Description
Dragan Džajić (Ub, May 30, 1946), soccer player, sports official and the third star of Zvezda, is considered the best Yugoslav soccer player of all time. He started his career in 1962 in Crvena Zvezda (Red Star), for which he played until 1978, with the exception of two seasons he spent in Bastia (France). As a player, manager and president, he won a record 31 trophies at Red Star: 16 national championship titles, 12 national cup winners' trophies, the European Champions Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, as well as the Central European Cup.
He played 590 games for Red Star and scored 287 goals. He played for the Yugoslav national team 85 times and scored 23 times. He played for the world selection, in 1968 he took third place in the selection for Ballon d’Or (the Golden Ball), and in the same year he won a silver medal at the Cup of Nations of Europe, where Yugoslavia was defeated by Italy in the repeated match of the final. In the semi-final match of the same competition, Džajić scored a spectacular goal against the world champions, England – he tricked Wilson on the run, brought captain Moore to his knees in the penalty area and then lobbed goalkeeper Banks. He participated in the World Championship in 1974 in Germany. In 1969, he was chosen as the best sportsman of Yugoslavia in the "Sport" newspaper's selection.
Since 1979, he held a number of positions as a manager at the Red Star. As the sports director of the club, he selected the team that in 1991 achieved the greatest club success in the history of Serbian football by winning the European Champions Cup, with a victory over Olympique de Marseille, after a better penalty kick performance. In the same year, Red Star also won the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, with a triumph over the Kolo Kolo team from Chile.
Džajić served as the president of Red Star from 1998 to 2002, as well as from 2012 to 2014. In the history of soccer, he will be remembered as one of the best left wings in European soccer. Today, he is the honorary president of the Red Star soccer club.
Expert collaboration: FC Crvena Zvezda/Red Star Graphic design: Nadežda Skočajić, Academic Graphic Artist
