Stjepan Bobek

Stjepan Bobek (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: Стјепан Бобек; Croatian pronunciation: [stjêpaːn bǒbek]; 3 December 1923 – 22 August 2010) was a Croatian and Yugoslav professional football striker and later football manager.[1]

Stjepan Bobek
Personal information
Date of birth (1923-12-03)3 December 1923
Place of birth Zagreb, Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes
Date of death 22 August 2010(2010-08-22) (aged 86)
Place of death Belgrade, Serbia
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1936–1938 HŠK Derbi
1938–1942 ŠK Zagreb
1942–1944 HŠK Ličanin
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1942 Admira Wacker 8 (7)
1944–1945 Građanski Zagreb 15 (13)
1945–1959 Partizan 198 (121)
Total 221 (141)
National team
1943–1945 Croatia U21 ? (?)
1946–1956 Yugoslavia 63 (38)
Teams managed
1959 Legia Warsaw
1960–1963 Partizan
1963 Legia Warsaw
1963–1967 Panathinaikos
1967–1969 Partizan
1969–1970 Olympiacos
1970 Altay
1972 Dinamo Zagreb
1974–1975 Panathinaikos
1975–1976 Panetolikos F.C.
1976–1978 Espérance
1978–1981 Vardar
Zemun
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Usually a forward or attacking midfielder, Bobek was renowned for his technique, vision and goalscoring ability and is commonly regarded as one of Yugoslavia's greatest players. He is remembered for his time at the Serbian side Partizan Belgrade, where he moved to following the end of World War II. He played for Partizan between 1945 and 1959 helping them win two Yugoslav First League titles and four Yugoslav Cups, and was named the club's greatest player in history in 1995. Internationally, he is the all-time top scorer for the Yugoslavia national team, scoring 38 goals in 63 appearances between 1946 and 1956, and was member of Yugoslav squads which won two Olympic silver medals (in 1948 and 1952) and played in two FIFA World Cups (in 1950 and 1954).

After retiring from active football in 1959, he was a successful manager, winning Yugoslav and Greek national titles with Partizan and Panathinaikos.

Playing career

Bobek was born in Zagreb and started playing at the age of 13 for Viktorija, a lower league club, using his brother's registration papers. When he was 20 he became the center-forward of Građanski Zagreb.

He also played for Croatia U21 between 1943 and 1945.[2][3][4]

He was the top scorer of the Yugoslav First League twice, in 1945 (25 goals) and 1954 (21 goals).

Partizan

He came to FK Partizan in 1945 and played for them until 1958. During his time in Partizan, he played 468 games and scored 403 goals, still holding the club record. Bobek won two Yugoslav League titles and the Yugoslav Cup four times.

He scored his first goals in official matches, on 1 September 1946, in 2nd leg of Yugoslav First League. He scored a twice in a 6–1 home victory over Budućnost. On 5 January 1947, Bobek scored his first goal, in first Eternal derby against Red Star Belgrade, in 3–4 home defeat. That was also first goal in Derby, scored by Partizan player, because previous two was a own goals. On 8 June 1947 in a league match played in Niš between 14. Oktobar and FK Partizan (1–10), Bobek scored eight goals – an absolute record that has never been broken until the end of Yugoslav First League or its successor leagues. He scored 25 goals in 22 matches in first season of First League of SFR Yugoslavia and also won first title and gave a great contribution.

In May 1951, Partizan played three friendly matches in England. The first match was played on 9 May, against Hull City and Partizan beat them 3–2. Bobek played brilliant and scored two goals in great victory. Three days later he again played brilliant match and scored a one goal in second Partizan's victory, over English teams. The result was the same like three days before, but this time against Middlesbrough. One month later, he scored a twice in one of the biggest victories in Eternal Derby, in a 6–1 home victory over Red Star. In November of that year, Bobek scored a six goals against Sloboda Titovo Užice, in a qualifying round of Yugoslav Cup, in a 11–1 away victory. A week later, he also set a record in Yugoslavian Cup. He scored eight goals in 15–0 home victory over Sloga Petrovac na Mlavi.

On 29 November 1952, Bobek scored a goal in a 6–0 victory over a arch rival Red Star Belgrade in the final of Yugoslav Cup. A three weeks before, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 home victory over one of the best German teams at that time – 1. FC Köln.

Bobek continued with great performances in next seasons. He scored a goal in biggest victory ever in Eternal Derby. After four minutes, he scored first goal on the match, in a 7–1 home victory over Red Star, on 6 December 1953. On 11 April 1954, he scored a four goals in 8–0 home league victory over Rabotnički.

Two years later after winning second Yugoslav Cup, he won a third. Again Partizan beat Red Star, but this time 4–1 and Bobek again scored one goal.

On 4 September 1955, Bobek scored a first goal in first ever match of European Cup. Partizan draw (3–3) with Sporting CP, in Lisbon. He played all four matches in 1955–56 European Cup. Should be noted a legendary victory 3–0 over Real Madrid in quarter-finals.

National team

Bobek made his debut for the Yugoslavia national football team on 9 May 1946, at Letná Stadium in 2–0 win over Czechoslovakia in Prague. That was a first ever match of SFR Yugoslavia. He scored his first goal in national team, against Czechoslovakia, in Belgrade, on 29 September 1946, in 4–2 home victory. That was first match of national team in SFR Yugoslavia.

Bobek won silver medal with Yugoslavia, on Olympic Games, in London 1948. He scored four goals in four matches. In every match, he scored one goal. One goal against Luxembourg in first round (6–1 victory), Turkey in quarter-finals (3–1 victory), Great Britain in semi-finals (3–1 victory) and one against Sweden in final (1–3 defeat).

Bobek played on 1950 FIFA World Cup, in Brazil (where he scored one goal in the 4–1 win over Mexico).

On 21 September 1952, Bobek scored his first hat-trick in national team, in 4–2 home victory over Austria. Two years later, he scored his second hat-trick in national team, in 5–1 home victory over Turkey. That was his last goals for The Blues.

Bobek played on World Cup in Switzerland 1954. He also played in two Olympic Games, in London 1948 (where he scored 4 goals and Yugoslavia won the silver medal) and in Helsinki 1952 (he scored three goals in the tournament and Yugoslavia won the silver medal).

Managerial career

After retiring from the play, he became a football manager. In 1959 he became the coach of CWKS Warszawa in Poland, moving back to Yugoslavia the next season to manage FK Partizan. The team won three successive Yugoslav League championships under him, after which he was replaced by Kiril Simonovski in 1963. In 1964 he had another spell in Warsaw, and then he moved to Greece where he led Panathinaikos in the 1960s. In the 1967–68 and 1968–69 seasons, he again returned to manage FK Partizan. In 1970, he moved to Olympiacos. In 1972, he was the manager of Dinamo Zagreb and during 1974–75 season of Panathinaikos for a second time, but without former success. He also coached Vardar Skopje and led them to 1978–79 Yugoslav Second League's East Division title and subsequent promotion to the First League.

In 1995, he was named the all-time greatest player of Partizan Belgrade.[5] In 2009, Bobek's biography written by sports journalist Fredi Kramer was published.[6]

Death

Bobek died shortly after midnight on 22 August 2010 in Belgrade.[5] He is interred in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens in the Belgrade New Cemetery.[7]

Career statistics

Club
Club League Season League Continental Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Partizan Yugoslav First League 1946–47 2324002324
1947–48 12400124
1948–49 1713001713
1950 17600176
1951 21900219
1952 990099
1952–53 12700127
1953–54 2321002321
1954–55 1816001816
1955–56 179412110
1956–57 15300153
1957–58 900090
1958–59 500050
Career total 19812141202122

Honours

As player
FK Partizan
Yugoslavia
Individual
  • Yugoslav First League top scorer (2): 1945, 1953–54
Records

As manager
FK Partizan
Panathinaikos
Vardar

References
  1. "INTERVJU: Stjepan Bobek. Srbi su sjajni" (in Serbian). kurir-info.rs. 29 October 2006. Retrieved 1 May 2013. Ja sam Hrvat, normalno, ali istina je da sam zavoleo Srbiju.
  2. Vošini navijači izvrijeđali nedavno preminulog Bobeka
  5. "IN MEMORIAM: Stjepan Bobek, jedan od najvećih hrvatskih nogometaša, umro u 87. godini". SEEbiz.eu (in Croatian). 22 August 2010. Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  6. "U Beogradu predstavljena monografija o Stjepanu Bobeku". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). 15 February 2009. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  7. International graves
  8. "Stjepan Bobek najbolji strelac". www.reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian). 25 September 2013.
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