From Stankovic to Kolarov, World Football Legends from Serbia

11-12-2023

Sports have always played an important role in Serbian culture. We can name football, basketball, tennis, volleyball, handball and water polo as the most popular sports in Serbia, with football being number 1 on the list. For several decades now, Serbian football has been producing literally thousands of brilliant players whose names and careers have crossed their country’s borders and become well known to every football fan in the world. In recent times and with the development of online sports betting, these players have also triggered an additional interest on foreign clubs and leagues to fans in Serbia who want to combine keeping up with their countrymen’s careers and achievements abroad with a little extra excitement, by placing bets on the games of the clubs their boys play for. As a result, most Serbs would equally perform their search on the web for the best football news websites as they would for the best betting shops or online kladionice u Srbiji, as they are called in the local language.

There are very few other things that Serbs would take so much national pride on, than their football and football players. Even in older times, when all European Leagues used to enforce strict rules about the number of foreign players allowed to play in each team, the Serbian players would always find their way into top European clubs that would select them to fill the limited openings for non-domestic players.

From the moment Blagoje Marjanović opened the road to professional footballers in Serbia in the 1930’s, there has been no turning back. Let us just mention a few dazzling names from the 20th century. Although he never played for a non-domestic club in his entire career, Dragan Džajić is still revered and considered by many the best football player that ever arose from his country and one of the best left wingers in football history. The first ever foreign footballer to play for Paris Saint-Germain was the Belgrade-born Živko Lukić. The first foreign captain in Ajax’s history was also a Serb, Velibor Vasović. When the Soviet legend, Lev Yashin - named the goalkeeper of the 20th Century by the IFFHS - was asked who he thought was the best number one on the planet, he did not hesitate to answer: Vladimir Beara, the Zelovo-born Serb goalkeeper. And the names go on and on.

In recent years, most restrictions no longer exist so Serbia has kept on producing and exporting football stars. Dejan Stankovic became a legend playing in Serie A for fifteen consecutive years, during which he claimed 6 Serie A, one Champions League and one World Cup titles. Siniša Mihajlović also played for fifteen consecutive years in Serie A and, apart from the league titles he has won, he still holds the all-time record for most goals from free-kick in the league. Branislav Ivanovic had a record 105 caps with his national team while playing for Lokomotiv Moscow, Chelsea and Zenit St. Petersburg. Dusan Vlahovic moved from Fiorentina to Juventus for £70.5 million, the second ever most expensive transfer from one Italian club to another. The list of players and achievements is endless, as is the lista kladionica that have been offering odds and bets concerning these players and their clubs.

Serbian footballers play from neighboring Albania to exotic Mongolia. Current stars include, among others, Sergej Milinković-Savić, Dušan Tadić, Nemanja Matić, Aleksandar Mitrović. But nowadays, thanks to modern technology, everybody is able to follow these great players in every game they play and every step they take. Footballers from Serbia draw as much interest as many international stars from all sports do. News and odds concerning Leo Messi, Le Bron James, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods or Usain Bolt are equally sought after as those concerning famous Serbian footballers. Hence, najbollje kladionice can do no other but always make sure they provide the best betting suggestions for them in order to keep fans at home happy. It looks like they will keep on doing so for long as Serbia will definitely not cease to produce football legends as it has done for so many decades.