Dragan Mance (, ; 26 September 1962 – 3 September 1985) was a Serbian and Yugoslav

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker. He spent the majority of his career at Partizan, earning a legendary status among the club's supporters. Mance died in a car accident while traveling to a training session, at age 22.

Club career

Mance started out at his local club Galenika Zemun, joining them at the relatively late age of 15. He quickly showed his promising talent, making his senior debut in the

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

at the age of 17. In September 1980, Mance was transferred to Partizan in exchange for experienced striker

Slobodan Santrač Slobodan Santrač (, ; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a Serbian football manager and player. He is the all-time top scorer of the Yugoslav First League with a total of 218 goals, as well as the top scorer in the history of OFK Beograd. A ...

who moved in the opposite direction. Mance made his league debut for Partizan on 22 November 1980 in a 1–1 home draw with

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, coming on as a second-half substitute. He made five more league appearances until the end of the 1980–81 season. On 12 August 1981, Mance scored his first league goal for the club in a 1–0 home win over Radnički Niš. He finished the 1981–82 campaign with five goals in 21 league appearances. Mance was the team's leading scorer in the 1982–83 season, helping them win the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

after five years. He made 28 league appearances and scored eight goals in the following 1983–84 campaign. In 1984–85, Mance again finished as the club's top scorer. He is arguably best remembered for scoring a spectacular long-range goal away at

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in the first leg of the

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second round. Despite a 2–6 loss at

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

, Partizan progressed to the next round after defeating them 4–0 in the return leg at home. Mance scored the opening goal of the match that was placed 70th on the list of the "Top 100 Greatest Matches" by

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in 2009. In the summer of 1985, after much speculation, Mance signed a new four-year contract with Partizan which would keep him at the club until 1989. He eventually played his last match on 1 September 1985, scoring the team's second goal from the penalty spot to give Partizan a 2–1 home league win over Budućnost Titograd.

International career

At international level, Mance was capped four times for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. He made his national team debut on 23 April 1983 in a friendly against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, a 4–0 away loss. His last cap came in November of the same year in another friendly versus France, a 0–0

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draw.

Death

Mance died on 3 September 1985 in a car accident on the road while driving in his Peugeot 205 to the team's training session. He was buried at Belgrade New Cemetery. His funeral was attended by 30,000 people. Mance was survived by his parents, Ferdinand and Dušanka, and younger brother, Goran.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Partizan *

: 1982–83

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mance, Dragan 1962 births 1985 deaths People from Zemun Footballers from Belgrade Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Yugoslavia men's under-21 international footballers FK Zemun players FK Partizan players Yugoslav Second League players Yugoslav First League players Road incident deaths in Serbia Road incident deaths in Yugoslavia Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery