Article by Djuradj Vujcic
The Serbian White Eagles Academy has been getting some attention in Serbia lately with two standout players: Kristijan Belic and Stefan Mitrovic.
Kristijan Belic (born on March 25, 2001) spent some time as a young child in the Serbian White Eagles Academy when his father Dusan played (and briefly coached) our club in 2006 and 2007. Kristijan – who then went on to play for the youth academies of OFK Beograd, renowned London club West Ham United and Greek side Olympiacos – signed for Serbian giant FK Partizan on July 11, 2022. Partizan head coach Gordan Petric has compared his playing style to Italian legend Gennaro Gattuso.
Stefan Mitrovic (born on August 15, 2002) also spent some time as a young child in the Serbian White Eagles Academy (Mitrovic was born in the Serbian city of Krusevac and moved to Hamilton, Ontario when he was six months old). Mitrovic would go on to play for a number of youth academies in Ontario including Hamilton Serbians, Givova Academy, Hamilton United, Empire Niagara Academy and the Toronto FC Academy. In 2018 and 2019, he played with Hamilton City 1 in the Canadian Soccer League (coached by Sasa Vukovic) where he scored seven goals in twelve matches. He would go on to play for Serbian SuperLiga side Radnicki Nis and he signed for Serbian giant Red Star Belgrade on July 18, 2022. Mitrovic debuted for the Serbian national senior side in a match against Sweden on September 24, 2022.
Another fun fact is that until recently, Mitrovic’s agent was former Serbian White Eagles player and head coach Zoran Rajovic. Never a dull day in the world of sports trivia.