Dragan Džajić
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| Dragan Džajić | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | May 30, 1946 | |
| Place of birth |  Ub, SFR Yugoslavia |
|
| Playing position | Retired Winger | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1961-1975 1975-1977 1977–1978 |
Red Star Belgrade SC Bastia Red Star Belgrade |
590 (287) 80 (31) ? (?) |
| National team | ||
| 1964-1979 | SFR Yugoslavia |
85 (23) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Dragan Džajić (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Џајић) (born May 30, 1946 in Ub, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia) is widely considered to be one of the best football players in Serbia's and the former Yugoslavia's and the best outside left wingers in soccer's history well known for his great crosses and passes, unstoppable dribbling with great pace, natural technique and some of the best left footed free kicks ever. Considered by many as one of the most underrated players in European football partly because he played in Yugoslavia.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Playing
Džajić's professional career (1961-1978) was spent primarily with Red Star Belgrade, for whom he scored 287 goals in 590 games. From 1975 to 1977 he played for SC Bastia in France (finding the net another 31 times). Džajić was just 18 when he was first named to the Yugoslav national team. He made his debut on June 17, 1964 against Romania and would go on to earn 85 caps (the most in the history of the Yugoslav national team) and score 23 goals.
Few who saw the left-winger play could ever forget Džajić's brilliant play. He achieved international renown for his passing and dribbling as well as his goal-scoring. His most famous international match was likely the 1968 European Championship semifinal against England, in which his 85th-minute lob over goalkeeper Gordon Banks gave Yugoslavia a 1-0 victory against the defending world champion. The British press dubbed him "the magic Dragan," and Pelé was moved to say: "Džajić is the Balkan miracle – a real wizard. I'm just sorry he's not Brazilian because I've never seen such a natural footballer." [1]
[edit] Administrative
Džajić retired as a player in 1978, at age 32. In 1979 he returned to his club, serving as Red Star's technical director and then, from 1998, as the club's president - a position he resigned from in 2004 due to "health issues."
In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Serbia and Montenegro by the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [2]
[edit] Arrest
On Feb 5 2008 - Dragan Džajić and two other former Red Star Belgrade officials Vladimir Cvetković and Milos Marinković got arrested for alleged fraud and abuse of power. "In the period between 4 July 2001 and 15 March 2002, the three Red Star officials concluded a deal stipulating the club was to get DM27 million from the transfer of Goran Drulić to Real Zaragoza. They then opened a bank account in Drulic's name without his knowledge and transferred the Spanish club's payment for the player in the amount of DM12 million (€6,127,104.24) to Red Star's account. After doing that, they illegally made several withdrawals by using Drulić's forged signature." says Serbian newspapers.
[edit] External links
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Zvezdine zvezde (Stars of Red Star Belgrade)
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