Dragoslav Šekularac

Dragoslav Šekularac (Serbian Cyrillic Драгослав Шекуларац; * 8 November 1937 in Štip, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, now Macedonia; † 5 January 2019 in Belgrade) was a Yugoslav football player and coach. An attacking player, he was a long-time star of Red Star Belgrade and participated in two World Cups with the Yugoslav national team; at the 1960 European Championships as well as the 1956 Olympic football competition, he won the silver medal with the selection. After his time at Red Star and later as a coach, he worked for various clubs all over the world.

Šekularac, a member of the Roma minority, made his Yugoslav league debut at the age of 17 in March 1955, and just eighteen months later he was an international, as well as a Red Star regular and silver medallist at the Melbourne Olympics. He remained a Belgrade regular for a decade; with the national team he reached the semi-finals of the 1962 World Cup and the quarter-finals in 1958.

After his time at Red Star, the club included him in its list of the Stars of the (Red) Star, which to date consists of five players, and lists the Belgrade players who had a special influence on a period of the club. He is considered the first major media star of Yugoslav football; because of his popularity, the football film Seki snima, pazi se starring Šekularac was made in 1962, in which - like Beckenbauer on Libero a decade later - he essentially played himself.

After leaving Red Star, he played in Germany, the USA, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Colombia and France, but never stayed with one club for long.

During his coaching career, he has also worked all over the world and at various levels of the game; in addition to head coaching Red Star Belgrade (1989-90, Yugoslavian double), the Guatemalan national team (1984/85) and Club América (1990/91, CONCACAF Champions' Cup winner), he has also coached lower-ranked teams in Australia, Canada and South Korea.