The Serbian coach who led the Grenat to the title in 1994 is gone.
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Ilija Petkovic on the left, with his assistant Michel Pont by his side in 1994.
Eric-Lafargue
Ilija Petkovic will leave a warm memory with all those who knew him, he died of a stomach problem at the age of 74 years.
He had arrived in Geneva in 1993 to replace Michel Renquin and train a Servette who had Pascolo, Aeby, Barea, Egli, Djurovski, Neuville, Anderson and Grassi in his ranks. Michel Pont was the assistant to this technician who led this great team to the title, one night in Bern, with a 4-1 victory over Young Boys in the last game of the season.
Ilija Petkovic, it was a smile. And superb expressions of simplicity, released with a strong and friendly accent. He summed up life like this: “Humor, love, football”. We forgave him everything, even when he was playing sorcerer’s apprentices by modifying his entire team at the last moment, on a whim or an inspiration: he had a smile for.
Sad news for the Servettian family, just before the Lucerne-Servette this Saturday (6:15 p.m.).
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