Stojanović (right) vies for the ball with the New York Cosmos' Werner Roth (left) in 1977 |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Momčilo Stojanović | ||
| Date of birth | 27 January 1947 | ||
| Place of birth | Lapovo, FPR Yugoslavia | ||
| Date of death | 18 November 2010 (aged 63) | ||
| Place of death | Toronto, Canada | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1966-1969 | Morava Velika Plana | ||
| 1969-1973 | Radnički Kragujevac | ||
| 1973-1974 | Vardar Skopje | ||
| 1974-1975 | Toronto White Eagles | 85 | (96) |
| 1976-1980 | Rochester Lancers | 115 | (51) |
| 1979-1980 | Hartford Hellions (indoor) | 9 | (1) |
| 1982 | San Diego Sockers (indoor) | 42 | (30) |
| 1982 | Golden Bay Earthquakes | 12 | (2) |
| National team | |||
| SR Serbia | |||
| 1980-1981 | Canada | 14 | (5) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Momčilo Stojanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Момчило Стојановић) (born January 27, 1947 in Lapovo, Serbia, then FPR Yugoslavia, died November 18, 2010 in Toronto, Canada[1]) was an NASL and Canadian international soccer forward. In English, he was referred to as Mike Stojanovic.
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Stojanović, nicknamed Stollie in North America and Stole in Serbia, played in all of Canada's games in 1980 and '81, a total of 14 times. He scored in three straight games in the autumn of 1981.
Stojanović was 33 years old when he won his first cap with Canada's senior team on 15 September 1980 in Vancouver, BC (a 4:0 win over New Zealand). He also played for Canada's World Cup Qualifying team in 1980-81 (Canada failed to qualify for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain by one goal). He scored a total of 5 goals in 14 caps for the Canadian National Team.
Stojanović was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Association Hall of Fame on June 6, 2009.
There were many occasions when he was just unbelievable. I remember a game against a team that was very tough in another city -- Ottawa. I don't know if we won 7-0 or 8-0, but he scored all of the goals. Believe me, we had some good players on the team that were capable, more than capable of scoring. But somehow it worked out that he got all of them. That's one of those things that is hard not to remember.
Before moving to North America, Stojanović was set to join OGC Nice but there were complications with the papers. A high scoring forward with the Rochester Lancers (1976–1980), Stojanović had 17 goals and 41 points to be the league's fourth leading scorer as a rookie in 1976. He was fifth best the following season with 14 goals and 33 total points. His most productive season was 1981 when finished third with 23 goals and 52 total points while playing for the San Diego Sockers (1981–1982) and was named the NASL Player Of The Year. Stojanović also played for the Golden Bay Earthquakes (1982). Stojanović is 9th on the All-Time NASL Top Scorers list with 83 goals in 179 appearances and 10th on the all time points list with 211, ahead of fellow NASL players George Best, Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer. Stojanović's final NASL season was 1982.
In Stojanović's career in his home land of Yugoslavia, he played for Radnički Kragujevac and FK Vardar which at that time were both part of the Yugoslav First League. It is said that he might have played for Red Star Belgrade, although if he played he didn´t play league matches with them.[3]
Stojanović also played for Serbian White Eagles FC, a club that played in the National Soccer League when Stojanović was there, but now competes in the Canadian Soccer League. Stojanović scored 96 goals in only two season including 52 in 1974 which was his first season with the club, and to this day is still a league record. In the early 1990s, Stojanović, aged 45, played for United Serbs FC based in Oshawa.