Personal archive
MARA ARRIVED: Kiticeva with her daughter on the beach in Italy
Svetlana Kitić is officially the best handball player of all time. Ceca Nacionale was a member of the most trophy-winning team in the history of our handball, Radnički from the Red Cross. With the “Crusaders”, she won the Champions Cup in 1980 and 1984, and in 1986 the Cup Winners’ Cup.
Ceca entered the immortals back in 1988, when the IHF declared her the best player in the world that year. Born in Tuzla, she won a gold medal with the Yugoslav national team at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and four years earlier, as a 20-year-old, she won silver at the Olympics in Moscow.
She played until the age of 49 and won 21 club titles in her rich career, and in addition to medals from the Games, she won silver with the national team at the World Cup in South Korea, gold and bronze at the Junior World Championships. She played 202 games for the national team and scored over 900 goals.
The period before her was not easy. The loss of custody over his son Dragan and the inability to go to Hypobank for a lucrative figure, broke Ceca. She locked herself in the apartment, in herself…
She grieved for a while, and then she decided to end it. She got up, called a friend who had previously offered her a contract in Germany, had several phone conversations and very quickly signed a one-year contract with the German second division team. She came to Buxtehude for 60,000 marks, much less than what the Austrians offered her.
Transfer to Buxtehude
Already at the airport in Frankfurt, it was clear that an interesting period awaited her there. Her future teammates were waiting for her. Everything! They made a circle around her and sang a song of theirs loudly. The audience fell in love with the first ball. She was their “Sesa”. The coach also relied completely on her, and her teammates blindly followed her. They looked at her as God. Until then, the lower-class and unnoticed Buxtehude almost did not enter the First League, and Kitićeva became the top scorer of the championship.
That fall, she set out with the Yugoslav national team to win a qualifying tournament in Bulgaria. Although she was angry and hurt because of the attitude of the RSJ towards her, she knelt before the requests of numerous people from the world of handball and responded to the invitation to the national team.
– I was hurt by what happened, but I couldn’t turn down so many people. After all, the love for the jersey with the state coat of arms was stronger than anything, and it is clear that only love guided me through life – Ceca emphasized during her visit to the “Vesti” editorial office.
She joined the preparations of the national team later – with her new boyfriend, Goran. At that time, the young expert, Dragan Nišavić, was in trouble – should he allow Ceca to stay in the preparations with her boyfriend? The teammates were clear – “yes”. Along with Kitić, the handball players of Yugoslavia won a place at the Games in Seoul.
Another marriage, then Italy
From friendship love was born. She started for Ceca in 1988 – by marriage. She crowned her relationship with pop and sports manager Goran Bogunović with marriage. It was great in Germany, until Svetlana Bogunović became pregnant. For the new contract, they asked the club for a guarantee that they would start training a month after the birth. Not only that, but, frightened by the pregnancy, they forgot about the financial conditions from the contract and proposed changes.
– They will condition me – she snapped, packed her things and went to Italy.
The story of the transition to the “boot” is very interesting. Although they never watched her live, people from Kirmed heard about Ceca and invited her to Sassari, Sardinia. Although she was in the eighth month of pregnancy, when they signed the contract, they offered her excellent conditions. Finally, after a long time, Svetlana realized the feeling of happiness. The last Olympic Games in which Yugoslavia participated followed. Everyone was hoping for gold in Seoul in 1988, and a cold shower came in its place – fourth place. For a year in a row, the handball players won everything in a row, and then stumbled, due to, as they said, an unprecedented scandal… Politika journalist Zoran Popović found himself in front of the locker room at halftime and announced what had happened: selector Nišević was in an emotional relationship with one our national team member, but what’s worse than that, in the halftime of the duel with the Norwegians, he slapped the same girl because of a mistake in the defense! Although the “blues” were superior, they had an advantage of four differences at half time, everything was broken with a slap. Victory meant gold, draw silver, defeat with a goal difference bronze, and the Yugoslavs lost 20:15!
SPECIAL LOVE: Mara in the arms of Aunt Gordana
Mara was born
Ceca “skipped” Seoul, because in November, by caesarean section, she gave birth to a daughter, Mara:
– At the second birth, I returned to the field after only 17 days. The Italians were shocked. They asked me if it was a custom in our country to come back so quickly, it was not clear to them what was happening, and I just wanted to repay them for what they gave me.
Svetlana lived in a fairy tale. Mara progressed nicely, Nikola came from Belgrade more and more often, love with Goran was flourishing. And in business, it went great. The team consisted of young girls, ready to “steal” every move from Ceca, and she worked patiently with them. As one of the rare blondes in Sardinia, she was a real attraction for Italians off the field as well. They stopped her on the street, took pictures with her. She was outstanding at matches, and she often knew how to breastfeed Mara at halftime. The girl was on her mother’s milk for nine months.
PREPARATIONS: Yugoslav handball players in Kanjiža in preparation for the 1986 World Cup in the Netherlands
The best in the world
In the winter of 1987, Svetlana was named the best on the planet for the second time in the “Handball Njoće” selection.
It was the traditional choice of a German magazine, widely known and recognized. Therefore, she found herself in the national team in a show match in Oslo, as part of the 50th anniversary of the existence of RS Norway, where she enjoyed with Princess Sonja and an incredible 5,000 people in the stands. According to experts, she was the best among superstars.
Maradona in a skirt
Since Kitic came to Italy, there have been fewer and fewer empty seats in the stands, and handball has become more and more like a serious sport. Ceca was called “Maradona in a skirt”:
– Italy occupies a special place in my heart. I enjoyed the “boots”. I played relaxed, I gave birth to Mara there, I enjoyed life. I often spent my evenings in restaurants with music, fish…
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