Miodrag Knežević (; 22 August 1940 – 25 June 2022) was a Yugoslav and Serbian professional

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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Born in

Gornji Stupanj Gornji Stupanj ( sr-cyrl, Горњи Ступањ) is a village in the municipality of Aleksandrovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 674 people.Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i Stanova 2002. Knjiga 1: Nac ...

, a village near

Aleksandrovac Aleksandrovac ( sr-cyr, Александровац) is a town and municipality located in the Rasina District of central Serbia. As of 2022, the town has a population of 5,586 inhabitants, while the municipality has 22,069 inhabitants. History Fr ...

, Knežević went to school in

Aleksinac Aleksinac ( sr-Cyrl, Алексинац) is a town and municipality located in the Nišava District of Southern and Eastern Serbia, southern Serbia. According to 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 43,258 inhabitants. History Preh ...

and began playing football at local club Napredak. He joined

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

side Radnički Niš in 1960, helping them win promotion to the

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) ...

in 1962. Over the next nine seasons, Knežević established himself as the team's undisputed first-choice goalkeeper, making over 250 appearances and scoring one goal in the top flight. In 1971, Knežević was close to signing with

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

, but instead moved to Partizan. He spent one season with the club before hanging up his boots. In March 1974, Knežević briefly came out of retirement and made three league appearances for Radnički Niš in the remainder of the 1973–74 season.

International career

At international level, Knežević was capped twice 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 ...

between 1966 and 1967.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knezevic, Miodrag 1940 births 2022 deaths People from Aleksandrovac Footballers from Rasina District Men's association football goalkeepers Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers FK Radnički Niš players FK Partizan players Yugoslav Second League players Yugoslav First League players