Svetozar ''Kika'' Popović (; 6 February 1902 – 26 October 1985) was a Yugoslavia and Romania national

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 coach.

Biography

He began his playing career while being a refugee in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, while the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Princi ...

was fighting

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. At the end of the war, he returned to Serbia and played with

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, ...

until 1925. Then, as an employee of the Commercial Bank Italia, he moved to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. While still a bank employee, he continued to play football by playing with Juventus Bucharest and

Venus Bucharest Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never far ...

."Bsk - Jugoslavija, Sećanja Na Prvi Beogradski Večiti Derbi"
by Živko M. Bojanić, pag. 183 On 1 May 1925, he played one match for the

Romania national team Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

as ''Svetozar Popovici'', against Turkey. After retiring, he became a coach. He coached BSK Belgrade in their

1940 Mitropa Cup The 1940 Mitropa Cup was the 14th edition of the Mitropa Cup and the last season played before the competition was interrupted by the Second World War. The competition would be resumed after the war under the name ''Zentropa Cup'' but by that time ...

campaign. He coached on three occasions the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national football team between 1937 and 1941. He was technical director of

and later worked in the direction of

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 ...

, where he was one of the founders of the club.Svetozar Popović
vesti-online.com

Honours

;BSK Belgrade * Serbian Championship: 1919–20, 1920–21 ;Venus București * Romanian Championship: 1928–29

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popovic, Svetozar 1902 births 1985 deaths Sportspeople from Kragujevac Serbian footballers Yugoslav footballers Yugoslav expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Italy Romanian footballers Romania men's international footballers OFK Beograd players FC Petrolul Ploiești players FC Venus București players Men's association football defenders OFK Beograd managers Serbian football managers Yugoslav football managers Red Star Belgrade non-playing staff