Josip Weber

Josip Weber

Personal information
Full name	Josip Veber / Weber
Date of birth	(1964-11-16)16 November 1964
Place of birth	Slavonski Brod, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Date of death	8 November 2017(2017-11-08) (aged 52)
Place of death	Slavonski Brod, Croatia
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1982	NK Borac Podvinje
1982–1985	BSK Slavonski Brod	240	(130)
1985–1987	Hajduk Split	17	(2)
1987–1988	Dinamo Vinkovci	29	(11)
1988–1994	Cercle Brugge	204	(136)
1994–1997	Anderlecht	25	(16)
Total		515	(295)
International career
1992	Croatia	3	(1)
1994	Belgium	8	(6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Josip Weber, nicknamed Joske, (born Josip Veber; 16 November 1964 – 8 November 2017) was a Croatian-Belgian professional football forward. He represented Croatia and Belgium at international level.

Career

He began his senior career in Yugoslavia with lower league side NK Borac Podvinje. He then joined BSK Slavonski Brod where he played 3 seasons before moving to HNK Hajduk Split of the Yugoslav First League in 1985. He spent 2 seasons in Split, winning the 1987 Yugoslav Cup. He also played for Yugoslav side NK Dinamo Vinkovci.

In his international career, Weber became notable as one of the last footballers who played for national teams of two countries after being granted permission thought clear connection shown from his family members. In July 1992, he started his international career with the Croatian national team during their Australian tour, where he appeared in all three of their friendly matches against the Australian national team and also managed to score Croatia's only goal during the tour as he scored in the second match, which they lost 3-1. The other two matches ended with a 1-0 win for Australia and a goalless draw respectively. After that, he never played for Croatia again.

During the 1993-94 season, Weber took the job as a Belgium international team striker. Belgian national team (he was allowed to play for Belgium because his grandfather was originally from Belgium and because the previous matches for Croatia were all friendlies that were not under FIFA. Croatia only joined FIFA and UEFA in 1993). He made his debut for Belgium on 3 June 1994 in their friendly match against Zambia, which was highly successful as he managed to score five goals in a 9-0 win for Belgium. He was also a regular member of the Belgian team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States and played in all of their four matches at the tournament, starting three of them. He nevertheless did not manage to score any goals before Belgium was eliminated by Germany in the round of 16. In minute 63 of the game, he was brought down in the penalty area by Thomas Helmer, but referee Kurt Röthlisberger did not grant the penalty that could have led to a 3-2 score and a red card for the defender. He won a total of eight international caps and scored six goals for Belgium, all in 1994. Five of his goals were scored in a 9-0 Belgian victory over Zambia.

Career statistics

International goals for Croatia

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	8 July 1992	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide, Australia	Australia	2–1	3–1	Friendly
Correct as of 7 October 2015

International goals for Belgium

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	4 June 1994	Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Zambia	1-0	9–0	Friendly
2.				2–0		Friendly
3.				6–0		Friendly
4.				7–0		Friendly
5.				9–0		Friendly
6.	8 June 1994	Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Belgium	Hungary	1–0	3–1	Friendly
Correct as of 7 October 2015

Death

Josip Weber died on the 8 November 2017 in Slavonski Brod, Croatia after a long battle with prostate cancer.

External links

• Josip Weber at National-Football-Teams.com