Vladica_Popović
Vladica Popović
Serbian footballer (1935–2020)
Vladimir "Vladica" Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Владимир "Владица" Поповић; 17 March 1935 – 10 August 2020[1]) was a Serbian professional footballer[2] and manager. The biggest success in his coaching career was winning the Intercontinental Cup with Red Star Belgrade in 1991.
Born in Zemun, Popović started playing at local side Jedinstvo but his talent was spotted while he was still very young and giants Red Star Belgrade brought him to their youth team where he will later play for more than a decade becoming team captain and also regular member of the Yugoslavia national team.[3] He was part of the team that won the silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics.[4]
Popović began coaching football in Venezuela in the 1970s, leading Portuguesa FC, Caracas F.C. and Deportivo Italia. He also managed Colombian sides Deportivo Cali and Millonarios as well as the Peru national football team.[5]