Aleksandar Tirnanić
Aleksandar Tirnanić, nicknamed Tirke, was a Serbian football player and manager. He was born on 15 July 1910 in Krnjevo and died on 13 December 1992 in Belgrade. He played as a winger and spent most of his club career with BSK Belgrade, where he became a standout star. He also played for SK Jugoslavija, BASK, Jedinstvo Belgrade, and Sloga Belgrade.
Tirnanić earned 50 caps for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and scored 12 goals between 1929 and 1940. He played in the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, and on the day before his 20th birthday he scored a goal, briefly making him the youngest World Cup goalscorer in history.
As a coach, Tirnanić led Yugoslavia as a co-manager in 1946–1948 and again from 1952–1961. He guided the team at the 1954 and 1958 World Cups, and at the 1960 European Championship, where Yugoslavia finished second. He also oversaw Olympic teams, with Yugoslavia winning gold in 1960 in Rome. In the 1935 Balkan Cup, he was one of the top scorers and helped Yugoslavia win the tournament.
Tirnanić’s legacy continues in popular culture; he was portrayed by Miloš Biković in the films Montevideo, God Bless You! (2010) and See You in Montevideo (2014).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:38 (CET).