Stjepan Bobek
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| Olympic medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's Football | |||
| Silver | London 1948 | Team Competition | |
| Silver | Helsinki 1952 | Team Competition | |
Stjepan Bobek (born 3 December 1923) was a renowned football striker from Yugoslavia, later a football manager. He is of Croatian descent and made his name playing for Partizan Belgrade. He was the best striker for the Yugoslav national team, scoring 38 goals in 63 matches.
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 was the top scorer of the Yugoslav First League twice, in 1945 (8 goals) and 1954 (21 goals).
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 four Yugoslav Cup's.
Bobek played in two World Cups, in Brazil 1950 (where he scored one goal in the 4-1 win over Mexico) and 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 3 goals in the tournament and Yugoslavia won the Silver Medal). On the 8th of June 1947 he scored a record 9 goals in a game against 14. Oktobar in Niš.
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. He also coached Vardar Skopje and led it to the title of the Second League of the Republic of Macedonia.
In 1995 he was named the greatest and most popular Partizan Belgrade player of all time.
Categories: 1923 births | Living people | Croatian footballers | Croatian football managers | Dinamo Zagreb footballers | Panathinaikos football managers | Olympiacos managers | Olympic competitors for Yugoslavia | Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics | Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics | Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia | FK Partizan players | People from Zagreb | FIFA World Cup 1950 players | FIFA World Cup 1954 players | FIFA World Cup goalscorers
