IN MEMORIAM | SINIŠA MIHAJLOVIĆ

Sad news for Serbian football, the region, Europe, and the football world – Siniša Mihajlović passed away. Football lost too soon his majesty, champion of Europe and the world, one of the best performers of free kicks in the history of football, player, coach and National Coach, a man who left a deep mark in the history of Serbian and Italian football with his career.

Siniša won many battles in his life, won numerous trophies, it seemed that he would win the most important one against a serious illness, but hope died. He died when we thought that with his strength, charisma, and optimism he would be able to defeat the malignant disease for the second time. Sadly, the football world is in tears now, yet Sinisa would not like those tears to be seen. Champions don’t die.

Siniša Mihajlović was born in 1969 in Vukovar. In the summer of 1988, he arrived to Vojvodina as one of the most talented players from Yugoslavia. He immediately became a standard first-team player, and Vojvodina won the title of national champion with him in the team, for which it had been waiting for 23 long years. In December 1990, he moved to Crvena Zvezda, in one of the biggest transfers in the history of domestic football. There he joined the now legends of the club, Dejan Savićević, Stevan Stojanović, Vladimir Jugović, Darko Pančev, Refik Šabanadžović, Robert Prosinečki, Miodrag Belodedić… Together they conquered Europe and the world. Crvena zvezda fans remember his goal against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup, as well as the goal he scored in the penalty shootout of the final in Bari, against Olympique de Marseille. He also shone in Tokyo in the Intercontinental Cup match against the Chilean CSD Colo Colo.

In 1994, he went to Italy, then the strongest league in the world, where he left a huge, indelible mark in the jersey of Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio, and Inter. He won the championship of Italy with Lazio and Inter, with both clubs he won the national cup and the Supercup twice, and with the Roman club he also won the Cup Winners’ Cup, as well as the UEFA Super Cup.

Siniša Mihajlović played for the youth national team of Yugoslavia, with which he won second place in Europe in 1990. He made his debut with the best national team in 1991 and played 63 games, scoring ten goals. He participated in the World Championship in France in 1998 and the European Championship two years later in Belgium and the Netherlands.

He ended his playing career with a farewell match in Novi Sad on May 28, 2007. He will be remembered as a great champion, the “golden left”, as one of the best free kick takers in the world. He and Giuseppe Signori are the only players in Serie A history to score three goals in one match from free kicks. Siniša Mihajlović holds the record, together with Andrea Pirlo, for the number of goals scored in Serie A from free kicks (28). Mihajlović became an honorary citizen of Bologna in 2019.

After his career playing career, he devoted to coaching. As an assistant coach he won two titles with Inter, and then independently managed Catania, Fiorentina, Bologna (twice), Sampdoria, Milan, Turin…and was the coach of the Serbian national team. Aleksandar Mitrović, Dušan Tadić, Filip Đuričić, Andrija Živković… these are all players who were launched into the best national team by Siniša Mihajlović. In 2019, he won the Golden Ball of the Football Association of Serbia.

The Football Association of Serbia expresses its deepest condolences to the family of Sinisa Mihajlović. Be eternal glory and praise to Siniša.