Stjepan Bobek

Stjepan Bobek

Stjepan Bobek (born December 3, 1923 in Zagreb , † August 22, 2010 in Belgrade ) was a Yugoslav soccer player and coach who won the silver medal with the Yugoslav national soccer team at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and in Helsinki in 1952 .

Career as a player

Associations until 1958

Bobek moved after the Zagreb stations Derby, SK, Licanin and Gradjanski in 1945 to FK Partizan Belgrade . With Partizan, the half and center forward playing offensive player won two championship titles in 1947 and 1949 and the cup four times (1947, 1952, 1954, 1957). He finished second in the championship three times with Partizan (1954, 1956, 1958) and twice he lost cup finals in 1948 and 1950. In the 1953/54 season he was the top scorer with 21 goals. When the European Cup was held for the first time in the 1955/56 round and this was an invitation competition and it was not the Yugoslav champions of the 1954/55 round, Hajduk Split , but Partizan Belgrade who represented Yugoslavia, the almost 32-year-old Stjepan Bobek saw the premiere of this competition . Bobek was also active in the first European Cup game on September 4, 1955 in Lisbon against Sporting on the field. In the 73rd minute he managed the 3-2 opening goal for Partizan. In the quarterfinals Bobek with his teammates Branko Zebec and Miloš Milutinović on December 25, 1955 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in the clear 4-0 win of Real Madrid but had no chance. In the second leg in January 1956 a 3-0 revenge was achieved, but the elimination was sealed. At the age of 35, Bobek ended his playing career in 1958 after a total of 466 league games and 413 goals. At Partizan this is the club record and also explains his election in 1995 as the greatest and most popular player of all time for Partizan Belgrade. He ranks sixth among Yugoslavia's century footballers.

National team, 1946 to 1956

Graffiti by Stjepan Bobek on a Belgrade street

Bobek made his debut in the national team on May 9, 1946 in a 2-0 victory in Prague against Czechoslovakia. The first major tournament he played in 1948 at the Olympic Games in London. Although he succeeded in the final on August 13 against Sweden in the 42nd minute of the interim equalizer to 1-1, but Gunnar Gren (two goals) and Gunnar Nordahl (one goal) scored "Tre Kronors" to 3-1 victory in the final. Two years later, in 1950, the World Cup followed in Brazil . The way to South America paved three qualifying games against France, with Bobek on October 30, 1949 in Paris, the 1-1 equalizer. The playoff took place in Florence on December 11, 1949, with Partizan's man again being used as a half-forward in the 3-2 win. In Brazil, Bobek and his teammates were eliminated after two successes against Switzerland (3: 0) and Mexico (4: 1) after a 2-0 defeat on July 1, 1950 in Rio de Janeiro in front of 142,409 spectators against Brazil after three group games the tournament. In 1952 he took part in his second Olympic Games. In Finland he played all six games against India, the Soviet Union, Denmark, Germany and Hungary. After the 5-5 draw on July 20 in Tampere against the Soviet Union, there was a play-off two days later that ended with a 3-1 win for Bobek's team. In the semifinals, the storm with Tihomir Ognjanov , Raiko Mitic , Bernard Vukas , Stjepan Bobek and Branko Zebec prevailed against the German national football team of the amateurs with 3-1 goals. But Hungary decided the final on August 2, 1952 in Helsinki in front of 60,000 spectators with the Golden Elf around Ferenc Puskás with 2-0 goals. After qualifying against Greece and Israel, Bobek and Yugoslavia also took part in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. In the attack, Milos Milutinovic now stormed right winger, otherwise the Olympians from Helsinki were in action, this also applied to the runner row with Zlatko Čajkovski , Ivan Horvath and Vujadin Boškov . In group one, Yugoslavia played the official World Cup opening game against France on June 16, 1954 in Lausanne. Bobek and his fellow campaigners prevailed 1-0. This was followed by the 1: 1 after extra time against Brazil and thus the entry into the quarter-finals on June 27 in Geneva against the outsider Germany. The team of national coach Sepp Herberger surprisingly prevailed with 2-0 goals and for Bobek & Co the tournament was over after three games. With his use on September 16, 1956 in Belgrade against Hungary, the career in the national team for Stjepan Bobek ended after 63 international matches with 37 goals.

Trainer

Bobek began his coaching career in 1959 at Legia Warsaw . From 1960 to 1963 he returned to Partizan Belgrade as a coach and won the championship title three times. Other successful stations followed with Panathinaikos Athens and Olympiacos Piraeus . He won the Greek title several times with both clubs. Bobek also worked as a coach at Altay İzmir , Dinamo Zagreb , Vardar Skopje and in Tunisia.

Web links

• Stjepan Bobek @ Serbian National Team page
• Stjepan Bobek in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Preminuo Stjepan Bobek