Milorad Nikolić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Милорад Николић; 23 July 1920 – 12 September 2006) was a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. Born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

, he is remembered as one of the most talented young players that played in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Playing as a left- winger, he was extremely appreciated for his speed and strong shot. He started playing with SK Sloga Belgrade and in 1935 he moved to

BSK Belgrade OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburma, ...

where he played initially with the youth squad. It was in the season 1938-39 when his club won the national championship, that he made his first occasional appearances in the senior squad. In the next season he was already a usual starter, playing along many other Yugoslav legends such as Mrkušić, Stoiljković, Dubac, Manola, Dragićević, Lechner, Glišović, Valjarević, Božović and

Vujadinović Vujadinović ( sr-cyr, Вујадиновић) is a Serbian surname, derived from the male given name '' Vujadin'', may refer to: * Đorđe Vujadinović, footballer and football manager * Maša Vujadinović, singer *Miroslav Vujadinović Mirosl ...

, all of them were also his colleagues at the Yugoslav national team. Nikolić played a total of three matches for Yugoslavia, two in 1940 and one in 1941, in the last match of the royal Yugoslav team. Because of the war, his career was interrupted and in June 1944 he emigrated to Switzerland where he played for

Lausanne-Sports FC Lausanne–Sport (also referred to as LS) is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport played in the Swiss Super League in their most recent 2021-22 season, the highest tier of football ...

. He got married there and would later emigrate to the United States, where he remained for the rest of his life.Career story
at Reprezentacija.rs.

External sources

References

1920 births 2006 deaths Footballers from Belgrade Serbian footballers Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers OFK Beograd players FC Lausanne-Sport players Yugoslav First League players Serbian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Association football midfielders {{Serbia-footy-midfielder-stub