Jovica "Joe" Raduka ( sr-cyr, Јовица "Џо" Paдукa; born January 18, 1954) is a former Serbian-American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who began his career with Red Star Belgrade before spending time with indoor and outdoor teams in the U.S., Canada and Belgium. He currently runs a youth soccer club in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Player

Professional

Raduka began his professional career with Yugoslav First League club Red Star Belgrade. On February 9, 1978, Raduka signed a two-year contract with the

Oakland Stompers The Oakland Stompers were a soccer team based out of Oakland, California that played the 1978 season in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Stompers played in the Western Division of the American Conference and finished the year with ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

(NASL). At the end of the 1978 season, the Stompers relocated to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada where they were renamed the Edmonton Drillers. Raduka played four seasons in Edmonton. Additionally, he spent the 1979-1980 NASL off-season with Belgian club

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...

. The loan came about as a result of fellow Serb Milan Mandarić who owned the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

as well as part ownership of Namur.Bogdan TURUDIJA
/ref> While the Drillers performed poorly outdoors, they did gain an NASL indoor title in 1981. However, the team folded at the end of the 1982 outdoor season and Raduka moved to the Golden Bay Earthquakes. The Earthquakes, an NASL team, was spending the 1982-1983 indoor season with the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). In 1983, he spent the outdoor season with the

Edmonton Eagles The Edmonton Eagles were a Canadian professional soccer team in Edmonton, Alberta that competed in the original Canadian Professional Soccer League in 1983. They finished as champions in the league's only season. History After the Edmonton Dr ...

of the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL). That league lasted only one season before collapsing and Raduka returned to the U.S. to rejoin the MISL. However, the Earthquakes had returned to the NASL so Raduka joined the Cleveland Force. He would spend the next four seasons with the Force until the team folded in 1987.

National team

In 1971, Raduka was the captain of the Yugoslav junior national team.

Coach

When the Force folded, Raduka retired from playing professionally and began his coaching career. He first coached a local German club (Danubschauben) team in Olmsted Falls. Many of the players that played for him found their way onto Cleveland All-Star teams. He founded a Cleveland soccer club, Cleveland United, where he has remained as director and coach. In addition to coaching youth teams, Raduka was an assistant coach with the Cleveland Crunch of MISL in 1989-1990.

References

External links

Cleveland United profile

Red Star stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raduka, Joe 1954 births Living people Sportspeople from Velika Gorica Serbs of Croatia Yugoslav emigrants to the United States American people of Serbian descent Association football defenders Yugoslav footballers American soccer players Red Star Belgrade footballers Oakland Stompers players Edmonton Drillers (1979–1982) players Golden Bay Earthquakes (MISL) players Edmonton Eagles players Cleveland Force (original MISL) players Yugoslav First League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Canadian Professional Soccer League (original) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Canada Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate footballers in Belgium Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Belgium American soccer coaches