Slaviša Kokeza ( sr-Cyrl, Славиша Кокеза, ; born 7 July 1977) is a Serbian businessman, football administrator and former player. Between 20 May 2016 to 22 March 2021, he served as the president of the

Football Association of Serbia The Football Association of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски савез Србије, ФСС / ) is the governing body of football in Serbia, based in Belgrade. It organizes Serbian football leagues, namely the Serbian Superliga, the Serbia n ...

(FSS).

Early life and football career

Kokeza was born on 7 July 1977 to a

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

family in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, at the time part of

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

and

SFR 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 Yug ...

. He started his football career in

NK Čelik Zenica Nogometni klub Čelik Zenica ( en, Football Club Čelik Zenica) is a professional football club based in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name ''Čelik'' means ''Steel'' in Bosnian and it symbolizes the strength and power of the club in an ...

, playing in the youth teams in the period from 1985 to 1991. In the senior competition, he played for

FK Brodarac FK Brodarac () is a football club based in New Belgrade, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian League Belgrade, the third tier of the national league system. History In the 2010–11 season, the club won the Belgrade Second League (Group Danube ...

from

New Belgrade New Belgrade ( sr, / , ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. It is a planned city, built since 1948 in a previously uninhabited area on the left bank of the Sava river, opposite old Belgrade. In recent years, it has become the central bu ...

, and in this club he spent the period from 1999 to 2014 as a football player and as an official.

Political involvement

He was a member of the far-right

Serbian Radical Party The Serbian Radical Party ( sr-cyrl, Српска радикална странка, Srpska radikalna stranka, ''SRS'') is an ultranationalist political party in Serbia. It was founded in 1991, and its founder and current leader is Vojislav Še ...

(SRS), and after the founding of the

Serbian Progressive Party The Serbian Progressive Party ( sr-cyrl, Српска напредна странка, Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) has been the ruling political party of Serbia since 2012. Founded by Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić in 2008 as a s ...

(SNS) in 2008, he became a member and an official of that party. He is a member of the Main Board and vice president of the

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 ...

SNS board. The general public first heard about him in July 2008, when he appeared at a press conference of the Serbian Radical Party, sitting next to the then deputy president of the SRS,

Tomislav Nikolić Tomislav Nikolić ( sr-Cyrl, Томислав Николић, ; born 15 February 1952) is a Serbian retired politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2012 to 2017. A former member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS), he d ...

, and general secretary,

Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Вучић, ; born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as the president of Serbia since 2017, and as the president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) since 2012. Vučić served ...

. Kokeza was reportedly injured by the police at a rally organized by the Radicals on the Republic Square to protest the arrest of

Radovan Karadzic Radovan ( sr-cyr, Радован) is a Slavic male given name, derived from the passive adjective ''radovati'' ("rejoice"), itself from root ''rad-'' meaning "care, joy". It is found in Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, M ...

Business career

According to the data of the Business Registers Agency, Kokeza is a 100% owner of at least three companies - "Eurosalon Fabrika", "Senior team doo" and "Best Contact". He has an ownership share in several other companies, among others in a company called "Happy Millionaire". Some of his companies are registered at the same address as the company "Prointer IT Solutions and Services, Belgrade". That company recently took over the company "Alti", which owns the chain of IT equipment stores "WinWin". The former president of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Bojan Pajtić Bojan Pajtić ( sr-cyr, Бојан Пајтић; born 2 May 1970) is a Serbian politician who served as the President of the Government of Vojvodina from 2004 to 2016. In May 2014 he became the leader of Serbia's Democratic Party. Pajtić holds ...

stated that close associates of the then

Prime Minister of Serbia The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијерка Србије, premijerka Srbije; masculine: премијер/premijer), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председница Влад� ...

and Slaviša Kokeza, "established a monopoly over the IT market of Serbia". In July 2017,

Eddie Bernice Johnson Eddie Bernice Johnson (born December 3, 1935) is an American politician who represents Texas's in the United States House of Representatives. Johnson is a member of the Democratic Party. Elected in 1992, Johnson was the first registered nurse ...

, a member of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

, urged

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

not to meet Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, citing among other reasons the relations between President Vučić's brother, Andrej Vučić, and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

tycoons A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

. She noted reports that allege that Andrej Vučić and his four close associates, with one of them being Kokeza himself, "continue to consolidate all infrastructure and public work projects". The reports also allege their close relationship with

Alexander Babakov Alexander Mikhailovich Babakov (russian: Александр Михайлович Бабаков; 8 February 1963) is a Russian politician and member of the State Duma, the Russian parliament. He was appointed Special Presidential Representative ...

, a member of the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

from President Vladimir Putin’s

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...

party.

Football administration career

As an active football player in the period from 2009 to 2011 he became the director of FK Brodarac, and from 2011 to 2012 he was the general director of

FK Zemun Fudbalski klub Zemun (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Земун) is a Serbian professional football club based in Zemun, Belgrade, that competes in the Serbian League Belgrade. History Immediately after the end of the Second Wo ...

. In December 2012, at the regular Assembly of the

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 ...

, he was elected vice president of the Board of Directors of the club. In August 2015, he resigned from that position citing dissatisfaction of

fans Fan commonly refers to: * Fan (machine), a machine for producing airflow, often used for cooling ** Hand fan, an implement held and waved by hand to move air for cooling * Fan (person), short for fanatic; an enthusiast or supporter, especially wit ...

and disagreement with other board members In mid-November 2014, he was proposed for the president of the Football Association of Belgrade, and he was elected to that position at the extraordinary Assembly of the Football Federation of Belgrade, which was held on 22 December 2014. He served as the vice president of the Executive Board of the

from 2015 and on 20 May 2016 he was elected president of the Football Association in Serbia and has been at that position ever since then. On 28 February 2021 Kokeza was detained and questioned by the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

in connection with arrests of several members of

Grobari Grobari (Serbian Cyrillic: Гробари, English: ''Gravediggers'' or ''Undertakers'') are the organized supporters group of the Serbian football club Partizan Belgrade. They are one of two major football fan groups in Serbia. They generally su ...

football fan group accused of murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking. According to the internal affairs minister

Aleksandar Vulin Aleksandar Vulin ( sr-cyr, Александар Вулин; born 2 October 1972) is a Serbian politician and lawyer serving as the director of the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) since 1 December 2022. Additionally, he previously served as d ...

, Kokeza refused

polygraph A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked an ...

testing, while Vulin also stated that the police has significant doubts about the truthfulness of Kokeza's answers at the hearing. Kokeza refused to answer whether he was involved in the alleged plot to assassinate the president of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić. Afterwards, Vučić stated that he "cannot believe" that Kokeza, "a man he trusted", refused to do the polygraph testing. Kokeza resigned on 22 March 2021 following the controversy and allegations of his involvement with organized crime.

Personal life

On 14 March 2020, Kokeza tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kokeza, Slavisa 1977 births Living people Footballers from Sarajevo Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbian businesspeople Serbian sports executives and administrators Presidents of the Football Association of Serbia Serbian footballers FK Brodarac players Serbian Progressive Party politicians Serbian Radical Party politicians Men's association football players not categorized by position