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The Most Famous

SOCCER PLAYERS from Serbia

This page contains a list of the greatest Serbian Soccer Players. The pantheon dataset contains 16,880 Soccer Players, 210 of which were born in Serbia. This makes Serbia the birth place of the 14th most number of Soccer Players behind Russia and Belgium.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Serbian Soccer Players of all time. This list of famous Serbian Soccer Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Serbian Soccer Players.

1. Dragan Džajić (1946 - )

With an HPI of 61.54, Dragan Džajić is the most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 37 different languages on wikipedia.

Dragan Džajić (Serbian Cyrillic: Драган Џајић; born 30 May 1946) is a Serbian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Football Association of Serbia from 14 March 2023. Džajić is widely considered to be one of the best footballers to emerge from the former Yugoslavia, and one of the greatest left wingers of all time. Džajić was known for his crosses, passes, dribbling with great pace, natural technique and his left footed free kicks. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Serbia and Montenegro by the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.

2. Bora Milutinović (1944 - )

With an HPI of 61.51, Bora Milutinović is the 2nd most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Velibor "Bora" Milutinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager. He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record alongside Brazilian manager Carlos Alberto Parreira, but did so in five consecutive World Cups with different teams: Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), the United States (1994), Nigeria (1998), and China (2002). He is also the first manager to take four teams beyond the first round – all but China – earning the nickname of Miracle Worker, first given to him by Alan Rothenberg, then president of the United States Soccer Federation. In total Milutinović has managed eight national football teams.

3. Radomir Antić (1948 - 2020)

With an HPI of 58.45, Radomir Antić is the 3rd most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Radomir Antić (Serbian Cyrillic: Радомир Антић, pronounced [rǎdomiːr âːntitɕ]; 22 November 1948 – 6 April 2020) was a Serbian professional football manager and player. Following a 17-year playing career as a defender, most of which he spent playing at Partizan, with whom he won the Yugoslav First League, Antić moved into coaching. He was one of only two men to have managed both Barcelona and Real Madrid, long-time bitter rivals (the other one is Enrique Fernández Viola). With Atlético Madrid, Antić won the double, conquering both La Liga and the Copa del Rey in the 1995–96 season. He is the only man to have coached Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid.

4. Vujadin Boškov (1931 - 2014)

With an HPI of 57.46, Vujadin Boškov is the 4th most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Vujadin Boškov (Serbian Cyrillic: Вујадин Бошков, pronounced [ʋujǎdin bǒʃkoʋ]; 16 May 1931 – 27 April 2014) was a Serbian footballer and manager. A midfielder, he played 57 matches for the Yugoslavia national team. He experienced his greatest success as a coach in 1990, when he won the European Cup Winners' Cup with Sampdoria. He also reached the European Cup final in 1981 with Real Madrid and 1992 with Sampdoria. He also won the Yugoslav First League as technical director and the La Liga, the Copa del Rey twice, the Serie A and the Coppa Italia twice as a coach. Throughout his career as a football manager, he stood out both for his many successes, as well as due to his unique sense of humour and memorable ironic comments, which were used to dissolve tension during post-match interviews; these led him to become a popular figure with football fans during his time in Italy. FC Vujadin Boškov, Vojvodina's training facility in Veternik, was named after him in 1996 and in February 2022, he was posthumously admitted to the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

5. Rajko Mitić (1922 - 2008)

With an HPI of 56.58, Rajko Mitić is the 5th most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

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

6. Velibor Vasović (1939 - 2002)

With an HPI of 56.12, Velibor Vasović is the 6th most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Velibor Vasović (Serbian Cyrillic: Велибор Васовић; 3 October 1939 – 4 March 2002) was a Serbian footballer and manager, also one of the legendary players of Partizan Belgrade and Ajax and one of greatest defenders of his generation. A sweeper who could play in midfield, Vasović was renowned for his defensive positioning, never-say-die attitude and tactical awareness.

7. Todor Veselinović (1930 - 2017)

With an HPI of 54.69, Todor Veselinović is the 7th most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Todor "Toza" Veselinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Тодор "Тоза" Веселиновић, pronounced [tôdor ʋeselǐːnoʋitɕ]; 22 October 1930 – 17 May 2017) was a Serbian footballer and coach. He was one of the most renowned goalscorers in Yugoslavian history. He was the last surviving member of Yugoslavia's 1954 World Cup squad.

8. Miloš Milutinović (1933 - 2003)

With an HPI of 54.66, Miloš Milutinović is the 8th most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Miloš Milutinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Милош Милутиновић; 5 February 1933 – 28 January 2003) was a Serbian professional footballer and manager from Yugoslavia. Milutinović is regarded as one of the most talented players in his country's history, being nicknamed Plava čigra (The Blond Buzzer) for his skills.

9. Dejan Stanković (1978 - )

With an HPI of 54.18, Dejan Stanković is the 9th most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 53 different languages.

Dejan Stanković (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Станковић, Serbian pronunciation: [dějan stǎŋkoʋitɕ], born 11 September 1978) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He captained the Serbia national team from 2007 until 2011, when he announced his retirement from international football. He is currently the manager of Hungarian team Ferencváros. Stanković began his career at Red Star Belgrade before joining Lazio in 1998. He spent more than five years with the latter club before joining Inter Milan, where he remained until his retirement in 2013. Stanković is renowned for being the only man to represent three differently named nations at FIFA World Cups – Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia.

10. Danilo Popivoda (1947 - 2021)

With an HPI of 54.06, Danilo Popivoda is the 10th most famous Serbian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Danilo Popivoda (Serbian Cyrillic: Данило Попивода; 1 May 1947 – 9 September 2021) was a football player and manager. On the international level he played for the Yugoslavia national team (20 matches and five goals) and was a participant at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He also participated at the UEFA Euro 1976, where he scored a goal in a match against West Germany. His final international was a November 1977 World Cup qualification match against Spain. During the 1945–1990 period, Popivoda was among a handful of Slovenian players, along with Branko Oblak and Srečko Katanec, who managed to get into the Yugoslavia national team.

People

Pantheon has 210 people classified as soccer players born between 1906 and 2002. Of these 210, 171 (81.43%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living soccer players include Dragan Džajić, Bora Milutinović, and Dejan Stanković. The most famous deceased soccer players include Radomir Antić, Vujadin Boškov, and Rajko Mitić. As of April 2022, 28 new soccer players have been added to Pantheon including Danilo Popivoda, Dragan Pantelić, and Momčilo Vukotić.