Blagoje Paunović

Blagoje Paunović (Serbian Cyrillic: Благоје Пауновић; 4 June 1947 – 9 December 2014) was a Serbian football defender and manager.

Blagoje Paunović
Personal information
Full name Blagoje Paunović
Date of birth (1947-06-04)4 June 1947
Place of birth Pusto Šilovo, FPR Yugoslavia
Date of death 9 December 2014(2014-12-09) (aged 67)
Place of death Belgrade, Serbia
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1958–1965 Partizan
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1965–1975 Partizan 225 (0)
1975–1977 Utrecht 37 (0)
1977 Kikinda 7 (0)
1978 Oakland Stompers 23 (0)
1979 Sinđelić Beograd
International career
1967–1973 Yugoslavia 39 (0)
Managerial career
1994 Logroñés
1999–2002 Teleoptik
2002–2003 Budućnost Banatski Dvor
2005–2006 Teleoptik (joint)
2009–2010 Smederevo
2010–2011 BASK
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Yugoslavia
European Championship
Silver medal – second place1968 ItalyTeam
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Born in Pusto Šilovo, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he started his youth career in FK Partizan as a nine-year-old, although minimum age required to start playing for Partizan youths was ten. He was spotted by Partizan coach Virgil Popescu who insisted in bringing him over. Apart from short spell abroad, Blagoje spent most of his time in Partizan and, as a player or coach, he was part of Partizan for almost half a century. Paunović played for ten seasons with FK Partizan, amassing nearly 300 official appearances with the Belgrade club. During the 70's, he formed an efficient backline alongside Dragan Holcer and Miroslav Pavlović.

At 28, in 1975, Paunović joined FC Utrecht in the Netherlands. After two seasons abroad he returned home for a spell with OFK Kikinda, played briefly in the United States by representing the Oakland Stompers of the North American Soccer League and closed out his career also in his country's capital, with lowly FK Sinđelić; whilst in North America, he played under the name Paki Paunovich.[1]

On the international level, Paunović played a total of 39 matches for Yugoslavia, making his debut on 12 November 1967 in a 4–0 home win against Albania for the UEFA Euro 1968 qualifiers, and participating at the final stages in Italy.

Coaching career

In the 1994–95 campaign Paunović, already a coach, was one of five managers in charge of Spain's CD Logroñés, which ranked last in La Liga with an all-time low 13 points.[2] In 2009, after a long spell with Partizan's youth teams, he signed with Serbian first division side FK Smederevo.

Personal life

Paunović's son, Veljko, was also a footballer and later manager of Chicago Fire, Reading, and the Serbian U18, U19, and U20 teams. He too started his extensive career with Partizan, but played mainly in Spain.

References
  1. Vujcic, Djuradj (29 March 2012). "Inside the MLS: Veljko Paunovic". Red Nation Online. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  2. Fernández-Cuesta, Juan (29 December 1994). "Colocarse en puestos de descenso o promoción, pasaporte hacia el paro" [Relegation or play-off standings, ticket to unemployment]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 June 2014.
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