Slobodan Branković (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...

: Слободан Бранковић; born 9 December 1963) is a Serbian retired

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 ...

Football career

Beginnings

Branković, born in the

Banovo Brdo Banovo Brdo ( sr-cyrl, Баново брдо, ) is a neighbourhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Location Banovo Brdo is bounded by the neighborhoods of Čukarica and Čukarička Padina in the wes ...

neighborhood of

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 ...

, began his footballing career with Partizan's youth academy in 1978 where he played alongside the late Čava Dimitrijević and former Partizan head coach Vladimir Vermezović. Here he got the nickname of ''Kengur'', the

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of ...

word for

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

. He remained in Partizan's youth academy until 1985 when he signed with

FK Rad FK Rad () is a football club based in Banjica, Belgrade, Serbia. They compete in the Belgrade Zone League, the fourth tier of the national league system. Founded in 1958, the club spent a total of 30 seasons in the top flight between 1987 and 2 ...

who was then in the

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 ...

. Upon signing for Rad however, he was immediately released by Milan Živadinović.

Austria

After his departure from Rad, Branković did not play anywhere for two months until he arrived in Austria for a try-out with

First Vienna FC First Vienna FC is an Austrian football club based in the Döbling district of Vienna. Established on 22 August 1894, it is the country's oldest team and has played a notable role in the history of the game there. It is familiarly known to Aust ...

. The try-out was arranged by well-known Serbian sports commentator Vladanko Stojaković.Vladan Slavković, ''

Tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

'' (1992-05-06). "Issue #1367, pg. 7" (in Serbo-Croatian). First Vienna had just signed

Argentinian Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

great

Mario Kempes Mario Alberto Kempes Chiodi (, ; born 15 July 1954) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker or Attacking Midfielder, attacking midfielder. A prolific g ...

. Branković was signed (this being his first professional contract with a fully professional club) and formed a formidable tandem with Kempes. Branković even earned the nickname of the Serbian Mario Kempes due to their similar playing style and similar physique.

References

External links

*
Slobodan Branković
at

ÖFB The Austrian Football Association (; ÖFB) is the governing body of Association football, football in Austria. It organises the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austria national football team, as well as its Austria w ...

1963 births Living people Footballers from Belgrade Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers First Vienna FC players SKN St. Pölten players SK Vorwärts Steyr players Admira Wacker players Kremser SC players SV Wallern players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Austria Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Austria {{Serbia-footy-forward-stub