Article by Aurelian Botezatu, Bogdan Fechita – published Tuesday, September 30, 2025, 12:13 / Updated Tuesday, September 30, 2025 12:20
“My wife and I have been unemployed for years, we try everything to hire somewhere, we would work just to win the bread, the only income we have is my mother -in -law Marija, who amounts to 140 euros a month.
Ivan Budincevic became a champion of Yugoslavia in the 1978/1979 season, while he was a goalkeeper in Hajduk, passed to Olimija Ljubljana and steeply ended his career at Dinamo Vankovci, after a serious injury, just 33 years old.
The clubs remained his debt, but he did not see the money, so he returned to his hometown, in the north of Serbia, where he lives extremely difficult and modest today, notes Sportal.rs. Hajduk's supporters have never forgotten the one considered teammates as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe and have collected money several times to help them.
“After I was a professional footballer, a commercial agent, after I worked in duty-free stores, I was a waiter, I trained goalkeepers at the Bačka Club in Subotica, at the end of spring, summer and early autumn, I earn some money working in agriculture: SAP, AR, Sow, Plant, I collect, I work on farmers, effectively as a daily worker. I do not have medical insurance, I do not even register for the employment office. There is no point. I am a carpenter, but there is no work that I do not do, ”explains Budincevic.
Ivan Budincevic. Photo: YouTube
“They all forgot me, I die of hunger, without a penny and without savings.”
“Everything you hear about me is true. Everyone has forgotten me, and I almost die of hunger! I am without income and without savings. I must say immediately that it is a social problem, not a national one.
My wife, Ruža, and we are unemployed for years, we try everything to hire somewhere, we would work just to win the bread. The only income we have is the pension of my mother -in -law, which amounts to 140 euros per month. This is what we live in, for now, without any prospect of improving the situation. I'm waiting for spring to earn a few money. But I'm old, it's hard to work. It hurts me, and his wife became ill, he had a heart attack, he has two stents ”, revealed the Croatian originally from Vojvodina.
The former goalkeeper says that more clubs are still due. “Many clubs have been due to me, I did not know how to fight for my rights. I do not mean Hajduk, who paid me everything until the last cent, but I owe Olimija Ljubljana and Dinamo Vinkovci, the current Cibalia. Both clubs, together, about 50,000 German marks since then.
Ivan Budincevic: Photo: Printskrin/ Jutjub
“He was among the five best goalkeepers in Europe.”
Srećko Lušić, a former teammate and coach, remembered how Ivan Budincevic's career was concluded:
“I remember he started for a long ball, a player failed to jump and hit his knee in his head. Unfortunately, on that occasion, Buda suffered a serious injury, finished his career. Sin, he was a top goalkeeper. At that time, the best in Yugoslavia, Among the best five goalkeepers in Europe in those years, ”he stressed.
