Vladimir Cvetković, a famous basketball player and one of the creators of Red Star's greatest football success, has died.

Vladimir Cvetković, a legend of Yugoslav basketball and long-time general secretary of the Red Star football club, has passed away at the age of 85.

The popular Cvele will be remembered as an elegant player under the hoop, but also as one of the creators of the greatest successes of the Belgrade football club, with which he achieved the title of European and world champion as an official.

He passed away on St. George's Day - the unofficial day of celebration for the club with which he made history.

Great successes with the national team

He spent his entire playing career, from 1959 to 1972, at Red Star. With the club, he won two Yugoslav championship titles (1969 and 1972) and one national cup (1971), and was the team's top scorer for nine seasons.

He left an equally deep mark on the Yugoslav national team, for which he played 149 games and scored 1276 points. He was a key member of the generation that won four silver medals at major competitions: the 1963 and 1967 World Championships, the 1969 European Championship, and the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico.

It was in Mexico that he made history in Yugoslav basketball when, in the semi-final match against the Soviet Union, he coolly hit the crucial free throws for a historic victory and a place in the finals.

One of the creators of the European champion

After his playing career, Cvetković, as a graduate economist, began a second, equally successful career as a sports official. He left his deepest mark as the general secretary of the Red Star Football Club, a position he held for 18 years, from 1983 to 2001.

Together with Dragan Džajić, he is considered to be the one most responsible for creating the team that became European and world champions in 1991. His modern approach to management turned Red Star into a European giant, and during his tenure the club won 18 trophies.