Rizah Mešković

Sloboda Tuzla

According to Mešković, he started his professional football career at boyhood age, and the first club that he ever played in was FK Sloboda Tuzla from 1964, where he remained until 1973, that is, until his departure to HNK Hajduk Split. According to Gojko Škrbić, Sloboda sold him to Hajduk for two years with the compensation of the then 14 million old dinar. In the 1968–69 Yugoslav Second League season, Sloboda won 36 points and scored 50 goals, while Mešković capitulated only nine times, the least of all other Second league and First league goalkeepers.

Hajduk Split

For the "Bili (The Whites)", Mešković played 107 games, 53 games in the championship, 9 games in the cup, 6 in European competitions, and 39 games in friendly matches. He stood on the goal for the first time in a farewell game of the legendary Radomir Vukčević (Vučka), Ivica Hlevnjak and Pero Nadoveza. The first official appearance for Hajduk, was in the Yugoslav Cup on 12 August 1973, in the starting lineup against FK Vardar, which Hajduk won with 5:1. While at Hajduk, the fans nicknamed him "Mate" and sang the song "From Marjan's blowing the breeze Mešković keeps the door guarding us." He won two Yugoslavian Championships in 1974 (with 33 appearances) and 1975 (with 16 appearances). He also won 3 cups in a row in 1973, 1974 and in 1976.

789 minutes without a goal

Rizah holds in the territory of the former Yugoslavia a record of 789 minutes of not conceding a goal.…

For the national team of Yugoslavia, he played one game, on 29 June 1972, against Scotland, a game that was played in the Brazil Independence Cup in Belo Horizonte which ended with a score of 2: 2. He was also a part of the squad that played at the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. However, Mešković didn't play a single game at the Cup.

He started his coaching career with the completion of the coaching school in Sarajevo, and already in 1988 he trained the Yugoslav B team and FK Sloboda Tuzla in late 1990. In the same year, he assisted Ivica Osim with the Yugoslavia national football team at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. In 1991 as a member of the Yugoslavia staff, he went to the United Arab Emirates where he coached several clubs and A and B national teams. He also spent some time in Saudi Arabia as a coach (Al Ahli SC in Jeddah, 2001–2002). After Saudi Arabia he also coached in Qatar (Al Sadd in Doha, 2002–2005 as an assistant). However, he spent most of his time in the Emirates where he trained clubs Al Wahda FC (1991–1992) in Abu Dhabi, Al Shabab (1992–1993, 1999–2001 and 2005–2007), Al Wasl F.C. (1997–1998) from Dubai and Al Nasr SC (1998–1999) also in Dubai. He ended his professional coaching career in 2007.

Player

Hajduk Split

Yugoslav First League: 1974, 1975 Yugoslav Cup: 1973, 1974, 1975–76 AZ '67

KNVB Cup: 1977–78

Manager

Al Ahli

Crown Prince Cup: 2001–02 Saudi Federation Cup: 2001–02 GCC Champions League: 2002