Mitar Mrkela facts for kids
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mitar Mrkela | |||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 10 July 1965 | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Winger | |||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
| 1981–1983 | OFK Beograd | 45 | (4) | |||||||||||||
| 1983–1990 | Red Star Belgrade | 154 | (30) | |||||||||||||
| 1990–1992 | Twente | 61 | (10) | |||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Beşiktaş | 23 | (4) | |||||||||||||
| 1993–1994 | Cambuur | 18 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| Total | 301 | (50) | ||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1986 | Yugoslavia | 5 | (1) | |||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||
Mitar Mrkela, born on July 10, 1965, is a former football player from Serbia. He was a talented winger. He played for the Yugoslavian national team. His team won a bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics. This big event took place in Los Angeles, USA.
Contents
Playing Football: A Young Start
Mitar Mrkela began his professional football journey very early. He joined OFK Beograd in 1981. He was only 16 years and 16 days old. At that time, he was the youngest player ever in the Yugoslav First League.
Playing for Top Clubs
In 1983, Mrkela moved to Red Star Belgrade. He played there until 1990. After a short time in the 1990-91 season, he moved to the Netherlands. He joined the Dutch club FC Twente and played there for two seasons. Later, he played for Beşiktaş in Turkey during the 1992-1993 season. He scored 4 goals for them. After that, he returned to the Netherlands to play for SC Cambuur.
Playing for His Country
Mitar Mrkela also holds a special record for his national team. He was the youngest player ever to play for the SFR Yugoslavia national squad. He was only 17 years and 130 days old when he first played for his country. This happened on November 17, 1982. It was a qualifying match for the Euro 1984 tournament against Bulgaria in Sofia. Even though he started very young, he played only 5 matches for the national team and scored 1 goal.
After Football: New Roles
After his playing career, Mitar Mrkela stayed involved in football. In the early 2000s, he was the president of the City of Belgrade Football Association. He then became a youth coach for OFK Beograd.
Working with Red Star Belgrade
In July 2005, Mrkela became the director of the Red Star Belgrade youth academy. He helped train young players for the club. He left this role in December 2008. After that, he became the sporting director at OFK Beograd.
Personal Life
Mitar Mrkela has two sons from his first marriage to actress Lidija Vukićević. Their son Andrej, born in 1992, also became a professional footballer. Their second son, David, was born in 1997. Mitar Mrkela later had another son, Dušan, born in 2013, with his second wife, Olgica. For a period, Mrkela was also involved in politics.
