Svetozar Popović

Svetozar Kika Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Поповић; 6 February 1902 – 26 October 1985) was a Yugoslavia and Romania national football 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

He began his playing career while being a refugee in Rome, Italy, while the Kingdom of Serbia was fighting World War I. At the end of the war, he returned to Serbia and played with BSK Belgrade until 1925. Then, as an employee of the Commercial Bank Italia, he moved to Bucharest, Romania. While still a bank employee, he continued to play football by playing with Juventus Bucharest and Venus Bucharest. On 1 May 1925, he played one match for the Romania national team as Svetozar Popovici, against Turkey.

After retiring, he became a coach. He coached BSK Belgrade in their 1940 Mitropa Cup campaign. He coached on three occasions the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national football team between 1937 and 1941. He was technical director of BSK Belgrade and later worked in the direction of Red Star Belgrade, where he was one of the founders of the club.

Honours

BSK Belgrade

• Serbian Championship: 1919–20, 1920–21

Venus București

• Romanian Championship: 1928–29