Slaviša Kokeza ( sr-Cyrl, Славиша Кокеза, ; born 7 July 1977) is a Serbian businessman, football administrator and former player. Between 20 May 2016 to 22 March 2021, he served as the president of the

Football Association of Serbia The Football Association of Serbia () is the governing body of football in Serbia, based in Belgrade. It organizes Serbian football leagues, namely the Serbian Superliga, the Serbia national football team, as well as the Second Leagues. FSS was ...

(FSS).

Early life and football career

Kokeza was born on 7 July 1977 to a

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби Босне и Херцеговине, Srbi Bosne i Hercegovine), often referred to as Bosnian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, босански Срби, bosanski Srbi) or Herzegovinian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, � ...

family in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, at the time part of

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

and

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. He started his football career in

NK Čelik Zenica Nogometni klub Čelik Zenica () is a professional football club based in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name ''Čelik'' means ''Steel'' in Bosnian, and it symbolizes the strength and power of the club in an industrial city well known for s ...

, playing in the youth teams in the period from 1985 to 1991. In the senior competition, he played for

FK Brodarac FK Brodarac () is a football club based in New Belgrade, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian League Belgrade, the third tier of the national league system. History In the 2010–11 season, the club won the Belgrade Second League (Group Danube) ...

from

New Belgrade New Belgrade (, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a Planned community, planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously un ...

, and in this club he spent the period from 1999 to 2014 as a football player and as an official.

Political involvement

He was a member of the far-right

Serbian Radical Party The Serbian Radical Party (, abbr. SRS) is a Far-right politics in Serbia, far-right, Ultranationalism, ultranationalist List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. Founded in 1991, its co-founder, first and only leader is ...

(SRS), and after the founding of the

Serbian Progressive Party The Serbian Progressive Party (, SNS) is a major populist, catch-all party, catch-all List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. It has been the Ruling party, ruling party since 2012. Miloš Vučević, the former prime mi ...

(SNS) in 2008, he became a member and an official of that party. He is a member of the Main Board and vice president of the

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 ...

SNS board. The general public first heard about him in July 2008, when he appeared at a press conference of the Serbian Radical Party, sitting next to the then deputy president of the SRS,

Tomislav Nikolić Tomislav Nikolić ( sr-Cyrl, Томислав Николић, ; born 15 February 1952) is a Serbian former politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2012 to 2017. A former member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS), he di ...

, and general secretary,

Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...

. Kokeza was reportedly injured by the police at a rally organized by the Radicals on the Republic Square to protest the arrest of Radovan Karadzic.

Business career

According to the data of the Business Registers Agency, Kokeza is a 100% owner of at least three companies - "Eurosalon Fabrika", "Senior team doo" and "Best Contact". He has an ownership share in several other companies, among others in a company called "Happy Millionaire". Some of his companies are registered at the same address as the company "Prointer IT Solutions and Services, Belgrade". That company recently took over the company "Alti", which owns the chain of IT equipment stores "WinWin". The former president of the Democratic Party

Bojan Pajtić Bojan Pajtić ( sr-cyr, Бојан Пајтић; born 2 May 1970) is a Serbian lawyer and former politician who is a professor at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Law. A member of the Democratic Party (DS), he served as the president of th ...

stated that close associates of the then

Prime Minister of Serbia The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијер Србије, premijer Srbije; feminine gender, feminine: премијерка/premijerka), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председн ...

and Slaviša Kokeza, "established a monopoly over the IT market of Serbia". In July 2017,

Eddie Bernice Johnson Eddie Bernice Johnson (December 3, 1934 – December 31, 2023) was an American politician who represented Texas's in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2023. Johnson was a member of the Democratic Party. Johnson was electe ...

, a member of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

, urged

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

not to meet Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, citing among other reasons the relations between President Vučić's brother,

Andrej Vučić Andrej Vučić ( sr-cyr, Андреј Вучић) is a Serbian businessman and an influential official of the ruling populist Serbian Progressive Party. Biography Andrej Vučić is the son of Anđelina and Anđelko Vučić, and the younger bro ...

, and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

tycoons. She noted reports that allege that Andrej Vučić and his four close associates, with one of them being Kokeza himself, "continue to consolidate all infrastructure and public work projects". The reports also allege their close relationship with

Alexander Babakov Alexander Mikhailovich Babakov (; 8 February 1963) is a Russian politician and member of the State Duma, the Russian parliament. He was appointed Special Presidential Representative to Russians by Vladimir Putin in 2012. He has been under EU, Can ...

, a member of the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

from President Vladimir Putin’s

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

party.

Football administration career

As an active football player in the period from 2009 to 2011 he became the director of FK Brodarac, and from 2011 to 2012 he was the general director of

FK Zemun Fudbalski klub Zemun (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Земун) is a Serbian professional football club based in Zemun, Belgrade, that competes in the Serbian First League. History Immediately after the end of the Second Wor ...

. In December 2012, at the regular Assembly of the

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 ...

, he was elected vice president of the Board of Directors of the club. In August 2015, he resigned from that position citing dissatisfaction of fans and disagreement with other board members In mid-November 2014, he was proposed for the president of the Football Association of Belgrade, and he was elected to that position at the extraordinary Assembly of the Football Federation of Belgrade, which was held on 22 December 2014. He served as the vice president of the Executive Board of the

from 2015 and on 20 May 2016 he was elected president of the Football Association in Serbia and has been at that position ever since then. On 28 February 2021 Kokeza was detained and questioned by the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

in connection with arrests of several members of

Grobari Grobari ( sr-cyr, Гробари, ) are the organized supporters group of the Serbian football club Partizan. They are one of two major football fan groups in Serbia. They generally support all clubs within the Partizan multi-sports club, and m ...

football fan group accused of murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking. According to the internal affairs minister

Aleksandar Vulin Aleksandar Vulin (born 2 October 1972) is a Serbian politician and lawyer who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia from 2024 to 2025. He served as the director of the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) from 1 December 2022 until 3 Novemb ...

, Kokeza refused

polygraph A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a pseudoscientific device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a ...

testing, while Vulin also stated that the police has significant doubts about the truthfulness of Kokeza's answers at the hearing. Kokeza refused to answer whether he was involved in the alleged plot to assassinate the president of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić. Afterwards, Vučić stated that he "cannot believe" that Kokeza, "a man he trusted", refused to do the polygraph testing. Kokeza resigned on 22 March 2021 following the controversy and allegations of his involvement with organized crime.

Personal life

On 14 March 2020, Kokeza tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kokeza, Slavisa 1977 births Living people Footballers from Sarajevo Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Men's association football players not categorized by position Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Serbian men's footballers FK Brodarac players Serbian businesspeople Serbian sports executives and administrators Presidents of the Football Association of Serbia Serbian Progressive Party politicians Serbian Radical Party politicians