Todor "Toza" Veselinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Тодор "Тоза" Веселиновић, pronounced [tôdor ʋeselǐːnoʋitɕ]; 22 October 1930 – 17 May 2017) was a Serbian footballer and coach. He was one of the most renowned goalscorers in Yugoslavian history. He was the last surviving member of Yugoslavia's 1954 World Cup squad.
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Todor Veselinović | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 22 October 1930 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Novi Sad, Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 17 May 2017 (aged 86) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Athens, Greece | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1948–1950 | Sloga Novi Sad | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1951–1952 | Vojvodina | 22 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| 1952–1953 | Partizan | 22 | (15) | ||||||||||||||
| 1953–1961 | Vojvodina | 170 | (123) | ||||||||||||||
| 1961–1962 | Sampdoria | 15 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 1962–1964 | First Vienna | 40 | (15) | ||||||||||||||
| 1964–1965 | Union SG | 10 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1965–1967 | Austria Klagenfurt | 49 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 1967–1968 | Proleter Zrenjanin | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 341 | (170) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1953–1961 | Yugoslavia | 37 | (28) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1968–1969 | Austria Klagenfurt | ||||||||||||||||
| 1969–1971 | Independiente Santa Fe | ||||||||||||||||
| 1972–1973 | Colombia | ||||||||||||||||
| 1974 | El Nacional | ||||||||||||||||
| 1974–1977 | Vojvodina | ||||||||||||||||
| 1977–1980 | Olympiacos | ||||||||||||||||
| 1981 | Levante | ||||||||||||||||
| 1982 | Millonarios | ||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1984 | Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1985 | Fenerbahçe | ||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1986 | Apollon Athens | ||||||||||||||||
| 1986 | Catanzaro | ||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1987 | Diagoras | ||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1988 | AEK Athens | ||||||||||||||||
| 1988–1990 | Fenerbahçe | ||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Gaziantepspor | ||||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Bakırköyspor | ||||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Karşıyaka | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Independiente Santa Fe | ||||||||||||||||
| 1997 | Fenerbahçe | ||||||||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Ethnikos Piraeus | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Career
editPlaying career
editAt international level, he won 37 caps and scored 28 goals. He played in the 1954 FIFA World Cup and 1958 FIFA World Cup, scoring three goals in the latter tournament. He played for several clubs in his homeland and abroad. He established himself as one of the best strikers in former Yugoslavia. He was the Yugoslav First League top scorer on four occasions. In total for Vojvodina, he scored 586 goals, including unofficial games.[1] He also won a silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics.[2][3]
Coaching career
editHe later began a coaching career and managed several clubs, including Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia, Olympiacos in Greece, and Fenerbahçe in Turkey. He won two Turkish league titles (1985 and 1989) with Fenerbahçe.
He also managed Yugoslavia at the finals of Euro 84 in France, where they lost all three of their games. Veselinović's time as Yugoslav manager was characterized by continuous tinkering and changing of his team selection. In two seasons at the helm, he used almost 60 players.
International goals
edit| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 28 March 1954 | Athens, Greece |  Greece |
1–0 | 1–0 | 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2. | 28 November 1956 | Melbourne, Australia |  United States |
1–0 | 9–1 | 1956 Summer Olympics |
| 3. | 8–1 | |||||
| 4. | 9–1 | |||||
| 5. | 4 December 1956 |  India |
2–1 | 4–1 | ||
| 6. | 11 June 1958 | Västerås, Sweden |  France |
2–1 | 3–2 | 1958 FIFA World Cup |
| 7. | 3–2 | |||||
| 8. | 15 June 1958 | Eskilstuna, Sweden |  Paraguay |
2–1 | 3–3 |
References
edit- ^ "Todor Veselinović: Kralj strelaca". fkvojvodina.com. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ^ "Todor Veselinović". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Todor Veselinović". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
External links
edit- Todor Veselinović – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Todor Veselinović at National-Football-Teams.com
- Todor Veselinović at Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian)
- Todor Veselinović at mackolik.com (in Turkish)
- Todor Veselinović at Olympics.com
