Mitar Mrkela

Mitar Mrkela
Personal information
Full name	Mitar Mrkela
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team
1981–1983	OFK Beograd
1983–1990	Red Star Belgrade
1990–1992	FC Twente
1992–1993	Beşiktaş J.K.
1993–1994	SC Cambuur
International career
1982–1986	Yugoslavia
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mitar Mrkela (Serbian Cyrillic: Mитap Mpкeлa; born July 10 1965 in Belgrade) is a retired Serbian football player, who was a member of the Yugoslavian team that won the bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

Career

He started his senior pro career with OFK Beograd in 1981 at only 16 years and 16 days of age (at that time the youngest ever in the Yugoslav First League), before moving on to Red Star Belgrade in 1983 where he stayed until 1990. After appearing in one league game for Red Star in 1990/91 season, he transeferred to Dutch club Twente Enschede and stayed there for two seasons. He played several matches for Beşiktaş J.K. in the 1992-1993 season and scored 4 goals, before returning to the Netherlands with Cambuur Leeuwarden.

Mrkela holds distinction as the youngest player ever to play for SFR Yugoslavia national squad. He was only 17 years and 130 days old when he made his national team debut on November 17, 1982 during a Euro 1984 qualifier versus Bulgaria in Sofia. Head coach Todor Veselinović brought him on in the 17th minute in place of injured Zvonko Živković. However, despite a lot of early promise, Mrkela would go on to make only 4 more national team appearances, scoring 1 goal.

Post-football

For a time in early 2000s, Mrkela was the president of City of Belgrade Football Association. He then became the youth coach in the OFK Beograd system.

In July 2005, soon after Dragan Stojković took over the club president's job from Dragan Džajić, Mrkela became the director of Red Star Belgrade youth academy - a job up to that moment performed by Goran Đorović.

After leaving his post at Red Star in December 2008, he became the sporting director at OFK Beograd.

Personal

During the early 1990s Mrkela married actress Lidija Vukićević. The couple divorced in 2000. They have a son Andrej Mrkela, born in 1992, who is also a professional footballer and currently plays for Red Star Belgrade.

For a while, Mrkela was politically active in the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO).[1]

References

Template:Sr icon Profile on Serbian national football team website
http://www.zerodic.com/autor/fudbal_1945-1992/igraci/igraci_m.htm
Mitar Mrkela at National-Football-Teams.com
Mitar Mrkela – FIFA competition record (archived)
http://www.tff.org/Default.aspx?pageId=526&kisiId=24411

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