Željko Perušić

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Željko Perušić (born March 23, 1936 in Duga Resa ; †  September 28, 2017 in St. Gallen ) was a Yugoslav football player and coach of Croatian origin. He last lived in St. Gallen.

career

Yugoslavia, until 1965

At the age of 14 Perušić had played for the juniors of the Duga Resa. Since the 1956/57 season he entered the first division with Dinamo Zagreb and has won the Yugoslav Cup twice. In the 1957/58 round, the strong and defensive midfielder also won the championship title with Dinamo. The runner-up reached Perusic with Dinamo in 1960 and 1963, where he was able to win the cup. With Dinamo he also took part in the competitions of the European Cup: 1958/59 with the champions, 1960/61 and 1963/64 with the cup winners, several times also at the fair cup.

In his 27 appearances in the national team, the European Championship 1960 and the Olympic Games in the same year stand out. In the quarter-finals of the European Championship, he played in the two games against Portugal. On May 8, 1960 he lost in Lisbon with the plavi against the hosts led by Stopper Germano and playmaker Mário Coluna with 1: 2 goals, but on May 22, he won the second leg in Belgrade with 5: 1 goals. The semifinals led Perušić and his teammates on July 6, 1960 in Paris against hosts France. The equipe tricolore had an injury without the outstanding Raymond Kopa compete at the Parc des Princes and lost the high-scoring encounter with 4: 5 goals and plavi hence moved into the final of European Championship one. Perušić lost the final with Yugoslavia against the sbornaja of the Soviet Union - with their outstanding players Lev Yashin , Igor Netto and Valentin Ivanov - on July 10 with 1: 2 goals after extra time. The change to the victorious semi-final game, Branko Zebec and Milutin Šoškić were replaced by Blagoja Vidinić and Jovan Miladinović , did not pay off.

In August and September 1960 the soccer tournament was held at the Olympic Games in Rome. Perušić won the Olympic tournament with Yugoslavia in 1960 with a 3-1 win against Denmark on September 10 in Rome. In the Danes, the attacking talent of the later professional at FC Bologna , Harald Nielsen , stood out and in Rome, alongside Perusic, the national players Vidinic, Fahrudin Jusufi , Vladimir Durković and Milan Galić played .

Germany and Switzerland, 1965 to 1974

Perušić moved to TSV 1860 Munich in 1965 , where he was German champion with 34 appearances in his first season under coach Max Merkel and alongside Petar Radenković , Hans Küppers , Otto Luttrop , Alfred Heiß , Peter Grosser , Rudolf Brunnenmeier and Timo Konietzka . Perušić went in 1970 after a total of 138 Bundesliga games (1 goal) for the "Löwen" to FC St. Gallen in Switzerland, where he was a player and, together with Kurt Schadegg, coach (1971–1974) at the same time. In 1971, he led St. Gallen in the National League A back. There he ended his playing career at the age of 38. Then he was head coach at FC Vaduz and SC Brühl . Perušić later worked with juniors in the club.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Perušić, Željko
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Yugoslav soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Duga Resa
DATE OF DEATH 28th September 2017
Place of death St. Gallen