Milovan Ciric was born on February 12, 1918. He was the last player to captain SK Jugoslavija and the first captain of Red Star Belgrade in 1946 but left for arch rivals Partizan in 1947, with whom he won a national cup, ending his active football career with OFK Belgrade. He was also captain of the one-off Serbia national team of 1945. When he stopped playing he began a long career as a manager.
From 1948 to 1951 he was head coach of the Partizan youth team and from 1951 manager of BSK Belgrade for a couple of years. After a year coaching Partizan in 1953-54, and winning a national cup, he was also part of the 5-man commission that managed Yugoslavia in 1954. He was head coach for Red Star Belgrade between 1954 and 1957, winning the league twice. During this period, he also managed the Yugoslavian Olympic team that won silver in Melbourne 1956.
In the summer of 1957 he was called to coach Lazio by President Leonardo Silato in place of Jesse Carver who had gone to Inter. He stayed for just 19 matches. He was not very lucky. The Biancocelesti did not do very well but they were plagued by Asian flu and could rarely play with the first eleven. After a 5-0 loss against Bologna he was sacked and replaced by the duo Dino Canestri-Alfredo Monza.
After Lazio he went on to manage Hajduk Split (two stints, 1958-61 and 1963-64), OFK Belgrade (1961-63, winning a national cup in 1962), Israel (1965-68, winning bronze in the Asian Cup of 1968), Beşiktaş (1969-70 and 1977), Aris Thessaloniki (1970-71 and 1978), Valencia (1974-75). His last job was with India in 1984. He was also part of another 5-man commission that managed Yugoslavia in 1973-74.
He died in Belgrade on October 14, 1986.
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