Aleksandar Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Петровић; 8 September 1914 – 31 July 1987) was a

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager.

Club career

He was part of the famous SK Jugoslavia attack that become famous in the years before the

Second World War 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 ...

league interruption. He is also remembered as an excellent striker, being the sixth all-time pre-1941

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) ...

top-scorer, with a total of 51 goals. Having been born in Rača, a suburb of

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...

, he still young came to

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, where he played for several clubs. He started playing for Palilulac, between 1930 and 1932, and later in Čukarički, until 1936, when he moved to one of the major clubs in the country,

SK Jugoslavija Sportski klub Jugoslavija ( sr-Cyrl, Cпортски клуб Југославија), commonly known as Jugoslavija, was a Serbian football club based in Belgrade. It was originally formed as SK Velika Srbija in 1913 and changed its name to SK Ju ...

. He will play with them until 1943, becoming one of the major league strikers and a fans idol. Those were his best years in which he also became a member of the national team. All the success was interrupted by an unfortunate injury of the meniscus that would make him pause for entire three years! He never fully recovered, despite having returned and played four seasons with

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Serbia, the second large ...

, between 1945 and 1949, and a single season with Željezničar where despite the difficulties, and his age, he managed to score 8 goals in 14 matches.

International career

He played nine matches for the

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; ; ; represented Yugoslavia in international association football. Although the team mainly represented the pre-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the post-war SFR Yugoslavia, various iterations of the state ...

and scored five goals. His debut was on 22 May 1938 against Italy in Genova, a 0–4 loss, and his final match was on 22 September 1940 in Belgrade against Romania, also a defeat, this time by 1–2. He was also part of Yugoslavia's squad for the football tournament at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

, but he did not play in any matches.

Coaching career

After finishing his playing career, he managed a number of Yugoslav clubs such as NK Jesenice, Proleter Zrenjanin, Željezničar,

FK Novi Sad RFK Novi Sad 1921 () is a professional football club based in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian League Vojvodina, the third tier of the national league system. History Founded in 1921 as NTK, the club was refounded in 1948 ...

, Radnički Niš and FK Zvezda Subotica, being considered his major achievement the promotion to the Yugoslav First League of a relatively minor Serbian club FK Crvenka, in 1970. After retiring from football, he continued living in

Subotica Subotica (, ; , , ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Central Europe and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Sub ...

where he eventually died in summer of 1987 with 73 years of age.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petrovic, Aleksandar 1914 births 1987 deaths Footballers from Kragujevac Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Yugoslavia Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics FK Palilulac Beograd players FK Čukarički players SK Jugoslavija players FK Vojvodina players FK Željezničar Sarajevo players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers FK Proleter Zrenjanin managers FK Željezničar Sarajevo managers RFK Novi Sad 1921 managers FK Radnički Niš managers FK Bačka 1901 managers Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. managers FK Sutjeska Nikšić managers Yugoslav First League managers Yugoslav expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Greece Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Greece