Slaviša Kokeza
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Slaviša Kokeza | |
|---|---|
| Славиша Кокеза | |
 Kokeza in 2016 | |
| President of the Football Association of Serbia | |
| In office 20 May 2016 – 22 March 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Tomislav Karadžić |
| Succeeded by | Marko Pantelić (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 July 1977 |
| Party | SNS (2008–present) SRS (until 2008) |
| Occupation | Football executive, businessman |
Slaviša Kokeza (Serbian Cyrillic: Славиша Кокеза, pronounced [slǎʋiʃa kokêza, - kǒː-]; 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 (FSS).[1][2]
Kokeza was born on 7 July 1977 to a Bosnian Serb family in Sarajevo, at the time part of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and SFR Yugoslavia.
He started his football career in NK Čelik Zenica, playing in the youth teams in the period from 1985 to 1991. In the senior competition, he played for FK Brodarac from New Belgrade, and in this club he spent the period from 1999 to 2014 as a football player and as an official.[3]
Political involvement
He was a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS), and after the founding of the Serbian Progressive Party (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 SNS board.[4]
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, and general secretary, Aleksandar Vučić. 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.[5]
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".[3] The former president of the Democratic Party Bojan Pajtić stated that close associates of the then Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and Slaviša Kokeza, "established a monopoly over the IT market of Serbia".[6]
In July 2017, Eddie Bernice Johnson, a member of the United States Congress, urged Vice President Mike Pence not to meet Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, citing among other reasons the relations between President Vučić's brother, Andrej Vučić, and Russian 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, a member of the State Duma from President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.[7]