Svetozar ''Kika'' Popović (; 6 February 1902 – 26 October 1985) was a Yugoslavia and Romania national
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 and coach.
Biography
He began his playing career while being a refugee in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, Italy, while the
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...
was fighting
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. At the end of the war, he returned to Serbia and played with
BSK Belgrade until 1925. Then, as an employee of the Commercial Bank Italia, he moved to
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
, Romania. While still a bank employee, he continued to play football by playing with
Juventus Bucharest and
Venus Bucharest.
["Bsk - Jugoslavija, Sećanja Na Prvi Beogradski Večiti Derbi"](_blank)
by Živko M. Bojanić, pag. 183 On 1 May 1925, he played one match for the
Romania national team as ''Svetozar Popovici'', against Turkey.
After retiring, he became a coach. He coached BSK Belgrade in their
1940 Mitropa Cup campaign. He coached on three occasions the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia national football team between 1937 and 1941. He was technical director of
BSK Belgrade and later worked in the direction of
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 ...
, where he was one of the founders of the club.
vesti-online.com
Honours
;BSK Belgrade
* Serbian Championship: 1919–20, 1920–21
;Venus București
* Romanian Championship: 1928–29
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popovic, Svetozar
1902 births
1985 deaths
Footballers from Kragujevac
Men's association football defenders
Serbian men's footballers
Yugoslav men's footballers
Romanian men's footballers
Romania men's international footballers
OFK Beograd players
FC Petrolul Ploiești players
FC Venus București players
Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Yugoslav football managers
Yugoslavia national football team managers
OFK Beograd managers
Red Star Belgrade non-playing staff
20th-century Romanian sportsmen