Franjo Giler (1 September 1907 – 20 December 1943) was a Yugoslav

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 ...

. He was part of Yugoslavia's team at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Club career

Born in Sremska Mitrovica,Franjo Giler biography
at Reprezentacija.rs

Austro-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(nowadays

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

), he was known as one of the best left wingers in Yugoslavia in the pre-World War II period. He started playing in Građanski Sremska Mitrovica. and in 1925 he moved to

HŠK Građanski Zagreb HŠK Građanski (alternatively spelled ''Gradjanski'' or ''Gradanski''), also known as 1. HŠK Građanski or fully ''Prvi hrvatski građanski športski klub'' ( en, First Croatian Citizens' Sports Club), was a Croatian football club established in ...

Franjo Giler
at National-Football-Teams.com where he becomes

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

champion in

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz. ** Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne, the last monarch of Viet ...

and

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

. In 1929 he suffered a major injury in a national team match against France, and in 1931 he was operated by Doctor Köln in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, becoming the first Yugoslav footballer to be operated to the meniscus. In 1931 he joined

SK Jugoslavija Sportski klub Jugoslavija ( en, Sport Club Yugoslavia), commonly known as SK Jugoslavija (Serbian Cyrillic: Cпортски клуб Југославија) was a Serbian football club from Belgrade. It was originally formed as SK Velika Srbija ...

where he played until 1935 making 35 appearances and 12 goals. Afterwards he became a player/manager at another Belgrade club,

FK Čukarički Fudbalski klub Čukarički () is a Serbian professional football club from Belgrade, more precisely from the Čukarica municipality, that currently plays in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of Serbian football. Founded in 1926, the club sp ...

International career

He made his debut for

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in a May 1926

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and earned a total of 13 caps, scoring 3 goals. His final international was a June

1932 Balkan Cup The 1932 Balkan Cup was the third Balkan Cup football tournament. The national teams of Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania took part and it was won by Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republi ...

match, also against

. He made also 2 appearances for the Yugoslavia B team, between 1927 and 1928.

Death

During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, as a

volksdeutsche In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of '' volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sin ...

r, more precisely Croat of German origin, he was mobilised by the German authorities, but he tried to escape and join

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

in the region of

Srem Syrmia ( sh, Srem/Срем or sh, Srijem/Сријем, label=none) is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the ex ...

, however he was ultimately captured by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

and shot dead in

Vršac Vršac ( sr-cyr, Вршац, ; hu, Versec; ro, Vârșeț) is a city and the administrative centre of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2011, the city urban area had a population of 35,701, while ...

on 20 December 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giler, Franjo 1907 births 1943 deaths Sportspeople from Sremska Mitrovica Croatian people of German descent Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics FK Srem players HŠK Građanski Zagreb players SK Jugoslavija players FK Čukarički players Yugoslav First League players Croatian people executed by Nazi Germany Croatian civilians killed in World War II People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm