Nenad Nikolić (

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 ...

: Ненад Николић; 20 August 1961 – 30 April 1999) was a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

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 le ...

who spent most of his career with

FK Čukarički Fudbalski klub Čukarički () is a Serbian professional Football team, football club from Belgrade, more precisely from the Čukarica municipality, that currently plays in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of Serbian football league system, Se ...

. He was killed, at the age of 37, on 30 April 1999 during the

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...

Early life

Nikolić was born in

Lipljan Lipjan ( sq-definite, Lipjani) or Lipljan ( sr-Cyrl, Липљан) is a town and municipality located in the Pristina District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Lipjan has 6,870 inhabitants, while the municipality has 57,605 i ...

PR Serbia , life_span = 1944–1992 , status = Constituent state of Yugoslavia , p1 = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia , flag_p1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg , p2 ...

FPR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

. His father's name was Ljubomir. As a young child he moved to

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. 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 Belgrade. The developme ...

with his family, while a year later he moved to,

Petlovo Brdo Petlovo Brdo or colloquially among the local population Pevac ( sr-cyr, Петлово Брдо or Певац) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Rakovica. Location Petlov ...

, where he lived until the death. He grew up with his twin sister Nada and his older brother Zoran. Since he was a young child, his talent and love for football was obvious. His desire and passion for football, made him spend day and night on the field. Nikolić graduated from Gymnasiumbr>XIII
in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Family

Nikolić had a twin sister, Nada, and older brother, Zoran. Nikolić's godfather was

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

footballer

Vesko Mihajlović Vesko Mihajlović (Serbian Cyrillic: Веско Михајловић; born 17 March 1968) is a Serbian former football midfielder and manager. He is widely considered to be one of the best foreign players to have played in the Cypriot Championsh ...

. Nikolić married Snežana in 1991. He left behind two little children, at the time of his death, an eight-month-old Aleksandar, and a two-year-old Katarina. Nikolić joined Tacoma Stars in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but returned later, to open a food processing

Family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...

shop in

Banovo brdo Banovo Brdo ( sr-cyrl, Баново брдо, ) is a neighbourhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Location Banovo Brdo is bounded by the neighborhoods of Čukarica and Čukarička Padina in the west ...

, Belgrade, in the immediate vicinity of

Čukarički Stadium Čukarički Stadium, also known as Stadion na Banovom brdu (English: ''Banovo Brdo Stadium'') is a multi-purpose stadium in Belgrade, Serbia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FK Čukarički. The stadium has ...

. The shop still exists, renamed, NENAD.

Death

First NATO planes flew toward Yugoslavia on 24 March 1999. Nikolić, was a reservist in MUP Serbia, and assigned to guard the headquarters on Knez Miloša street. A month after the bombing had started, a bomb was dropped at the headquarters, while Nikolić was covering the nightshift, causing damages to the building and its surrounding area. Nikolić was not injured, but while he was trying to evacuate the injured people, a second bomb was dropped, and he was killed.

Legacy

Nenad Neša Nikolić Memorial Tournament

Nenad Neša Nikolić Memorial Tournament took place on

football field in 2014, and is held annually since then, to commemorate him. The tournament is supported by the

Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Čukarica Čukarica ( sr-cyr, Чукарица, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. Name Like several other neighborhoods of Belgrade, Čukarica was named after kafana. At the present location of the Sugar Refinery, there was a kafana in the secon ...

Honors and awards

* The Ministries of Foreign Affairs has a memorial in his name * Posthumously awarded the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

in the field of defense and security

References

External links

Serbia's heroes memorial website page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolic, Nenad 1961 births 1999 deaths Kosovo Serbs Footballers from Belgrade Serbian men's footballers Serbian military personnel of the Kosovo War Men's association football defenders FK Čukarički players FK Proleter Zrenjanin players Yugoslav First League players Tacoma Stars players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Military personnel killed in the Kosovo War People killed during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia