Andreja "Andrica" Kojić (; 28 August 1896 – 7 July 1952) was a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

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 ...

. He was part of the first generation of Serbian footballers and was a forward known for his technical skills, strong shot with both legs and extreme elegance in his playing style.

Biography

Born in

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 started playing football in the youth team of SK Srpski mač which was one of the first football clubs in Belgrade. In 1911 he moved to the newly formed

BSK Belgrade OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK Beograd Mozzart ...

and became part of the first generation of players to represent the "Blues" which would dominate Serbian and Yugoslav football during the following decades. At the end of 1915, with

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 ...

fully under way, he leaves Serbia and moves to France where he will play with

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

, Aix-en-Provence and

Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux () or simply Bordeaux, is a French football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It competes in the Championnat National 2 ...

in the following years. In 1918 he moves to SK Soko Pro Roma which was a club formed by exiled footballers from Serbia in Rome, Italy. At the end of the war, he returned to Belgrade, now capital of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

(kingdom later renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929) and plays with BSK until 1923. Later that year, as an employee of the National Bank, he was transferred to Novi Sad, and he continued his career by playing there 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 ...

. Afterwards he also played with

FK Sinđelić Niš FK or fk may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block * Funky Kong, a video game character Place * F ...

and

FK Mačva Šabac Fudbalski klub Mačva Šabac () is a Serbian professional football club based in Šabac, which competes in the Serbian First League. One of the oldest football clubs in Serbia, their nickname is (), which was first used in 1927, when the Urugua ...

, and already with health problems, with Lešnica and FK Krupanj. He played seven matches for the

Belgrade Football Subassociation The Belgrade Football Subassociation, commonly known by its initials, BLP ( Serbo-Croato-Slovenian: ''Beogradski loptački podsavez'' / Београдски лоптачки подсавез - БЛП) was one of the regional football governing bodie ...

team, and he was part of the first Yugoslavia national team squad which was formed to play in the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

. He retired at the age of 41 playing with FK Krupanj. Domestic football analysts say that he played over 700 official matches throughout his career. He earned one cap, against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in 1920.

Death

He died in Belgrade on July 7, 1952, and is buried in the Novo groblje cemetery in the capital.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kojic, Andreja 1896 births 1952 deaths Footballers from Belgrade Men's association football forwards Serbian men's footballers Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics OFK Beograd players Olympique de Marseille players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players FK Vojvodina players OFK Sinđelić Niš players FK Mačva Šabac players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Italy Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery