Želimir "Keli" Vidović (17 November 1953 – 17 May 1992) was a 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 ...
and a star member of
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 ...
during the 1970s and early 1980s. He was killed during the
Siege of Sarajevo while transporting wounded citizens of
Dobrinja to a nearby hospital.
Club career
Vidović joined FK Sarajevo in the summer of 1974 from local Sarajevo side ''FK Bosna''. He played his first game for the maroon-whites on 14 August of the same year, and would go on to compete in 29 ties during his first season with the club. He spent nine years at the
Koševo stadium, and was a pivotal member of the squad that played a large role in the
1980–81 UEFA Cup
The 1980–81 UEFA Cup was the 10th edition of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Portman Road, Ipswich, England, and at the Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands. It ...
and reached the final of the
Yugoslav Cup
The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...
. In 1983, he joined
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n side
GAK, whom he represented for a further 6 seasons, before retiring from professional football in 1989.
International career
He earned his first cap for
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
on 1 February 1977 in a friendly against
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, which Yugoslavia won 5–1. On 22 March 1980, he earned his second cap in a 2–1 victory over
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
.
Death
On 17 May 1992, with the
Siege of Sarajevo already underway, Vidović (who was an
ethnic Serb) took part in a volunteer operation to help transport civilians, wounded by Serb forces, from nearby hospital in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of
Dobrinja to Koševo hospital.
After the convoy was stopped at a Serb military checkpoint, he was taken away by soldiers and all traces of him disappeared for 4 years.
In 1996, his remains were discovered in a shallow mass grave along with the remains of three other people. On 5 June 2004, his remains were buried in Sarajevo, along with an FK Sarajevo jersey.
Legacy
An annual tournament in his honour has been organized since 2004.
A street in the neighborhood of
Dobrinja carries his name.
The
FK Sarajevo Training Centre is named after him.
Documentary film, ''Heroj u kopačkama'', by
sport journalist Muhamed Bikić, premiered at the 72nd anniversary celebration of the FK Sarajevo, in
National Theatre in Sarajevo on 24 October 2018.
References
External links
*
balkan-sport.netEX YU Fudbalska Statistika po godinama
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidovic, Zelimir
1953 births
1992 deaths
Footballers from Sarajevo
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Men's association football defenders
Yugoslav men's footballers
Yugoslavia men's international footballers
FK Bosna Sarajevo players
FK Sarajevo players
Grazer AK players
FC Wels 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
Civilians killed in the Bosnian War