Aleksandar "Tirke" Tirnanić ( sr-Cyrl, Александар "Тирке" Тирнанић; 15 July 1910 – 13 December 1992) was a Serbian

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.

Early life and beginnings

Born in the central Serbian small town of Krnjevo (

Velika Plana Velika Plana ( sr-Cyrl, Велика Плана, pronounced ) is a town and municipality located in the Podunavlje District of Serbia. As of 2022, the town has 14,609 inhabitants, while the municipality has 35,451. Velika Plana lies on the left b ...

municipality), Tirnanić was still in infancy when his working-class family moved to the capital

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 ...

. He barely remembered his father, a metal factory worker who died in 1914 as part of the Serbian Army

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

effort. Raised by a single mother, young Tirnanić quickly developed a love for football, which he played endlessly at Bara Venecija pitches on the

Sava River The Sava, is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reaches Serbia, fee ...

's right bank. He got spotted there by coach Radenko Mitrović who brought the talented youngster to

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 ...

youth setup. However, Tirnanić soon moved to arch crosstown rival BSK youth squad where he quickly developed into a notable right-winger. Realizing his potential, he completely immersed himself in football and abandoned school.

Club career

He made his first-team senior debut as a 17-year-old, quickly marking himself out as an able and temperamental player, and forming a midfield partnership with Moša Marjanović. Tirnanić spent most of his senior club career with BSK Beograd for which he appeared in 500 matches. During his career with BSK Tirnanić had great rivals Leo Lemešić (1924–1940) and

Ljubo Benčić Ljubomir "Ljubo" Benčić (2 January 1905 – 24 February 1992) was a Croatian and Yugoslav football player and coach. Playing career Club Spending his entire career at Hajduk Split, Benčić was a right winger and centre forward. He started p ...

(1921–1935) who played for

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

. Additionally, he earned 50 caps and scored 12 goals for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national team from 1929 to 1940. In 1937 he moved again to

where he played until 1938 when he joined BASK. For BASK he played from 1938 to 1939. He later played for two Belgrade based clubs Jedinstvo (1939–1941) and Sloga (1942–1943).Beogradski sokolovi page 96

International career

He also appeared in the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, ...

. The day before he turned 20 he scored a goal, which made him at the time the youngest goalscorer in the World Cup. Later he has been beaten by Manuel Rosas in 1930,

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

in 1958,

Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, Newcastle United ...

in 1998, Dmitri Sychev in 2002 and latest

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

in 2006, which makes him the sixth youngest goalscorer in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

. Later, he coached the Yugoslav team in two more World Cups,

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

and

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

, the football tournaments at the Summer Olympics,

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

when Yugoslavia won gold medal, also appearing in the

1960 European Nations' Cup The 1960 European Nations' Cup was the inaugural tournament of the UEFA European Championship, held every four years and organised by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Par ...

when Yugoslavia scored second place. During the Balkan Cup, held in 1935 in Athens, Greece, Tirnanić and

Tomašević Tomašević (; ), Tomasevic or Tomasevich is a Slavic patronymic surname, equivalent to Thomson (surname), Thomson or Thompson (surname), Thompson. Notable people with the surname include: *Aleksandar Tomašević (1908–1988), Serbian Yugoslav int ...

were the top goalscorers of the tournament with 3 goals each. Thanks to these contributions Yugoslavia won the Balkan Cup in that edition, leaving behind Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria. In the films '' Montevideo, God Bless You!'' (2010) and '' See You in Montevideo'' (2014), Tirnanić was portrayed by actor

Miloš Biković Miloš Biković ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Биковић, ; born January 13, 1988) is a Serbian and Russian actor and producer. His best known films are box office hits ''Serf (film), Serf'', ''Serf 2'', ''The Challenge (2023 film), The Challenge'' ...

International goals

Yugoslavia's goal tally first

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tirnanic, Aleksandar 1910 births 1992 deaths People from Velika Plana Sportspeople from Podunavlje District Serbian men's footballers Serbian football managers Yugoslav football managers OFK Beograd players FK BASK players SK Jedinstvo Beograd players Yugoslav First League players 1930 FIFA World Cup players 1954 FIFA World Cup managers 1958 FIFA World Cup managers 1960 European Nations' Cup managers Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Men's association football wingers