He pulled out a gun and shot him in the stomach: The day a policeman killed a Red Star legend after a game
Durkovic played for Red Star (Crvena Zvezda) Belgrade football club for 11 years, and was at one time named the best defender in the world
On this day, June 22, 1972, former Red Star football player Vladimir Durkovic tragically lost his life at the age of 34! It happened at the hands of a drunken Swiss policeman who attacked and shot him in front of a nightclub in Sion.
Recommended
After FIFA and UEFA, powerful Chinese company signs sponsorship agreement with Serbian Football Federation
Incredible scenes as Red Star fans march through Belgrade, drive on motorcycles celebrating trophy
The tragedy happened after a friendly match in which Durkovic, who was at the end of his career, played for Sion against Bastia. After being shot in the stomach for no reason, he ended up in the hospital and underwent surgery - but, unfortunately, did not manage to pull through!
Swiss media at the time wrote that a plainclothes policeman "wanted to take matters into his own hands," insulted Durkovic and another Sion player who was with him, who wanted to get into their car, pulled out a gun and shot at our right back.
Durkovic was transported to the hospital, but died two or three hours later. The news traveled all over the planet, and the policeman later stated that he did not know who his victim was and that he thought Durkovic was Italian. In the end, he received only seven years in prison, and the Swiss reported that it was because he was the son of a high-ranking brigadier.
Durkovic arrived in Red Star in 1955 from Napredak Krusevac. He won five Yugoslav championship titles, three Cups and the Mitropa Cup in 1958, and played in a total of 405 Red Star matches in all competitions.
He played as right back and at the World Cup in Chile in 1962, and was proclaimed by many journalists as the best player in the world in that position. Two years earlier, at the 1960 European Championships, Durkovic found himself in the competition's ideal team.
He played a total of 50 matches for the national team and won gold at the 1960 Olympic Games. From Red Star he went to Borussia Monchengladbach, where he remained for only one season.
In 1967 he moved to Saint-Etienne and in four years there won three French titles and two Cups, and played 116 matches for this team. He wanted to end his career in a team with less pressire to achieve top results. He chose Sion, which in the end turned out to be tragic.
(Telegraf.rs)