Milovan Jakšić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Милован Јакшић; 21 September 1909 – 25 December 1953) was a Serbian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Career

Remembered mostly as "El Grande Milovan", the nickname he earned for his excellent saves in the game that Yugoslavia won against Brasil in the First World Cup in Uruguay

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, football's international governing body, selected Uruguay as host nation ...

. He is considered one of the major contributors for Yugoslavia reaching the semi-finals in that tournament. Being of medium stature, but very strong physically, Jakšić's main characteristics were his bravure and excellent reflexes. Jakšić spent most of his career playing in

FK BASK FK BASK (Serbian Cyrillic: ФК БАСК) is a football club from Savski Venac, Belgrade, Serbia. It is one of the oldest clubs in Serbia. The club currently competes in the Serbian League Belgrade (3rd tier). BASK are the initials of ''Beogradsk ...

, named SK Soko before 1931, where he played until 1939. The only exceptions were the Czechoslovak

SK Slavia Praha Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional association football, football football team, club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are ...

, where Jakšić played a few months of the 1934-35 season, and SK Ljubljana and ND Ilirija at the end of his career. Jakšić played a total of seventeen matches for the

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; hr, Jugoslavenska nogometna reprezentacija; sl, Jugoslovanska nogometna reprezentanca; mk, Фудбалска репрезентација на Југославија, Fudbalska reprezentacija na Jugosl ...

. His debut was on 13 April 1930, in a friendly game against Bulgaria in Belgrade, a 6-1 win, and his fairway match was on 2 September 1934, another friendly game, this time in Prague, against Czechoslovakia, a 3-1 loss. Despite all the competition that he faced for the national team goalkeeping place, Jakšić was selected to be the main goalkeeper at the 1930 World Cup. Having displayed magnificent exhibitions in all the matches at the tournament, it is specially remembered by his contributions in the match against Brazil, and it was after that match, that the delighted journalists started calling him by his new nickname: "El Grande Milovan". After retiring, Jakšić stayed connected to football. After the World War II, in March 1945, he established

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

football club, and was the club's Technical Director. Jakšić was also the President of the Football Coaching Federation of Yugoslavia, from 1950 until the winter of 1953, when he died unexpectedly of a heart-attack during the football tournament in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, where he accompanied

External links

Profile
at Serbian Federation site

at FIFA.com 1909 births 1953 deaths People from Kolašin Serbs of Montenegro Serbian footballers Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers Association football goalkeepers 1930 FIFA World Cup players FK BASK players SK Slavia Prague players ND Ilirija 1911 players Red Star Belgrade non-playing staff {{Serbia-footy-goalkeeper-stub