Petar Radaković (22 February 1937 – 1 November 1966) was a Yugoslav

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. He got 19 caps 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 ...

. He is famous for scoring the winning goal in the 1962 World Cup quarter-final win against Germany (1–0). He spent his whole career playing for

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Supersport HNL, of which they have been members ...

and is considered a legend of the club. He died from a heart attack during training, age 29.

Club career

Radaković started playing

in his hometown club

, then called NK Kvarner, in 1952. Radaković made his first appearance for the senior team on 13 August 1954 in a

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

match against

NK Lokomotiva Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb (), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First Football League, the country's top division. Founded in 19 ...

in which he scored a goal with the match ending 5:1. During his first five seasons Rijeka gained promotion from the

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

to the First League. In

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

played in Rijeka's first semi-final match. They lost 2:0 to

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

. In the 1960-61 season Radaković was named the best player in NK Rijeka and the best

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He was also named the best right winger in Yugoslavia in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

. Even though he had offers from many

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 ...

clubs who were dominating the First League at the time he stayed at Rijeka. Radaković made 408 appearances for the club scoring 68 goals. Radaković was Rijeka's first national team player and first player to appear 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 ...

. He holds the record for the fastest scored goal in the club's history; three seconds.

Death

Radaković first started having heart problems during a ten-day tour of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in the spring of 1963. Two years later, in the spring of the 1964–65 season, by the physician's recommendations he took some time to rest. After three months, he returned to the field in the last game of the season against Red Star Belgrade. But the match was turned out to be too early for him to play after the match he had to undergo intensive treatment, examinations and therapies. The first match in 1966–67 season against Željezničar at Kantrida, marked his return. His first two matches of the season went by without an incident but on the third, against

Hajduk A hajduk (, plural of ) is a type of Irregular military, irregular infantry found in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries, especially from Hajdú–Bihar Count ...

, his heart could not endure and he himself asked to be substituted after only 25 minutes of the match. But he continued to train, was persistent and did not believe the doctors when they said he would no longer be able to run on the field, enjoy the atmosphere of the game, hear the applause from the stands. On 1 November 1966, Radaković died of a heart attack during training. He was buried at Trsat cemetery on 2 November 1966 in front of 15,000 people.

International career

From 1959 to 1961 he was called up for the Yugoslavia U-21 team and Yugoslavia B team. He made his debut for

on 18 June 1961 against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. He made 19 appearances and scored 3 goals. He played at the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between ...

where Yugoslavia finished in fourth place His final international was a September 1964 friendly away against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

International appearances

International goals

Honours

Rijeka

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 ...

(1): 1957–58

Individual

player of the season: 1960–61 *Best

Right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

sportsperson of the year:

all time XI

Tribute

Since 1969

has hosted a youth tournament as a tribute to the player named Memorijal Petar Radaković where four youth clubs compete every year. In 1972 NK Rijeka opened its youth academy and named it after the Youth football academy Petar Radaković. Radaković was named in NK Rijeka's all time XI in 2008 by Marinko Lazzarich and in 2011 by

Novi list ''Novi list'' () is the oldest Croatian daily newspaper published in Rijeka. It is read mostly in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County of Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeas ...

. During May 2012, Armada Rijeka, NK Rijeka's fans, created a mural near

Stadion Kantrida Kantrida Stadium () is a football stadium in the Croatian city of Rijeka. It is named after the Kantrida neighbourhood in which it is located, in the western part of the city. It has served as the home of the HNK Rijeka football club for most yea ...

in his honor.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Radakovic, Petar 1937 births 1966 deaths Footballers from Rijeka Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players HNK Rijeka players Association football players who died while playing Sport deaths in Yugoslavia