Refik "Refa" Muftić (28 August 1939 – 21 April 2019) was a Yugoslav and Bosnian

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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. He spent the majority of his career with

FK Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Sarajevo ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Сарајево; , English language, English: Sarajevo Football Club), is a professional Association football, football Sports club, club based in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosn ...

Club career

Born in

Foča Foča ( sr-Cyrl, Фоча, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the south-east on the banks of Drina river. As of 2013, the town has a population of 12,234 inhabitants, while the municipality has 1 ...

, Muftić moved to

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

as a refugee during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After starting his career with Famos Hrasnica, he arrived at the

Koševo City Stadium Koševo Stadium (Bosnian language, Bosnian: Stadion Koševo), also Koševo Olympic Stadium or Stadium Asim Ferhatović - Hase (''Stadion Asim Ferhatović Hase'') is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Koševo neighborhood of Sarajevo, Bosnia a ...

in the summer of 1964, joining FK Sarajevo. During his first season at the club, he was named starting goalkeeper. He was extremely reliable and was voted best young goalkeeper of the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

in 1965. In the fall of 1966, he left for his mandatory military service, hence making only five appearances in the 1966-67 championship-winning season. After returning from the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...

, Muftić returned to goal in subsequent

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

matches. In the following six seasons, he was once again irreplaceable in Sarajevo's starting lineup. He won the Champions Summer League with Sarajevo in the summer of 1972 before saying goodbye to the club a year later. He played his testimonial match in August 1973, when he stood between the posts for the first 15 minutes of the Summer Champions League game against city rivals, Željezničar. He continued his career in the

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

with WSG Radenthein, from which he moved to

SK Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

just one year later, where he spent the last three years of his career. During his nine-year stay in Sarajevo, Muftić made 222 official appearances, making a total of 342 appearances when including friendly matches, going on to score 3 goals. He is widely considered to be the best Sarajevo goalkeeper of all time.

Personal life

His daughter Šejla is a retired women's professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and diplomat. His grandson

Luka Garza Luka H. Garza (born December 27, 1998) is a Bosnian-American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian national team. Garza played college bask ...

is a professional basketball player for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA).

Death

Muftić passed away in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 21 April 2019.

Honours

Sarajevo *

: 1966–67

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muftic, Refik 1939 births 2019 deaths People from Foča Men's association football goalkeepers Yugoslav men's footballers FK Famos Hrasnica players FK Sarajevo players SK Sturm Graz players Yugoslav First League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Austria