Anecdotes of sports medicine - Nebojša Popovic

In 1986, 'Profession-Sports and Professional Sports' was the subject of the Limburg Congress for Sports Medicine, in which lectures were given by physicians who practiced or had practiced sport at top level.

One of the speakers was Serbian Nebojša Popovic (1947-), who won the final against Czechoslovakia with 21-16, as captain of the Yugoslavian handball team, at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. In the six games played, Popovic scored eleven goals. Four years later in Montreal he scored fourteen goals and Yugoslavia finished in fifth place. Contacts were made by telephone and Popovic was willing to come to Belgium.

Popovic was selected twice for the World All Stars Handball Team, he won the European Cup for championships with RK Borac Banja Luka in 1976, the Mediterranean Games in Tunis and Algiers with the Yugoslavian team in 1968 and 1970 and the bronze medal at the World Championships of 1970 and 1974 in France and East Germany. He played 115 matches for his national team and scored 252 goals.

From 1986 to 1992 he was technical director of the Yugoslav handball team and from 1994 to 2001 for the Belgian national team.

Professionally he was Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Banja Luka until 1992, after which he became Clinical Chief of the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Departments of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège until 2007. In 2007 he moved to Qatar where he became Senior Orthopedic Surgeon at the Aspetar Qatar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital.