Lazić speaks candidly about his departure from Zvezda: Legendary captain bares his soul

Pulse Sports Team 19:50 - 05 June 2026

Former Crvena zvezda Meridianbet captain Branko Lazić spoke for the first time about leaving the red-and-white camp.

In the "Luka and Kuzma" podcast, Lazić spoke for the first time about how his collaboration with Crvena zvezda came to an end.

"Unfortunately, we lost to Spartak 2-0, and then the meetings started. We all had to show up at Pionir for five minutes each, for individual meetings. We reviewed the season, what went wrong, what needed to change... It felt more like things were falling apart than okay. We were told we'd hear back in a week. At one point, I got a call from my agent, and I immediately knew what it was about, even before he said anything. He could have just given me a heads-up. He told me Zvezda wanted to terminate my contract. I said, 'Alright.' It was me, Luka (Mitrović), and Neda (Nedović). I asked, 'Only the local players?' He said, 'Yes.'" - Branko Lazić

He was somewhat taken aback by the situation.

"This was the first time I'd been in this situation. Even when I extended my contracts with Zvezda, I was the one finalizing them, sending them to Miško for verification, instead of the other way around. This was a first for me. I spent a certain number of years there, and I expected it to happen in a more humane, more respectful way." - Branko Lazić

He met with former sports director Milan Dozet, but not where he expected.

"I expected them to call me into the office, with the president, sports director, and general manager present. And there, they would explain the reasoning behind their decision. Everything went through my agent, except for that one moment where they tasked (Milan) Dozet (who was recently the sports director) with informing me. Dozet and I are still on great terms; they just put him in a tough spot to tell me, and it happened at Žak (a cafe within Pionir). To be precise, it wasn't at the regular tables, but in a booth." - Branko Lazić

He spoke with Dozet, and the outcome of the meeting was clear to him.

"We sat down to talk. We were sharing some inside jokes, and I could see at some point he was preparing to tell me. I interrupted him and said, 'Don't make it harder on yourself, I know everything, you don't have to say anything. I expected you to call me, for me to sit upstairs, and for you to tell me, 'This is the situation, the coach wants to rejuvenate the team, you're not in our plans...' That kind of direct communication, for them to tell me, not to put someone else in the middle. That's how it ended." - Branko Lazić

The saga continued after that initial conversation.

"Later, about 10 days after, there were follow-up discussions, to meet again, but with the general manager (Nemanja Vasiljević is the general director, and Milan Tomić is the general manager of the sports sector). But not in the official premises. We talked, we discussed, and he insisted that I call the president (Željko Drčelić) and come to an agreement with him. I didn't see the point of me calling him and what I was supposed to agree on, when he hadn't called me to say, 'Hey, you're no longer with the club.'" - Branko Lazić

He didn't ask for much from the club, but he felt let down by how his tenure concluded.

"I don't consider myself a star, a superstar; I never asked for special treatment, I never made demands. I spent a certain number of years there, and I believe I deserved that moment to sit down, for them to look me in the eye and tell me. I'm aware, I'm not in the prime of my youth, I was preparing for a farewell, the end of my career, there's no dispute there. It's the nature of the job, but the way it was handled... I told the general manager at that moment that I don't blame them for me no longer being at the club, but rather for the way they did it... That's on them." - Branko Lazić

He received offers from several clubs but did not accept them.

"We signed the contract termination, I trained a bit with FMP, but I gave that up too. I was waiting for offers; there were a few, but my only condition was a fixed two-year deal. Money wasn't the deciding factor for me. That didn't materialize; everyone offered one year. I didn't want to get into that." - Branko Lazić

The former captain of the red-and-whites stated that his contractual payments for this season were settled, and there was no farewell match because he expected to continue playing.

VIDEO Fire at Branko Lazić's gym

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