Frane Matošić

Frane Matošić (25 November 1918 – 29 October 2007) was a Croatian football player and coach who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of Hajduk Split's greatest players and he is the club's all-time leading goalscorer.

Frane Matošić
Personal information
Date of birth (1918-11-25)25 November 1918
Place of birth Split, State of Slovenes,
Croats and Serbs
Date of death 29 October 2007(2007-10-29) (aged 88)
Place of death Split, Croatia
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1935–1938 Hajduk Split 73 (54)
1938–1939 BSK Belgrade 14 (9)
1940–1941 Hajduk Split 8 (13)
1943 Bologna 28 (13)
1944–1955 Hajduk Split 196 (122)
Total 319 (211)
International career
1938–1953 Yugoslavia 16 (6)
Managerial career
1956–1958 Hajduk Split
1959–1961 RNK Split
1961–1963 Tunisia
1963–1964 RNK Split
1965 Hajduk Split
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1948 London Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Club

Born in Split, Matošić started to play football with HNK Hajduk from Split. In his very first game for Hajduk in 1935 against Slavija from Sarajevo, Matošić scored two goals.[1] He played 16 seasons for Hajduk. His older brother Jozo Matošić was also football player with whom he was a teammate at Hajduk.

Frane Matošić in a mural in Split

While serving the obligatory military service in the season 1939, he played for the BSK from Belgrade. Next season, season 1939–40, he returned to Hajduk. After Hajduk's management suspending the work of Hajduk in 1941, he went abroad to play for Bologna, played in season of 1942–43. When the information about restoring of Hajduk's work came to Frane Matošić, he returned to Croatia and smuggled himself on the free territory. There he joined Hajduk, that restarted its work on the free, Allied-controlled part of Croatia, on the island of Vis. Since then, Matošić was playing the games for Hajduk (that was playing friendly games against Allied teams on the Mediterranean). After the war Matošić as a team captain twice refused Josip Broz Tito's offer of transferring Hajduk to Belgrade and renaming it into "Partizan".[1] All together, Matošić played 739 games for Hajduk and scored impressive 729 goals.[1]

International

Matošić was a long-time Yugoslavia national team player. He played 16 games and scored six goals for Yugoslavia. His last game was in 1953, and in that game he also scored a goal. He was also part of Yugoslavia's squad for the football tournament at the 1948 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.[2] His final international was a May 1953 World Cup qualification match against Greece.[3]

Managerial career

After the ending of career as player, he turned to coaching career. He was the coach of Hajduk, few years after his brother Jozo was coaching it. He was also the coach of the Tunisia football team and of RNK Split.

Death

Matošić died in Split on the anniversary of Hajduk's historical victory over Red Star Belgrade in 1950.

Honours

Player

Hajduk Split

BSK Belgrade

Yugoslavia

Individual

Manager

RNK Split

Tunisia

Records

References
  1. "Fenomen koji je i Titu rekao 'ne', ali i završio pred komisijom: 'Žao mi je što ga nisam jače udario!'". Sportske novosti (in Croatian). 11 June 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  2. "Frane Matošić". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  3. "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  4. "Croatia - Final Tables". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 18 December 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  5. "Hajduku priznata i 18. titula". Sportnet.hr. 9 February 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
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