Đuka Lovrić


Đuka Lovrić was a Yugoslav professional footballer. He fell in love with the game by watching his older brother, Bosnian footballer Franjo Lovrić, play. After the end of the war he joined newly-formed Sloboda with his brother and the two eventually joined FK Sarajevo which was formed a year later by the fusion of Sloboda and another Sarajevo-based side, Udarnik. He spent 9 years playing for FK Sarajevo during which time he earned 196 caps and scored 78 goals for the maroon-whites, earning him a call-up to the Yugoslavia national team for a friendly against England in Belgrade.
In the autumn of 1954 he became terminally ill and soon after had to retire from professional football at the age of 27. He played his last match for FK Sarajevo on 5 June 1955 against NK Zagreb.

Death

Lovrić died in Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia in 1957, at the age of just 30.