Nikola "Pop" Simić (; 2 December 1897 – 22 December 1969) 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 ...

player and manager. He was one of the first "stars" of the first generation of Serbian footballers and played over 100 official matches for

BSK Belgrade OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburma, ...

. He was the coach of the Yugoslav national team in 1936.

Biography

Born 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 ...

, he studied in the School of Theology at

Bogoslovija Bogoslovija ( sr-cyrl, Богословија, link=no) is a Serbian-Croatian word for a seminary. In particular it is often used for secondary schools educating future Orthodox priests. Serbian Orthodox Seminaries * , Belgrade, Serbia * Ser ...

. In 1911 he joined the youth team of BSK Belgrade and later debuted for the first team. In the winter of 1915–16, during World War I he left Serbia in the

Serbian army's retreat through Albania The Great Retreat, also known in Serbian historiography as the Albanian Golgotha ( sr, Албанска голгота / ''Albanska golgota''), was a strategic withdrawal of the Royal Serbian Army, which marked the end of the second Serbian ca ...

. He moved to France where he continued his studies and played in

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...

, AS Monaco FC,

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

, Grenoble Foot 38,

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

and

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club is French professional football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the premier division of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse lo ...

. He also played half season with Oxford in England. At the end of the war, he returned to Belgrade, now the capital of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929) and rejoined his former team BSK in 1919. He became one of the best players of the ''Blues'', known for his excellent technical skills, and even became team captain. After retiring in 1925, for many years he was member of the club direction. He played 10 matches for the

Belgrade Football Subassociation The Belgrade Football Subassociation, commonly known by its initials, BLP ( Serbo-Croato-Slovenian: ''Beogradski loptački podsavez'' / Београдски лоптачки подсавез - БЛП) was one of the regional football governing bodie ...

team, and he was part of the first Yugoslav national team squad which was gathered to play in the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

having played the second match against Egypt on 2 September 1920. After retiring he was in charge of the football sectioned od BSK in three periods: 1926–1932, 1933–1936 and 1941–1942. He was also the coach of the

team, and in 1936 for a short period he was the main coach of the Yugoslav national team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simic, Nikola 1897 births 1969 deaths Footballers from Belgrade Association football midfielders Serbian footballers Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers Olympic footballers of Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics OFK Beograd players OGC Nice players AS Monaco FC players Olympique de Marseille players Grenoble Foot 38 players Olympique Lyonnais players Toulouse FC players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Serbian football managers Yugoslav football managers