career

Čurović started out at his local club

. He was a member of the team that won the

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. In his debut season in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

, Čurović scored 11 goals in 27 appearances, as the club finished in 13th place. In the summer of 1993, Čurović was transferred to Partizan. He quickly formed a prolific

striking partnership Striking-partnership is a term used in European football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet t ...

with

Savo Milošević Savo Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Саво Милошевић, ; born 2 September 1973) is a Serbian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. A former Forward (association football), forward, he ...

and finished the 1993–94 season as the team's second-highest scorer with 27 goals, helping the ''Crno-beli'' win the double. After a successful year at Partizan, Čurović moved abroad and signed with Dutch club Vitesse. He spent six seasons in Arnhem, scoring 47 goals across all competitions. In the summer of 2000, Čurović switched to fellow

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side

. He spent three years at the club, before retiring from the game.

Post-playing career

In June 2011, Čurović was appointed as

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

Serbian First League The Serbian First League (), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier in professional Serbia's football league. The league was formed in 2005, following a reshuffle of the second tier Serbo-Montenegr ...

club

Inđija Inđija (, ) is a town and a municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the town has total population of 24,450, while the municipality has 43,433 inhabitants. It is located in the geogr ...

Death

Čurović died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

on 11 August 2019, one day after his 51st birthday.

Career statistics

Honours

Zemun *

: 1989–90 Partizan *

First League of FR Yugoslavia The First League of Serbia and Montenegro () was the top football league of Serbia and Montenegro, before the country's dissolution in 2006. The league was formed as the First League of FR Yugoslavia following the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, ef ...

: 1993–94 *

FR Yugoslavia Cup The Serbia and Montenegro Cup was an association football knockout cup tournament of Serbia and Montenegro played between 1992 and 2006, after which Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. The competition was the continuation of the old ...

: 1993–94

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curovic, Dejan 1968 births 2019 deaths People from Zemun Footballers from Belgrade Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers FK Zemun players FK Partizan players SBV Vitesse players FC Groningen players Yugoslav Second League players Yugoslav First League players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Eredivisie players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Deaths from leukemia