Teofilo Spasojević (

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 ...

: Теофило Спасојевић; 21 January 1909 – 28 February 1970) 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 ...

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.

Biography

Playing as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he was known for his classy, elegant style, correctness and excellent positioning in the field. He started playing in the youth teams of Belgrade's

SK Jugoslavija Sportski klub Jugoslavija ( en, Sport Club Yugoslavia), commonly known as SK Jugoslavija (Serbian Cyrillic: Cпортски клуб Југославија) was a Serbian football club from Belgrade. It was originally formed as SK Velika Srbija ( ...

, where he played most of his career, from 1929 until 1935, making with

Milutin Ivković Milutin Ivković (, ; 3 March 1906 – 25 May 1943) was a Yugoslav medical doctor and football defender who played for Yugoslavia at the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1930 FIFA World Cup.

, considered by many as the best full-back of the pre-1941 Yugoslav football, one of the best defences. He played for the club in 110 official matches. He played twice for the

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; hr, Jugoslavenska nogometna reprezentacija; sl, Jugoslovanska nogometna reprezentanca; mk, Фудбалска репрезентација на Југославија, Fudbalska reprezentacija na Jugosl ...

. His début was on 6 May 1928 in Belgrade against Romania, a 3–1 win, and his other, and last, match was on 3 August 1930, a friendly in Buenos Aires against Argentina, a 1–3 loss, just after the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, football's international governing body, selected Uruguay as host nation ...

, in which he was part of the team, but didn't play any match. Despite having been a remarkable player, the competition in the defence didn't allow him to have more caps for the national team. After retiring, he enrolled the

Belgrade Law School The Faculty of Law of the University in Belgrade ( sr, Правни факултет Универзитета у Београду/''Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu''), also known as the Belgrade Law School, is one of the first-tier educatio ...

and has earned a degree. He died in winter of 1970, at 61 years of age.Profile at Reprezentacija.rs
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References

1909 births 1970 deaths Footballers from Belgrade Serbian footballers Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers 1930 FIFA World Cup players SK Jugoslavija players Men's association football defenders University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni {{Serbia-footy-defender-stub