Dragan Džajić
Dragan Džajić (right) facing Sweden's Jan Olsson at the 1974 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Date of birth	30 May 1946 (1946-05-30) (age 63)
Place of birth	Ub, SFR Yugoslavia
Playing position	Winger
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1961–1975 1975–1977 1977–1978	Red Star Belgrade SC Bastia Red Star Belgrade	590 (287) 056 0(31) 025 00(5)
National team
1964–1978	SFR Yugoslavia	085 0(23)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Dragan Džajić (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Џајић) (born 30 May 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.

[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. He is considered one of the most important players in the history of the club and is one of only five players to have been awarded the Zvezdine zvezde.

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 17 June 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] He went on to score in the final against Italy but he could not prevent Yugoslavia going down 2-0 after a replay.

[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 5 February 2008, Dragan Džajić and two other former Red Star Belgrade officials Vladimir Cvetković and Miloš 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 Drulić'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. Džajić was released from prison 4 July 2008 and is now awaiting trial.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• UEFA.com - Serbia and Montenegro's Golden Player
• reprezentacija.rs - Serbian National Team Profile

v • d • e Yugoslavia squad – UEFA Euro 1968 Runners-up 1 Pantelić • 2 Fazlagić • 3 Damjanović • 4 Đorđević • 5 Paunović • 6 Holcer • 7 Petković • 8 Osim • 9 Musemić • 10 Belin • 11 Džajić • 12 Vukčević • 13 Dujković • 14 Aleksić • 15 Pavlović • 16 Aćimović • 17 Ramljak • 18 Mihajlović • 19 Brzić • 20 Antić • 21 Trivić • 22 Hošić • Coach: Mitić

v • d • e Yugoslavia squad – 1974 FIFA World Cup 1 Marić • 2 Buljan • 3 Hadžiabdić • 4 Mužinić • 5 Katalinski • 6 Bogićević • 7 Petković • 8 Oblak • 9 Šurjak • 10 Aćimović • 11 Džajić • 12 Jerković • 13 Pavlović • 14 Peruzović • 15 Dojčinovski • 16 Vladić • 17 Popivoda • 18 Karasi • 19 Bajević • 20 V. Petrović • 21 O. Petrović • 22 Mešković • Coach: Miljanić

v • d • e Yugoslavia squad – UEFA Euro 1976 Fourth Place 1 Petrović • 2 Buljan • 3 Hadžiabdić • 4 Mužinić • 5 Katalinski • 6 Šurjak • 7 Popivoda • 8 Oblak • 9 Aćimović • 10 Jerković • 11 Džajić • 12 Marić • 13 Halilhodžić • 14 Šljivo • 15 Vladić • 16 Vukotić • 17 Žungul • 20 Peruzović • Coach: Mladinić