Dragoljub "Dragan" Simić (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгољуб Симић; born 14 August 1951) is a former Yugoslav and Bosnian footballer who spent the majority of his playing career with FK Sarajevo.^[1]

Club career

He made his debut for Sarajevo's first team in May 1969 in Zrenjanin. He played in the halfback position, and after the 1969–70 season, made 17 appearances in all competitions. By the next season, he became irreplaceable in his position. Although he was only 19 years old, he was one of Sarajevo's best players in the 1970–71 season, making a total of 27 appearances and scoring 7 goals. Great games in Sarajevo's jersey earned him a call-up to the Yugoslavia under-21 team, for which he played six times.^[2]

He achieved his greatest success with Sarajevo in the summer of 1972 when he won the Champions Summer League.^[3] During the seventies, in tandem with Edhem Šljivo, he formed the backbone of the midfield of the team from Koševo, and in the 1976–77 season, he was named club captain.^[4] He wore the maroon jersey with the number eight on his back until the summer of 1979, when he moved to Primera division club Real Burgos CF. After a year in Spain, he left for the US, where he performed for the Los Angeles Aztecs and the New York Arrows, before retiring in 1985.^[5]

During his ten-year stay at Koševo, Simić made 245 official appearances for Sarajevo and scored 36 goals. He scored most of his goals in matches against the strongest Yugoslav teams. Two goals against Sarajevo's city rival Željezničar in a great victory of 5:0, in the fall of 1976, were especially remembered, as well as the fact that he scored six goals in matches against Red Star Belgrade, which is why only Asim Ferhatović Hase was more effective than him against the Belgrade outfit.^[6]

References