Full name Zeljko Durdic Name Zeljko Durdic | Years Team | |
Date of birth (1962-11-08)8 November 1962 Date of death 28 July 2014(2014-07-28) (aged 51) | ||
Željko Đurđić (Serbian Cyrillic: Жељко Ђурђић; 1962–2014) was a Serbian team handball goalkeeper.
Known locally by the nickname Džigi, he captained RK Proleter Zrenjanin to the 1990–91 European Handball Cup final where Proleter narrowly lost to Barcelona. He played 45 times for the Yugoslav national handball team.
Health issues
Falling out of the limelight after his retirement in 1996, his name began been appearing in Serbian language newspapers once again in November 2011. It was announced that Đurđić was living in poverty and was close to being bound to a wheelchair due to not being able to afford a knee operation in Novi Sad. German-based newspaper Vesti wrote about him and offered ways to help him collect the necessary 5,000€ for the operation.
Đurđić died in Zrenjanin on 28 July 2014 after a long battle with various illnesses.