Đuka Lovrić

Đuka Lovrić

Personal information
Date of birth	(1927-08-23)23 August 1927
Place of birth	Sarajevo, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Date of death	20 February 1957(1957-02-20) (aged 29)
Place of death	Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1945–1946	Sloboda	19	(4)
1946–1955	FK Sarajevo	196	(78)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Đuka Lovrić (born 23 August 1927 in Sarajevo, Kingdom of Yugoslavia - died 20 February 1957 in Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia) was a Yugoslav professional footballer. He fell in love with the game by watching his older brother, Bosnian footballer Franjo Lovrić, play.[1]

Club career

After the end of the war he joined newly-formed Sloboda with his brother and the two eventually joined SD Torpedo which was formed a year later by the fusion of Sloboda and another Sarajevo-based side, Udarnik and later renamed FK Sarajevo.[1] He spent 9 years playing for FK Sarajevo during which time he earned 196 caps and scored 78 goals for the maroon-whites, earning him a call-up to the Yugoslavia national team for a friendly against England in Belgrade in 1954.[1] He did however not play.

In the autumn of 1954 he became terminally ill[2] and soon after had to retire from professional football at the age of 27. He played his last match for FK Sarajevo on 5 June 1955 against NK Zagreb.[3]

Death

Lovrić died in Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia in 1957, at the age of just 30.[3]

References

1. "Đuka Lovrić (1927-1957)" (in Bosnian). Fksinfo.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
2. "Prije 60 godina: Umro Đuka Lovrić, jedan od najboljih strijelaca FK Sarajevo" (in Bosnian). RadioSarajevo.ba. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
3. "Godišnjica smrti Đuke Lovrića" (in Bosnian). Historija.ba. Retrieved 12 August 2014.