Dragoslav Šekularac

Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгослав Шекуларац, pronounced [drǎgoslaʋ ʃekulârats]; 8 November 1937 – 5 January 2019) was a Serbian professional footballer and coach. Nicknamed Šeki, he was quick and crafty with the ball, displaying creative skills which turned many heads. Possessing supreme self-confidence along with impeccable technical ability, he was one of the biggest showmen and crowd draws in the history of Yugoslav football. His enormous popularity throughout FPR Yugoslavia during the early 1960s transcended sports as he easily became one of the most recognizable individuals in the country.[1] As a coach, he led several clubs in Canada, Colombia, Australia, Serbia, Mexico, and Spain, as well as the Guatemala national team in the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Dragoslav Šekularac
Šekularac in November 2007
Personal information
Full name Dragoslav Šekularac
Date of birth (1937-11-08)8 November 1937
Place of birth Štip, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Date of death 5 January 2019(2019-01-05) (aged 81)
Place of death Belgrade, Serbia
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1951–1955 Red Star Belgrade
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1955–1966 Red Star Belgrade 375 (119)
1966–1967 Karlsruher SC 17 (2)
1967 St. Louis Stars 8 (1)
1968 OFK Belgrade 38 (5)
1969–1971 Santa Fe 32 (3)
1972 Atlético Bucaramanga 4 (1)
1973 Millonarios 23 (1)
1974 América de Cali 7 (0)
1975 Paris 9 (2)
1975 Serbian White Eagles
National team
1954–1956 Yugoslavia U20 8 (2)
1955–1956 Yugoslavia U21 2 (0)
1956–1966 Yugoslavia 41 (6)
Teams managed
1975 Serbian White Eagles (player-coach)
1978 New York Eagles
1984–1985 Guatemala
1986–1987 Footscray JUST
1989–1990 Red Star Belgrade
1990–1991 América
1992 Al Nassr Riyadh
1993 Heidelberg United
1994–1995 Marbella
1996 Busan Daewoo Royals
1997 Napredak Kruševac
1998–1999 Obilić
2006 Serbian White Eagles
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Šekularac is considered one of the most important players in the history of Red Star Belgrade: he is the second (and one of only five players) to have been awarded the Zvezdina zvezda status.[2]

Early life

Šekularac was born on 8 November 1937 in Štip, Vardar Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia to Montenegrin Serb father Bogosav from the village of Kurikuće, Berane Municipality (the Vasojevići region in northern Montenegro)[3] and Macedonian mother Donka (née Markovska).[4][5] His father was a lawyer whose job took him to Štip where he got married and started a family. Dragoslav was an infant when the family moved to Belgrade due to his father getting a job at the Ministry of Agriculture.[6]

Šekularac was born bowlegged, much like Garrincha, a footballer who he was later often compared to.[7]

He took up footballing very early, right after World War II ended, and came up through the Red Star Belgrade youth system.

Club career

Šekularac made his senior debut at only 17 years of age on 6 March 1955 during the latter part of Red Star's 1954–55 league campaign under head coach Milovan Ćirić. The youngster would record only one more league appearance by the end of that season.

However, the next season, 1955–56, signaled immediate breakthrough. In addition to securing a spot in the first team, he also became an integral part of the squad that won the Yugoslav league title in convincing fashion. He contributed to the cause with 7 goals in addition to many eye-catching midfield displays that would soon become a staple of his game.

By the start of the 1956–57 season, eighteen-year-old Šekularac had already made his senior national team debut. And, in November and December 1956 during the league's winter break, he represented FPR Yugoslavia at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Despite added pressures and responsibilities, he turned in another stellar league season helping Red Star to another title. He also played an important part in Red Star's European Champions' Cup campaign that ended at semi-final stage versus AC Fiorentina.

All the success led to coach Ćirić receiving and taking the S.S. Lazio head coaching offer position. In his place came Miša Pavić who previously mentored Šekularac in the club's youth setup. The season was not much of a success, however, either team-wise or for Šekularac individually. Increased opponents' defensive focus multiplied the number of hits and knocks he was forced to endure during games. He battled injury problems that caused him to miss almost half of the season as Red Star quickly fell out of title contention.

Though the next 1958–59 season brought continued injury issues, Šekularac, by now a bona fide star across the league, managed to lead his team to league-cup double, both at the expense of arch-rival FK Partizan. In 1959 after winning the league and cup double with Red Star, Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli spared no expense in order to bring 21-year-old Šekularac to Juventus. The transfer was reportedly stopped by the highest echelons of communist nomenclature in FPR Yugoslavia, with even the interior minister Aleksandar Ranković commenting that Šeki is needed in the country to "entertain the working class".[8]

Šekularac is also remembered as the perpetrator of an infamous on-pitch incident in fall 1962 when he assaulted referee Pavle Tumbas in the middle of a league match. He ended up serving a year and a half long suspension.

He ended up playing 375 official competitive matches (156 of those in the league) for Red Star and scoring over 119 goals (32 league goals).

He later played for Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia for five seasons, before transferring to Millonarios from Bogotá and ending his playing career in the German Bundesliga with Karlsruher SC.

International career

At only 18, he made his national team debut on 30 September 1956. He was on the national side that won the silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, and also participated in the World Cups of 1958 and 1962. He went on to make 41 senior international appearances, scoring 6 goals.

A highlight of his international career was the 1960 European Nations' Cup, where Šekularac earned the spot in the Team of the Tournament.[9] Forty years later, he reminisced on the matches:

"Do I remember that match? To this day, I dream about it. We had a great team that won over the French fans. Against the home side, I took part in one of the best games in the history of football. I was convinced that the trophy would be in our hands. Against the Russians, we've never had luck. It was like that in the final match as well. I remember that we missed a few goal chances and that the Russians at times during the match were totally inferior. That Ponedelnik however was without mercy. He scored on us and prevented us from celebrating our (potentially) biggest triumph."[10]

Playing style

He was quick and crafty with the ball, displaying creative skills which turned many heads. Possessing supreme self-confidence along with impeccable technical ability, he was one of the biggest showmen and crowd draws in the history of Yugoslav football. His enormous popularity throughout FPR Yugoslavia during the early 1960s transcended sports as he easily became one of the most recognizable individuals in the country.

In addition to the swelling of praise and accolades for his skills, he also attracted criticism over lack of team play and overall attitude on the pitch that some found to be disrespectful to the game.[11] Others point to his lack of effectiveness and a seeming disproportion between his talent and his overall career statistics.[12]

Coaching career

Serbian White Eagles FC
Šekularac as coach of Serbian White Eagles in 2006

In February 2006, prior to the start of the 2006 Canadian Soccer League season, it was announced that Šekularac would become head coach of the expansion Serbian White Eagles, re-founded in February of the same year, with first assistant being Stevan Mojsilović.[13] This would be Šekularac’s second stint with the White Eagles having already played for and coached them in the past. With seasoned internationals being brought over from Serbia and the rest of Europe, the team was set.[13]

The stint, though short-lived, was not without success. The club was a hit in its first season, finishing first in the International Conference with 55 points and first overall (tallying both conferences). In the regular season, Šeki guided the club to 17 wins, 1 loss and 4 ties with a whopping goal differential of 66:13.[14]

The Eagles advanced to the knockout-stage, easily beating Toronto Supra Portuguese in the quarterfinals with a score of 3-0 and also easily beating the Windsor Border Stars in the semifinal 6-1. The fairy-tale season was almost brought to a Cinderella end but the Serbian White Eagles lost to the Italia Shooters in the final by a score of 1-0.[14]

Personal life

Šekularac had a son named Marko and three daughters named Aleksandra (nicknamed Sanja), Ivana and Katja.[13] He had a younger brother named Mirko (born 1941) who was also a footballer.[15]

Along with Serbian, English and Spanish, Šekularac also spoke conversational Portuguese.[16]

Šekularac was a keen chess player. At the age of 81, only weeks before his death, he drew his game in a simultaneous exhibition against Anatoly Karpov in Valjevo.[17]

  • Šekularac was probably the first sports superstar in Yugoslavia whose fame transcended sporting bounds. The popularity he enjoyed during his playing heyday was such that he even starred in a 1962 full-length comedy feature Šeki snima, pazi se – a football-related movie built around his public persona.
  • In 2006, a biography of Šekularac titled Čovek za sva vremena (The All-Time Man) by Dušan Popović was published in Belgrade
  • In 2011, Šekularac (along with Serbian sports journalist Jovo Vuković) wrote an autobiography titled Ja, Šeki (I, Šeki). The book was also published in Belgrade.

Death and legacy

Šekularac died on 5 January 2019 in Belgrade, Serbia.[18] He is interred in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens in the Belgrade New Cemetery next to the grave of actor Božidar Stošić and across the graves of Ranko Žeravica and Branislav Pokrajac.[19]

The Serbian White Eagles Academy was posthumously named in his honour.[20]

Honours

Player

Club

Red Star Belgrade

Independiente Santa Fe

International

Yugoslavia

Manager

Red Star Belgrade

Yugoslav First League: 1989-90

Heidelberg United

Serbian White Eagles

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References
  1. Vuković, Jovo (2011). Ja, Šeki (in Serbian). Serbia: IP Beograd. p. 21. ISBN 978-86-84057-37-4.
  2. Večernje novosti (21 January 2019). "Nije dozvoljavao da ga zovu deda" (in Serbian). Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  3. Ekspres (24 February 2018). "Ispovest, Dragoslav Šekularac: Lik iz romana" (in Serbian). Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  4. "LEGENDA DVA PUTA ROĐENA: Dragoslav Šekularac proslavio 158. rođendan!". Kurir (in Serbian). 1 December 2016. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  5. Bezobrazluk se čitao u očima! Archived 10 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine; Plavi vjesnik, April–May 1968
  6. Džajić nije najbolji Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine; Glas javnosti, 13 January 2006
  7. Večernje novosti (26 July 2003). "Uvek nekako naopačke" (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  8. Srpski fudbal od Montevidea do Dejana Stankovića; Press, 26 December 2010
  9. "EURO 1960 team of the tournament". uefa.com. UEFA. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  10. Vesti (16 May 2000). "Vesti spezial magazine, pg. 13" (in Serbian). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. Prvoslav Vujčić, Urban Book Circle (1 May 2006). "Get out of here, I am Sekularac by Prvoslav Vujcic". Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  14. Djuradj Vujcic (18 October 2006). "Najbolji kanadski fudbalski klub i prvi srpski, profesionalni, fudbalski klub u dijaspori" (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  15. Espreso.rs (27 January 2016). "Jača su dvojica nego jedan..." (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  16. Serbian White Eagles (5 October 2006). "Serbian White Eagles 2006 CSL Quarterfinal". Archived from the original on 31 July 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  17. ""PRE 10 DANA JE IZVUKAO REMI PROTIV KARPOVA" Vlade Đurović o velikom Šekularcu: Bio je vedar, ali fizički slab, maltene smo ga nosili..." blic.rs (in Serbian). 5 January 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  18. "Otišla je druga Zvezdina zvezda – preminuo Dragoslav Šekularac". b92.net (in Serbian). 5 January 2019. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  19. Večernje novosti (10 January 2019). "ŠEKI U ALEJI BESMRTNIH: Šekularac sahranjen na Novom groblju" (in Serbian). Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  20. Alo.rs (13 January 2019). "Šeki, ovo je tebi u čast!" (in Serbian). Retrieved 12 February 2019.

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