Rajko Mitic

Rajko Mitić (Serbian Cyrillic: Рајко Митић, pronounced [rǎːjko mǐːtitɕ]; 19 November 1922 – 29 March 2008) was a Serbian footballer, coach, executive and journalist.

Mitić is considered one of the most important players in the history of Red Star Belgrade as he is the first out of only five players to have been awarded the Zvezdina zvezda. In December 2014, Red Star Stadium, the principal stadium in Serbia, was officially renamed after him.

For Yugoslavia, Mitić won 59 caps (in which he was captain 34 times), and scored 32 goals.[1] He scored his first goal for the national team in his debut on 9 May 1946 in Prague, when Yugoslavia outplayed Czechoslovakia 2–0. In his national team career, he scored three hat-tricks. The first against Denmark in 1950 (the final score being 5–1), the second against India in 1952 (10–1), and finally in Belgrade against Wales (5–2) in 1953.

He often said that he never missed a chance to remind himself of his favourite goal in the national team uniform, against England in Belgrade, in 1954. Yugoslavia won 1–0 as Mitić scored the decisive goal in the dying minutes of the match.

He took part in two Olympic tournaments: London 1948 and Helsinki 1952, where he captained the Yugoslavia squad that included many notable players of that era. He earned the silver medal both times. There were two dramatic matches against the Soviet Union (in the second of which Mitić scored the first goal, and paved the way for an important 3–1 win). He also took part in two World Cups (Brazil 1950 and Switzerland 1954), but none of these were pleasant. Before the match against Brazil at the Maracanã in Rio, while he was entering the pitch from the tunnel, he lifted his head suddenly and hit a medal lid. Due to the large cut and bleeding, he was forced to ask for medical attention and couldn’t play the first 20 minutes of the match, so he didn’t see Ademir’s goal in the 3rd minute and wasn’t aware of Brazil’s lead until he was informed of it by his teammates during halftime. Since, in those days, there were no substitutions, the team was handicapped and finally lost the match 2–0. He celebrated his 50th match with the national team during the 1954 World Cup against West Germany (who went on to become World Champion), but lost 2–0. He played his last match for the national team on 29 November 1957, in Bucharest against Romania, as a 35-year-old striker. The final score of the match was 1–1.