Vojvodina’s assistant coach from the 1988/89 season, in which the Old Lady won its second national title – Jovan Kovrlija, passed away yesterday in Novi Sad after a long and serious illness.
Jovan Kovrlija was born on January 20, 1942, and as a player he was a prominent member of Proleter from Zrenjanin and the Yugoslavian Olympic team.
After the end of his playing career, he devoted himself to a coaching profession, and at the end of 1979 he became a coach in the younger categories of FK Vojvodina, and shortly afterwards he was promoted to the first team coaching staff. As the closest associate of the Manager Tonko Vukušić, he participated in the return of Vojvodina to the First Federal League of Yugoslavia in the 1986/87 season, and two years later, with Ljupko Petrović and Josip Pirmajer, participated in achieving great success by winning the second national title in the history of the Old Lady. He was still building his coaching career in Greece, as well as in the domestic clubs Vrbas, Bečej and Zemun.
The funeral of the deceased will be held on Tuesday at 12:45 PM at Novo Groblje in Novi Sad, and the commemoration will be held on the same day at 11 AM in Congress hall of FC Vujadin Boškov in Veternik.
To the family of Jovan Kovrlija, his relatives, friends, former teammates and associates, as well as to all who knew him, Vojvodina Football Club expresses its sincere and deep compassion.
