Svetozar Popović

SvetozarKika Popović (Serbian Cyrillic:Светозар Поповић; 6 February 1902 – 26 October 1985) was a Yugoslavia and Romania nationalfootball player and coach.

Svetozar Popović
Personal information
Date of birth	6 February 1902
Place of birth	Kragujevac,Kingdom of Serbia
Date of death	26 October 1985(1985-10-26) (aged 83)
Place of death	Belgrade,SFR Yugoslavia
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1918–1919	Soko Pro Roma
1919–1925	BSK Belgrade
1925–1927	Juventus București
1927–1929	Venus București
International career
1925	Romania	1	(0)
Managerial career
1937–1938	Yugoslavia
1939	Yugoslavia
1940–1941	Yugoslavia
1941	BSK Belgrade
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Biography

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He began his playing career while being a refugee inRome, Italy, while theKingdom of Serbia was fightingWorld War I. At the end of the war, he returned to Serbia and played withBSK Belgrade until 1925.^[1] Then, as an employee of the Commercial Bank Italia, he moved toBucharest, Romania. While still a bank employee, he continued to play football by playing withJuventus Bucharest andVenus Bucharest.^[2] On 1 May 1925, he played one match for theRomania national team asSvetozar Popovici,^[3] against Turkey.^[4]^[5]

After retiring, he became a coach. He coached BSK Belgrade in their1940 Mitropa Cup campaign.^[6] He coached on three occasions theKingdom of Yugoslavia national football team between 1937 and 1941. He was technical director ofBSK Belgrade and later worked in the direction ofRed Star Belgrade, where he was one of the founders of the club.^[2]^[7]