Vladica Popović
Serbian footballer (1935–2020)
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Vladimir "Vladica" Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Владимир "Владица" Поповић; 17 March 1935 – 10 August 2020[1]) was a Serbian professional footballer[2] and manager. The biggest success in his coaching career was winning the Intercontinental Cup with Red Star Belgrade in 1991. He was the last surviving player from the Yugoslavia team in the 1958 World Cup.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Vladimir Popović | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 17 March 1935 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Zemun, Kingdom of Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 10 August 2020 (aged 85) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Belgrade, Serbia | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| Jedinstvo Zemun | |||||||||||||||||
| –1953 | Red Star Belgrade | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1953–1965 | Red Star Belgrade | 214 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 1965–1966 | VfB Stuttgart | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1966–1968 | Stuttgarter Kickers | 52 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1968–1969 | Canarias | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 268 | (10) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1956–1965 | Yugoslavia | 20 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| Deportivo Italia | |||||||||||||||||
| 1971–1972 | Independiente Santa Fe | ||||||||||||||||
| 1973 | Atlético Nacional | ||||||||||||||||
| 1974 | Deportivo Cali | ||||||||||||||||
| 1974–1975 | Portuguesa | ||||||||||||||||
| 1976–1977 | Napredak Kruševac | ||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1986 | Deportivo Cali | ||||||||||||||||
| 1988 | Trepča | ||||||||||||||||
| 1989 | Deportivo Cali | ||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Borac Banja Luka | ||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Red Star Belgrade | ||||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Peru | ||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Millonarios | ||||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Caracas | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Playing career
Born in Zemun, Popović started playing at local side Jedinstvo but his talent was spotted while he was still very young and giants Red Star Belgrade brought him to their youth team where he will later play for more than a decade becoming team captain and also regular member of the Yugoslavia national team.[3] He was part of the team that won the silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics.[4] He earned a total of 20 caps (no goals)[5] and his final international was a June 1965 World Cup qualification match away against Norway.[6]
Managerial career
Popović began coaching football in Venezuela in the 1970s, leading Portuguesa FC, Caracas F.C. and Deportivo Italia. He also managed Colombian sides Atlético Nacional, Deportivo Cali, and Millonarios as well as the Peru national football team.[7]
Honours
Player
Club
Red Star Belgrade
International
Yugoslavia
- Summer Olympics Second place: 1956
Manager
Independiente Santa Fe
Atlético Nacional
Deportivo Cali
Napredak Kruševac
- Yugoslav Second League (East): 1977–78
Red Star Belgrade