Dragan Džajić

Left Wing · Red Star Belgrade · Yugoslavia

PositionLeft Wing

ClubRed Star Belgrade

NationalityYugoslavia

Born30 May 1946

BirthplaceUb, Yugoslavia (now Serbia)

Height178 cm

Preferred footLeft

Active1963–1978

About Dragan Džajić

Dragan Džajić's story

The Goal

June 5, 1968. Florence (ITA). European Championship semi-final. Yugoslavia vs England. Sixty-first minute. Džajić received the ball on the left, cut inside, and struck a shot that gave Gordon Banks no chance. Yugoslavia won 1-0. They reached the final — losing to Italy in a replay. But Džajić's goal — eliminating England, who had won the World Cup two years earlier — stands as the single most significant goal scored by a Yugoslav player in international football history.

Red Star

Džajić played his entire 15-year career at Red Star Belgrade (SRB) — making 590 appearances and scoring 287 goals — both all-time records for the club. He was offered transfers to several top European clubs throughout his career; the Yugoslav football federation and Red Star prevented most of them, which was common practice for socialist-era clubs. He remains Red Star's most celebrated player, later returning as club president.

Golden Players

UEFA's 50 Golden Players selection for their 50th anniversary included one player from Yugoslavia — Džajić. The selection placed him alongside Pelé, Di Stéfano, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Platini, and other figures who defined the sport's history. It confirmed something his contemporaries had always maintained: that Džajić, playing for a federation that prevented him from reaching Europe's biggest clubs, was still considered one of the finest left-wingers the sport had produced.

Did you know?

• ⚽ He scored the goal that eliminated England from Euro 1968 — cutting in from the left to beat Gordon Banks — producing Yugoslavia's most famous international victory and their only European Championship final appearance.
• 🏠 He spent his entire career at Red Star Belgrade — 590 appearances, 287 goals — both club records — choosing loyalty over European transfers that the Yugoslav federation largely prevented anyway.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Married; has children. He settled in Serbia and became president of the Football Association of Serbia after his brilliant career with Red Star.
• 🎖️ UEFA named him one of their 50 Golden Players for their 50th anniversary — the only Yugoslav player selected — confirming his status as one of European football's finest post-war wingers.
• 🥇 He was named Europe's best left-winger five consecutive times — by European journalists — the most sustained individual award in the history of the position.
• 📊 He finished fifth in the 1968 Ballon d'Or — the highest placement ever achieved by a Yugoslav player — in a year when he had eliminated England and helped Yugoslavia reach the European Championship final.
• 🇷🇸 He is considered Yugoslavia's greatest footballer — by both fans and historians — a consensus that has survived the dissolution of Yugoslavia, with Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian football writers all accepting the designation.
• 💼 After his playing career, he became President of Red Star Belgrade — overseeing the club's administration as he had once defined its football — one of the most complete relationships between a player and a single club in football history.
• ⚡ His pace, left foot, and dribbling ability made him the most feared winger in Eastern European football of the late 1960s and early 1970s — a player who, had he moved to a major Western European club, would have been discussed as the finest of his generation.

Honours

• Yugoslav League x4: Red Star Belgrade
• Yugoslav Cup x4: Red Star Belgrade
• European Championship Runner-Up: Yugoslavia (1968)
• Europe's Best Left-Winger x5: Named by European journalists — the most consecutive awards by any Yugoslav player
• UEFA Golden Player: One of 50 selected for UEFA's 50th anniversary

More players

• Dejan Savićević