Who is Rajko Mitić

Rajko Mitić was a Serbian and Yugoslav footballer, later also a football coach, club official, and journalist, best known as the longtime captain of Red Star Belgrade. He was born on November 19, 1922, in the village of Dol, near Bela Palanka, and died on March 29, 2008, in Belgrade. He played 572 matches for Red Star and scored 262 goals, placing him among the club's absolute all-time greats. He was named the club's first "Zvezda's Star" ("Star of the Star"), an honorary title held to this day by only a handful of players in the club's history, and the largest stadium in Serbia now bears his name.

Early Life and Childhood

Rajko Mitić was born on November 19, 1922, in the village of Dol, near Bela Palanka, in what was then the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. His parents, Sofija and Vitomir Mitić, came from a modest village family. After Vitomir Mitić completed his military service, the family moved to Belgrade in search of a better life, where his father found work on the railway.Growing up in Belgrade, young Rajko spent his free time playing football on the meadows of the Košutnjak neighborhood. It was there that he fell in love with the sport and showed the first signs of the talent that would later carry him to the very top of Yugoslav football.

Education

Information about Rajko Mitić's formal schooling is not sufficiently publicly available to state details of its type or duration with certainty. It is known that he grew up in Belgrade, where, alongside whatever schooling he had, he developed his football talent on the fields of Košutnjak.

Beginning of His Career

Rajko Mitić's football journey began in 1937 at the club Košutnjak, which competed in Belgrade's lower leagues. His talent was quickly noticed, and by the summer of 1938 he had become a member of the youth team of BSK (Belgrade Sport Club), one of the leading clubs in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at the time.He got his first chance to play for BSK's senior team in mid-1940, in a friendly match against Zemun's Vitez. That debut remained especially dear to him, as he scored as many as five goals in the match. He played for BSK until the outbreak of the Second World War. The war years temporarily halted his sporting development, but from 1944, as a member of an engineering brigade of the Yugoslav Partisans, together with teammates Đajić and Jezerkić, he continued to play football even under wartime conditions.

Rise to Fame

When Red Star Belgrade was founded on March 4, 1945, Rajko Mitić immediately joined the new club, together with most of the players from the prewar BSK and Red Star traditions. At the new club, he quickly became a mainstay of the team and took over the captain's armband, which he wore for the following 14 seasons.He played in attack, most often in the right-wing position, though some sources also cite the position of inside right. He was known for his exceptional speed, stamina, precise passing, and powerful long-range shots. Although not a classic dribbler in the sense of flashy tricks, his play was marked by simplicity, efficiency, and sporting fair play, which earned him enormous respect from fans, teammates, and opponents alike.As captain of Red Star, Mitić led the team through the club's most significant moments during the 1950s, when Red Star grew into one of the absolute leaders of Yugoslav football. He played alongside footballers such as Vladimir Beara, Bora Kostić, and Branko Stanković, who defined that generation of the club.

Greatest Successes

Over his thirteen-year active career at Red Star, Rajko Mitić played 572 matches (220 league matches and 39 cup matches, according to data from the Football Association of Serbia) and scored 262 goals, placing him among the club's absolute all-time greats. As captain, he won the Yugoslav championship title five times — in 1951, 1953, 1956, 1957, and 1959 — and once, in 1946, the Serbian championship title.Red Star won the first of its five Yugoslav titles under dramatic circumstances, in a battle with Zagreb's Dinamo, which had a five-point lead with three rounds left in the season, only to lose the title in the end due to a worse goal-average. Besides the league titles, Mitić also won the Yugoslav Cup with Red Star four times — in 1948, 1949, 1950, and 1958.At the international level, he played 59 matches for Yugoslavia's national team and scored 32 goals between 1946 and 1957. He took part in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil and the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, and won two Olympic silver medals with the national team — at the 1948 London Olympics and the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.After his playing career, Mitić turned to coaching. He led Red Star's coaching staff for six years, and then served as head coach of the Yugoslav national football team for three years. His greatest success on the national team bench came in 1968 at the European Championship in Italy, where the team, led by Dragan Džajić, won the silver medal.

Private Life

Publicly available information about Rajko Mitić's private life is limited. It is known that he had a son, Nenad, and later a grandson who also bears the name Rajko. According to available media reports, the Mitić family remained connected to Red Star's legacy and to his native Bela Palanka even after his death.Besides football, Rajko Mitić's great passion was journalism. Already during his active playing career, from 1947 to 1967, he wrote regularly for the newspaper Sport, reporting even on matches in which he himself played. He later devoted himself fully to journalism, working at the magazine Tempo, where he remained active until 1983.Rajko Mitić died on March 29, 2008, in Belgrade, at the age of 86. Publicly available sources do not state a precise cause of death or place of burial, so, in the absence of reliable confirmation, this information cannot be stated with certainty.

Trivia

His teammates called Rajko Mitić "Majka" ("Mother") for his leadership and modesty in the locker room. Due to the communist system in Yugoslavia at the time, Mitić was once required to play four matches for archrival Partizan, when that club was on tour in the USSR, scoring two goals on that occasion. He was twice entrusted with assembling and leading a European All-Star team — once in Basel, and another time in Moscow, at the farewell match of Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin. Although not known for flashy dribbling, he was considered one of the fairest players of his era — he himself noted that he never protested to referees or injured an opponent. During his active career, he also worked as a journalist, reporting on matches in which he himself played. After retiring from active football in 1958, he remained a longtime club official at Red Star and served two terms as president of the club's Assembly.

Awards and Recognition

Rajko Mitić's greatest honor came posthumously, when in December 2014 Red Star's Assembly unanimously decided that the largest stadium in Serbia, until then known simply as Red Star Stadium, would bear his name — Rajko Mitić Stadium.A further tribute to his life and work is the monument erected in Bela Palanka in 2010, as well as a replica of that monument, ceremonially unveiled on November 19, 2017, in front of the west stand of the stadium in Belgrade, exactly on his birthday.

Legacy and Influence

Rajko Mitić's legacy in Serbian football remains unrivaled. As the club's first "Zvezda's Star," he represents a symbol of the values on which Red Star's identity was built — team spirit, fair play, and dedication to the club. Generations of footballers who came after him, from Bora Kostić and Dragoslav Šekularac to Dragan Džajić, have cited him as a model of sporting conduct, both on the pitch and off it.The fact that the largest football stadium in Serbia bears his name attests to the lasting influence he left not only on Red Star, but on Yugoslav and Serbian football as a whole. His contribution is also reflected in his later work — as a coach, national team manager, and journalist, through which he remained actively connected to football for decades after his playing career ended.

Biography — Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Rajko Mitić? Rajko Mitić was a Serbian and Yugoslav footballer, longtime captain of Red Star Belgrade and the Yugoslav national team, later also a football coach, club official, and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest legends in the history of Red Star.When was Rajko Mitić born? Rajko Mitić was born on November 19, 1922, in the village of Dol, near Bela Palanka.When and where did Rajko Mitić die? Rajko Mitić died on March 29, 2008, in Belgrade, at the age of 86.Why was Red Star's stadium named after Rajko Mitić? The stadium was officially renamed Rajko Mitić Stadium in 2014, in honor of his contribution to the club as its first "Zvezda's Star" and its longtime captain and official.How many matches did Rajko Mitić play for Red Star? Over his thirteen-year career, he played 572 matches for Red Star and scored 262 goals.Did Rajko Mitić play for the Yugoslav national team? Yes, he played 59 matches for Yugoslavia's national team and scored 32 goals, winning two Olympic silver medals with the team, in 1948 and 1952, and taking part in the 1950 and 1954 World Cups.Was Rajko Mitić also a coach? Yes, after his playing career he led Red Star's coaching staff, and later served as head coach of the Yugoslav national team, with whom he won silver at the 1968 European Championship.What did Rajko Mitić do besides football? Rajko Mitić was also active in sports journalism, writing for the newspapers Sport and Tempo both during and after his active playing career.Why was Rajko Mitić called "Majka"? His teammates called him "Majka" for his strong leadership qualities and the modesty he showed toward the team, both off the pitch and in the locker room.Who declared Rajko Mitić the first Zvezda's Star? Red Star, in recognition of his contribution to the club, declared him the first "Zvezda's Star" — an honorary title held to this day by only a handful of players in the club's history.

Conclusion

Rajko Mitić remains one of the most important figures in the history of Serbian football. From modest beginnings in the village of Dol, through his playing days at BSK and Red Star, to his roles as coach, national team manager, and journalist, he built a career that defined an entire era of Yugoslav football. As the first "Zvezda's Star" and the captain who led the club to numerous titles, he now has the largest stadium in Serbia named after him, and his life and work remain a lasting inspiration for the generations of footballers who came after him.