Full name Zelimir Vidovic Role Footballer | Name Zelimir Vidovic Years Team | |
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Date of birth (1953-11-17)17 November 1953 Date of death 17 May 1992(1992-05-17) (aged 38) Place of death Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Died May 17, 1992, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina | ||
Zaboravljeni heroji odbrane elimir vidovi keli
Želimir Vidović - Keli (17 November 1953 – 17 May 1992) was a Bosnian footballer and a star member of FK Sarajevo during the 1970s and early 1980s. He was killed during the Siege of Sarajevo while transporting wounded citizens of Dobrinja to a nearby hospital.
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Career
Vidović joined FK Sarajevo in the summer of 1974 from local Sarajevo side FK Bosna. He played his first game for the maroon-whites on 14 August of the same year, and would go on to compete in 29 ties during his first season with the club. He spent nine years at the Koševo stadium, and was a pivotal member of the squad that played a large role in the 1980-81 UEFA Cup and reached the final of the Yugoslav Cup. In 1983 he joined Austrian side GAK, whom he represented for a further 6 seasons, before retiring from professional football in 1989. He earned his first cap for Yugoslavia on 1 February 1977 in a friendly against Mexico, which Yugoslavia won 5-1. On 22 March 1980 he earned his second cap in a 2-1 victory over Uruguay.
Death
On 17 May 1992, with the Siege of Sarajevo already underway, Vidović who was an ethnic Serb, took part in a volunteer operation to help transport civilians, wounded by Serb forces, to a nearby hospital in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Dobrinja. After the convoy was stopped at a Serb military checkpoint, he was taken away by soldiers and all traces of him disappeared for 4 years. In 1996 his remains were discovered in a shallow mass grave along with the remains of three other people. On 5 June 2004 his remains were buried in Sarajevo, along with an FK Sarajevo jersey.
Legacy
An annual tournament in his honour has been organized since 2004. A street in the neighbourhood of Dobrinja carries his name. The FK Sarajevo Training Centre is named after him.