Milan Rajlić

Who was Milan Rajlić?

Milan Rajlić was a Bosnian footballer.

Probably the best known player in the city of Sarajevo during the 1930s and 1940s, he started playing football at Slavija Sarajevo youth system in 1933. He played more than 150 games for the club and scored 65 goals. In 1940 his good form at Slavija earned him a call up to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national team.

In 1941, World War II came to Sarajevo and in 1945 he continued to play football in Belgrade with SK Jugoslavija and later joining Sloga in 1943 in the Serbian League. Since FK Slavija got dissolved by the new communist authorities after the war, Rajlić got assigned to FK Željezničar. He was a player and a coach at the same time from 1945 to 1947. He appeared in 18 league matches for Željo, scoring 5 goals.

In 1947, he was ordered by communist authorities to join newly founded FK Sarajevo for which he played until 1949. In total he turned out in 18 league matches and scored 11 goals for the club.

Not satisfied with being constantly moved around by authorities in Sarajevo, Rajlić relocated to Kraljevo that same year, joining FK Sloga Kraljevo. He died in 1952 at the age of 35. Before the Yugoslav wars, Sloga Kraljevo used to organize an annual tournament named after Milan Rajlić. Regular participants were Sloga, Sarajevo and Željezničar, all of them his former clubs.