Crveni kralj

Set in the world of Yugoslav football, the novel follows Zoran Jugović, aka Zoka King, a red-haired footballer from the provinces who rises to fame but faces corruption, hypocrisy and social pressures. The life story of the protagonist of this novel is very similar to the circumstances of the famous Ostojić affair, and many of the actors in that affair that shook the football world in the former Yugoslavia are easily recognizable.

Zoka, a talented athlete, symbolizes an individual in conflict with a rigid system. His rise from the southern Serbian province to America, where he becomes a pioneer of “soccer”, reflects the struggle for personal integrity. The novel explores moral dilemmas, corruption in sports and society, and the hypocrisy of the authorities who claim to protect the “little man” while in fact holding him back. Zoka's disillusionment with Yugoslavia, which she calls "the South" or "Yugovina", expresses alienation and criticism of the socialist order, which led to the banning of the book and Ivanović's persecution (dismissal, trial, two-year prison sentence, which he avoided after appealing in 1975).

Through a satirical tone and colorful characters, Ivanovic reveals social contradictions, using football as a metaphor for wider social relations.