Dragan Holcer (19 January 1945 – 23 September 2015) was a Yugoslav footballer who played as a defender.[1]

Dragan Holcer
Personal information
Date of birth (1945-01-19)19 January 1945
Place of birth Zwiesel (Berggießhübel), Nazi Germany
Date of death 23 September 2015(2015-09-23) (aged 70)
Place of death Split, Croatia
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1963–1967 Radnički Niš 96 (8)
1967–1975 Hajduk Split 215 (0)
1975–1981 VfB Stuttgart 179 (2)
1981–1982 Schalke 04 12 (0)
Total 502 (10)
International career
1965–1974 Yugoslavia 52 (0)
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Yugoslavia
European Championship
Silver medal – second place 1968 Italy Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

edit

Holcer was born in captivity in a Nazi prison camp to Slovenian father Franc Holcer and Austrian mother Ida Orelli of mixed Austrian-Italian descent who lived in Niš.[2] His father fought in World War II as part of Yugoslav Partisans. His father was killed in battle while his pregnant mother was rounded up in Slovenia and imprisoned in Nazi Germany along with her three daughters. Shortly after the war ended his mother took the family to her hometown Niš in Serbia where Holcer grew up.

International career

edit

Holcer made his debut for Yugoslavia in a September 1965 World Cup qualification match away against Luxembourg and earned a total of 52 caps, scoring no goals. He was a participant at Euro 1968 and his final international was an April 1974 friendly match against the Soviet Union.[3]

Death

edit

Holcer, who was considered to be a legend of Hajduk Split,[4] died in Split on 23 September 2015, aged 70.[4]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Dragan Holcer". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Dragan Holcer kod Mosora: Dvojac Kirigin-Burazin bio je Hajdukovo blago" (in Croatian). slobodnadalmacija.hr. 5 February 2011. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Nakon teške bolesti preminuo Dragan Holcer > Slobodna Dalmacija > Hajduk". slobodnadalmacija.hr.
edit