CLUB LEGENDS – DIONIZIJE „BATO“ DVORNIĆ

Many outstanding individuals have played in the ranks of our football team, and they are remembered indeed. In this article, we remember the time after World War II, immediately after the founding of Proleter. A legend from that time is surely the Baranjian from Popovci, Dionizije Dvornic, who immediately caught attention with his goalgetting skills. He was an incredibly efficient striker in the Tretinjak’s, Majer’s, Lechner’s, Dubac’s, Rupnik’s, Vekic’s, and Nadjsombat’s generation. Solely due to his efficacy, he stayed not for long in Osijek. He played in Proleter from 1947 up until 1949. He previously played for Olimpija and Udarnik in which he showed his great potential.

He quickly outranked his peers

In football circles, he was known as Bato and he played in the earliest qualifiers in order to enter the Osijek Regional Championship, followed by the Second Federal League of Yugoslavia. In 1947, Osijek beat Podrinje from Sapac on the Kraj Drave playfield 2:1, Dvornic being one of the strikers along with Vekic. The rematch was in favor of Podrinje, beating Osijek 3:1 so that the Second league stayed out of reach for Osijek. In 1949, Dvornic left Osijek for NK Dinamo Zagreb, who needed a permanent striker. Dvornic played in 300 matches for Dinamo, and entered the ranks of the national team.

He never returned from Switzerland

He played six matches for the A selection of Yugoslavia, and played 2 more for the B selection. His debut was against France in 1953 in Zagreb. He had the honor and pleasure to play at the World Cup in Switzerland in 1954., leaving a lasting impression and realizing his international career debut there. He was one of the first Croats who proved himself outside of his country’s borders. After four seasons in NK Zagreb, he played for Lausanne, followed by Vevey until 1965. There he stayed and lived. He died in Switzerland in 1992.