Refik Kozić (; born 25 December 1951) is a retired Yugoslav professional

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 ...

who played for

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; en, Partizan Football Club), sometimes known as Partizan Belgrade in English, is a Serbia, Serbian professional football club (association football), football ...

, and in the NASL between 1980 and 1984 for the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

. His son Alen Kozić was also a professional player.

Club career

Born in

Bačko Novo Selo Bačko Novo Selo (Serbian Cyrillic: Бачко Ново Село ) is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Bač municipality, South Bačka District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and a Bosniak minority. Its popu ...

SR 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 ...

, Kozić began his professional career with

NK Istra Nogometni Klub Istra ( en, Istra Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Istra or simply Istra, is a Croatian football club, from the city of Pula. The club currently plays in the fifth level of the Croatian league system but Istra has also pl ...

in 1968. He moved to

in 1972 where he played in the

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, ...

for 8 seasons. In 1980, he signed with the

. In November 1983, the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

signed Kozić after the Rowdies had waived him two months prior. Kozić played the 1983-84 NASL indoor season with the Cosmos. On 27 April 1984, the Cosmos traded Kozić back to the Rowdies in exchange for

Pedro DeBrito Pedro Guilherme DeBrito (May 25, 1959 – July 5, 2014) was a soccer player who played as a midfielder. His career took him through multiple U.S. leagues including the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, American Soccer L ...

.Rowdies trade DeBrito for Kozic
/ref>

References

External links

1951 births Living people Yugoslav footballers Serbian footballers Men's association football defenders NK Istra players FK Partizan players Yugoslav First League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the United States People from Bač, Serbia {{Serbia-footy-defender-stub