Stjepan Bobek

Stjepan Bobek (pronounced [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)
1946–1959 Partizan 198 (121)
Total 221 (141)
International career
1943–1945 Croatia U21
1946–1956 Yugoslavia 63 (38)
Managerial career
1959 Legia Warsaw
1960–1963 Partizan
1963 Legia Warsaw
1963–1967 Panathinaikos
1967–1969 Partizan
1969–1970 Olympiacos
1970 Altay
1970–1972 Galenika Zemun
1972 Dinamo Zagreb
1973–1974 Galenika Zemun
1974–1975 Panathinaikos
1975–1976 Panetolikos
1976–1978 Espérance
1978–1981 Vardar
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place1948 LondonTeam
Silver medal – second place1952 HelsinkiTeam
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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, 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 second 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.

Club 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 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 1946 and played for them until 1959. 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 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 Yugoslav Cup. He scored eight goals in 15–0 home victory over Sloga Petrovac.

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 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 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.

International career

Bobek played for Croatia U21 between 1943 and 1945.[2][3][4] He made his debut for the Yugoslavia national team on 9 May 1946, in a 2–0 win over Czechoslovakia at the Letná Stadium, which was the nation's inaugural match as SFR Yugoslavia. He scored his first international goal against the same opponents on 29 September 1946, in a 4–2 win at the JNA Stadium.[5]

Bobek won two Olympic silver medals for Yugoslavia, scoring four goals in London 1948 and three in Helsinki 1952.[6] He also appeared at the 1950 and 1954 FIFA World Cups, scoring once in a 1950 4–1 win over Mexico.[5]

On 17 October 1954, Bobek scored a hat-trick in a 5–1 win over Turkey, which were also his last goals on international duty. He reached 38 goals for Yugoslavia on that day and became the national side's top scorer, surpassing Blagoje Marjanović's 37-goal tally.[5] Bobek's record stood for over 66 years, until it was beaten by Serbia's Aleksandar Mitrović on 27 March 2021.[7]

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. During his time in Panathinaikos, the team won the first unbeaten championship in Greece, for the 1963-64 season. In the 1967–68 and 1968–69 seasons, he again returned to manage Partizan. In 1969, 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 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.[8] In 2009, Bobek's biography written by sports journalist Fredi Kramer was published.[9]

Death

Bobek died shortly after midnight on 22 August 2010 in Belgrade.[8] He is interred in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens in the Belgrade New Cemetery.[10]

Career statistics

Club
Club Season League Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Partizan 1946–47 Yugoslav First League 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

International

This is the list of International Goals scored by Yugoslav forward Stjepan Bobek:

List of international goals scored by Stjepan Bobek
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 29 September 1946Belgrade, Yugoslavia Czechoslovakia4–14–2Friendly
2 7 October 1946Tirana, Albania Albania2–23–21946 Balkan Cup
3 11 May 1947Prague, Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia1–21–3Friendly
4 22 June 1947Bucharest, Romania Romania1–03–11947 Balkan Cup
5 3–1
6 14 September 1947Tirana, Albania Albania1–14–2
7 19 October 1947Belgrade, Yugoslavia Poland2–07–1Friendly
8 7–0
9 31 July 1948London, England Luxembourg6–16–11948 Summer Olympics
10 5 August 1948 Turkey2–13–1
11 11 August 1948 United Kingdom1–03–1
12 13 August 1948 Sweden1–11–3
13 19 June 1949Oslo, Norway Norway2–13–1Friendly
14 21 August 1949Belgrade, Yugoslavia Israel6–06–01950 FIFA World Cup qualification
15 18 September 1949Tel Aviv, Israel Israel2–05–2
16 30 October 1949Paris, France France1–11–1
17 13 November 1949Belgrade, Yugoslavia Austria2–32–5Friendly
18 11 June 1950Bern, Switzerland  Switzerland3–04–0
19 29 June 1950Porto Alegre, Brasil Mexico1–04–11950 FIFA World Cup
20 7 September 1950Helsinki, Finland Finland1–02–3Friendly
21 10 September 1950Copenhagen, Denmark Denmark2–04–1
22 24 June 1951Belgrade, Yugoslavia  Switzerland1–07–3
23 6–0
24 23 August 1951Oslo, Norway Norway2–04–2
25 4–0
26 2 September 1951Belgrade, Yugoslavia Sweden1–12–1
27 20 July 1952Tampere, Finland Soviet Union4–05–51952 Summer Olympics
28 22 July 1952Tampere, Finland Soviet Union2–13–1
29 25 July 1952Helsinki, Finland Denmark4–15–3
30 21 September 1952Belgrade, Yugoslavia Austria1–04–2Friendly
31 2–0
32 4–2
33 21 December 1952Ludwigshafen, West Germany West Germany2–12–3
34 26 September 1954Saarbrücken, Saarland Saar2–15–1
35 3 October 1954Vienna, Austria Austria2–12–2
36 17 October 1954Sarajevo, Yugoslavia Turkey1–05–1
37 2–0
38 4–0

Honours

Player

Partizan

Yugoslavia

Individual

  • Yugoslav First League top scorer: 1945, 1953–54
  • FK Partizan Magnificent Eleven (1995)
  • FK Partizan Best player in club history (1995)

Records

Manager
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
  3. "LEGENDA CRNO-BELIH OTKRILA MANJE POZNATE DETALJE IZ ŽIVOTA: Evo kako sam izbegao odlazak u Pavelićevu ustašku vojsku NDH! Plakao sam kad sam dolazio u Partizan (VIDEO)".
  4. "HRVATI: PARTIZAN JE NAŠ TREĆI NAJVEĆI KLUB! Napravili su ga da bi potpuno zatrli fudbal u Zagrebu!".
  5. "Stjepan Bobek - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  6. "Stjepan Bobek". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  7. "Mitrovic becomes Serbia's all-time top scorer with goal against Portugal". Goal.com. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  8. "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.
  9. "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.
  10. International graves
  11. "Stjepan Bobek najbolji strelac". www.reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian). 25 September 2013.
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