Retirement. Soon after lifting the Cup of European Champions
Velibor Vasovic ended his illustious career. Born in Pozarevac, Yugoslavia in 1939, he debuted for Partizan (Belgrade) 18-years and quickly established himself as a key defender and big part of very talented generation of the club.
Two years after his debut, he played his first match for the national team of Yugoslavia. However, he was no stranger to controversy, embiterring the fans of Yugoslavian archrivals: in the summer of 1963 he moved to Crvena zvezda and 6 months later moved back to Partizan. Transfers between Partizan and Crvena zvezda were and are rare and disliked by fans: usually players moving from their original club to the enemy are considered traitors – and in less than a year Vasovic betrayed both clubs. The scandal loomed quickly, Vasovic got death threats, including one from army officer, promissing to kill him during a match with a sniper rifle. There were organized fan protests and high-ranking officials were heavily involved in the saga. Vasovic’s motivation was money – he openly offered himself to whoever will pay more: at first Crvena zvezda gave him about 5 million Yugoslavian dinnars. Six months later Partizan gave him more to move back to them – and he did. Crvena zvezda refused to transfer him and Vasovic was out of the game – after sitting out, he was instructed by Partizan’s vice-president to meet the Federal Interior Secretary of Yugoslavia and beg him to resolve the situation. He managed to organize a meeting with FI Secretary and although nothing was promissed, he was able to return to Partizan a few months later – in exchange for another Partizan;s star , desired by Crvena zvezda. The saga made him not exactly welcome in Partizan – both fans and players saw his stunt as blackmail for money, forcing two clubs to accommodate his greed. Meantime Partizan was divided by internal struggle between the club’s president and its general-secretary. This further divided the team – now two sides, each supporting one of the bosses fought. Vasovic supported the president, but 3 big stars were leading the opposition and after the general-secretary was dismissed they started a mutiny – half of the team refused to travel for a championship game in Skopje, including the coach. The scandal reached to top of the political leadership of Yugoslavia and Josip Broz Tito solved the problems by dismissing and moving to another parts of the country the officers involved (Partizan was the Army club, thus governed by high-ranking officers) and appointing civilian club president. Curiously, all that did not affect the quality of the team and paricularly Vasovic.
Crvena zvezda in 1963: standing from left: Stipić, Durković, Škrbić, Stojanović, Prljinčević, Melić. Crouching: B. Mitić, Čop, Kostić, D. Popović, Vasović.
Vasovic played only 13 games for Crvena zvezda, paired with their star central defender Cop. After sitting on the bench for months, he moved back to Partizan. This time, despite the scandals, football was priority: Partizan had very strong team in the first half of the 1960s and their regular titles culminated internationally – in 1966 they reached the European Champions Cup final.
The Champions Cup finalists, standing from left:Fahrudin Jusufi, Mane Bajić, Ivan Čurković, Milan Galić, Mustafa Hasanagić. Crouching: Ljubomir Mihajlović, Velibor Vasović, Branko Rašović, Radoslav Bečejac, Vladica Kovačević, Josip Pirmajer.
Partizan lost the final to Real Madrid 1-2, but Vasovic scored the goal for Partizan, actually opening a lead in the 55th minute. Real managed to equalize in the 70th minute. Vasovic was paired with Mihajlovic in the center of defence. And top form propelled Mihajlovic to the national team just when, ironically, Vasovic was exiting it: Mihajlovic played his first match for Yugoslavia in 1966 – Vasovic played his last match that same year.
Yugoslavia in June1966 vs West Germany. From left: Stjepan Lamza, Spasoje Samardžić, Žika Jevtić, Dragan Gugleta, Vojislav Melić, Josip Skoblar, Stevan Sekereš, Vinko Kuci, Slaven Zambata, Ilija Pantelić, Velibor Vasović.
Vasovic captained the team, but this was his farewell – and not fault this time: he transferred to Ajax (Amsterdam) and foreign-based players were not called to the national team. He played 32 matches, scoring 2 goals, for Yugoslavia between 1961 and 1966. Now, 27-years old he was starting a new and even bigger adventure.
Rinus Michels watched the Real-Partizan final and Vasovic impressed him. He needed classy defender, able to attack – aggressive and even arrogant defender with skills and experience, capable to read and organize the game. Vasovic was apaprently just that what Michels needed for his vision of total football and Vasovic was more than keen to such a concept. Michels quickly paired him with 19-years old Barry Hulshoff and the due clicked immediately. Vasovic qiuckly became the mentor for the talented squad, for most of the future great stars were still very young, Johan Cruijff included. The Yugoslav fittted perfectly and was big part of the ascent of Ajax. In 1969 the Dutch reached the Champions Cup final for the first time and met Milan. The team was still young and far from perfect and the Italians were at their peak – Ajax lost 1-4.
Vasovic (outside the picture) scored Ajax’s goal. 2 goals in 2 finals – not bad for a defender (although by 1969 he was playing more like a libero than traditional sweeper).
By 1971 he was captaining Ajax and seemingly at the end of his days in Holland – it was rumored that he will be returning to Partizan. But not without a triumph:
He captained Ajax at the Champions Cup final against Panathinaikos and at his third attempt won the cup.
The picture of the Champions Cup winners is too well known, so this one – the squad is the same. Cruijff next to Vasovic, close enough but in secondary position to his captain. Others of this team will become better known and memorized, yet, without the contribution of Velibor Vasovic they would not be that famous. And Vasovic left… not just Ajax, but football. He retired just on time: glorious winner. One may say he called it a day prematurely – he was 32 and fit, surely could have played a few years more… but it was not common knowledge that he had asthma and played top-level football 13 years, suffering from it. Perhaps his condition played a role in his retirement, but no matter the reason the timing was perfect: on top of the world, ending as a winner. And he was the only defender scoring 2 goals at the finals until 2016, when Sergio Ramos scored his second goal.
Velibor Vasovic ended his career with total of 286 games and 23 goals: 128/10 for Partizan in his two stints, 13/0 for Crvena zvezda, and 145/13 for Ajax. Even if he played more years for Partizan, he may be considered true Ajax player. After retiring he returned to Partizan – starting his coaching career (which will bring him again to Crvena zvezda, but that’s another story). Vasovic finished with 8 championship titles (4 with Partizan, 1 with Crvena zvezda, 3 with Ajax), 3 cups (with Ajax), and European Champions Cup. He was the foreign captain of Ajax.
Standing from left: 
Taj (Tehran) was the first champion of Iran.
Maccabi (Tel-Aviv) returned home with the Asian trophy – their second and last. Politics gravely affected the Asian competitions and soon Israel will be banned from participating just like South Africa in Africa. The Asian Champions’ Cup was cancelled in 1972, when some clubs withrew for financial reasons and Racing (Beirut) refused to play because of Maccabi (Natanya) presence – with that the Asian Champions’ Cup vanished until 1986.
First African Champions’ Cup for Canon (Yaounde) and second for Cameroon. Scandalous final, but Canon was awarded.
The heroes one by one. Only the French paid attention to the unknown African players – among them the great Jean Manga-Onguene. The centre-forward never moved to European club.
2.CD Saprissa 30 20 3 7 63-33 43
Alajuelense – champion.
Toronto Metros 24 5 9 10 32 47 89 .395 5,993
Washington Darts 24 8 10 6 36 34 111 .541 3,262
Atlanta defeated New York 0-1 (OT), 2-0
Atlanta Chiefs finished second.
Dallas Tornado was the 1971 NASL champion.
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2 
6 
7 
14 
San Luis (Potosi) won the championship and got promotion to the top level. 
1. Toluca 34 14 15 5 38 21 43 1.81 (playoffs)
3. Zacatepec 34 14 10 10 39 37 38 1.05
4. Cruz Azul 34 11 15 8 39 39 37 1.00 [Ciudad Cooperativa]
6. Necaxa 34 10 11 13 44 39 31 1.13 [Ciudad de México]
7. Irapuato 34 8 13 13 34 53 29 0.64
8. Laguna 34 10 8 16 37 47 28 0.79 [Torreón]
9. Atlas 34 5 12 17 32 48 22 0.67 (relegation playoffs) [Guadalajara]
1. América 34 17 10 7 56 33 44 1.70 (playoffs) [Ciudad de México]
2. Monterrey 34 15 10 9 46 37 40 1.24
3. León 34 14 10 10 50 41 38 1.22
6. Puebla 34 11 10 13 43 49 32 0.88
8. Guadalajara 34 11 8 15 34 44 30 0.77
9. Pachuca 34 11 7 16 38 46 29 0.83 (relegation playoffs)
Toluca ended with silver medals.
Champion: AMÉRICA
Relegated: Atlas