DRAGAN DZAJIC | 55 YEARS OF A GOAL SCORED IN FLORENCE

It has been exactly 55 years since the famous match in Florence, when our National Team defeated England 1:0 and qualified for the final match of the European Championship. The man who decided a match was Dragan Džajić, the scorer of the winning goal in the 86th minute.

“It was a long time ago, but it is not forgotten” – says the President of the FA of Serbia in an interview for our website – “A goal and victory against the current World Champions is one of the greatest achievements in the history of Yugoslav football. I will remind you that we won the Federal Republic of Germany, the Runner-up of the last World Cup on the way to the final tournament in Italy.”

At the start of those qualifiers, Yugoslavia defeated the West Germany 1:0 with a goal scored by Josip Skoblar, then, two victories against Albania and a defeat in the last round of qualifiers in Hamburg against the first favorite in the group.

“There was a sensational result in Albania where the host team match against Germany ended as a draw and that result allowed us to win first place in the group. It was expected that we would have a tough job against France in the playoffs, almost after 1:1 on their pitch. Nevertheless, we played a fantastic game in the second leg, Petković made his debut with two goals, we won 5:0 and went to the final tournament.”

In the semi-final match, on 05.06.1968 in Florence, England was the big favorite.

“We were not total outsiders, but the entire World public was on the English side, which, two years after winning the World Cup, still had a phenomenal team. Bobby Charlton, Alan Ball, Roger Hunt, Bobby Moore… When you least expect it, you make the biggest success. We had a lot of bad luck at the beginning, Osim got injured and since there were no substitutions, he had to be a on the pitch until the end of the match. We played practically with 10 players and that makes our victory even more important.”

At that time, Yugoslavia was one of the few national teams in the World that had a positive score in matches against England.

“However, this match in Florence was the first competitive match and an immediate victory.”

The moment of decision came four minutes before the end of the regular time.

“The end of the match was approaching, and it is interesting that Musemić and myself switched positions in that attack. Usually, I would make a cross for him, but now he found himself on the left wing, he passed a high ball and I was convinced that Bobby Moore would easily clear it. If he was good at anything, it was the jump game and header. It happened that the ball was going over him, I was calm enough to receive it on my chest and beat Banks with my left foot. I don’t know whether it was the most beautiful goal in my career, but it is certainly my favorite, because it brought a huge success to Yugoslav football, and personal satisfaction and great popularity to me. After the goal in Florence, I started getting invitations to play for the World Team at various events. I kept the ball from that match, it was somehow logical that it should belong to me. I still keep it to this day.”