Today, a commemoration was held in the inner circle of former teammates and friends and veteran members of FK Vojvodina in honor of Vladimir Rakić, former player of the Old Lady.
First of all, the president of the Veterans’ Section of FK Vojvodina, Miladin Purać, addressed the attendees, and revealed how his football journey went.
– He arrived in Vojvodina in the summer of 1966, after the Old Lady won the first championship title, and he made his debut on the American tour against Mexican Cruz de Azul in a 5-0 victory. Rakić was a standard member of the Vojvodina team that reached the quarterfinals of the European Champions Cup in 1967. He played for Voša until the summer of 1969, he played 48 official matches, while including friendly matches he played around 150 matches.
In the Vojvodina jersey, he scored goals against his big rivals, Partizan, Dinamo and Ḫajduk, and he often said that it was a great honor for him to wear the white and red jersey, in a team where half of the team also wore the national team members, and the sports director was a great Vujadin Boškov.
Except for Vojvodina, as a boy he started in Slavija, and then he played for FK Novi Sad, where he went through all the younger categories, and later he went from the ranks of the Old Lady to Sloboda from Tuzla. He also finished his career at FK Novi Sad, and hung up his football boots in 1976. On behalf of the Veterans Section of FK Vojvodina, we express our sincere condolences to friends and family – said Miladin Purać.
His former teammate and great friend Stevica Maksimović is proud to have known Vladimir Rakić.
– I am Vladimir Rakić’s generation, we were born and grew up in the same area of Podbara and started football together in pioneers of Slavija and later moved to FK Novi Sad. His career was on the rise, he played in that anthology game against Celtic, the first under the spotlight at the Karađorđe stadium, which Voša won 1-0 and unfortunately lost 0-2 in the second leg. After Vojvodina, he went to Sloboda, I was present when the president of Dinamo Zagreb convinced him to move to that club, but his love for his mother and his current wife Mira made him stay here, and later go to Tuzla, which was wrong step. Injuries followed and the end of his career upon his return to Novi Sad. Later, he worked as a coach, mainly in youth teams, and also in lower league football in Novi Sad and the surrounding area. We were an unforgettable team, there were six of us in the company, and with his departure I am now the only one left – said his teammate and friend Stevica Maksimović.
In the end, former teammate from Vojvodina Vasa Pušibrk addressed the audience.
– I had the honor of being his teammate in the golden period of Vojvodina. I knew him very well, regardless of the rivalry and while he was in Novi Sad, I think it was a healthy rivalry. He spent three years in Vojvodina, which is no small amount and left a deep mark. Everything we experienced through that sport made us stronger. He was modest and withdrawn and did not want any publicity. When we tried to help him, he wouldn’t even listen, he was just like that. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to hang out with him and to be teammates – said Vasa Pušibrk.
