Stjepan Bobek

Stjepan Bobek (; 3 December 1923 – 22 August 2010) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional football striker and later football manager.

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 Belgrade's 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 the 2nd leg of the Yugoslav First League. He scored twice in a 6–1 home victory over Budućnost. On 5 January 1947, Bobek scored his first goal, in his first Eternal derby against Red Star Belgrade, in a 3–4 home defeat. That was also the first goal in the Derby scored by Partizan player, because the previous two were 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 his first season of First League of SFR Yugoslavia and also won his first title.

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 scored two goals in that victory. Three days later he again played brilliantly and scored a goal in Partizan's second victory over English teams. The result was the same three days later against Middlesbrough. One month later, he scored 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 the 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 the 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 following 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 the 1955–56 European Cup including a legendary victory 3–0 over Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

International career Bobek played for Croatia U21 in its only match against Slovakia U21 in September 1942. 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.

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

Managerial career After retiring from active playing Bobek went into management. In 1959 he became the coach of Legia Warsaw in Poland, moving back to Yugoslavia the next season to manage Partizan. He won three successive Yugoslav league championships with Partizan (1961, 1962, 1963) before being replaced by Kiril Simonovski in 1963.

In 1963 Bobek moved to Greece where he spent four years at the helm of Panathinaikos. He led the club to two Greek championship titles, including the first undefeated season for any Greek club, in the 1963–64 season.

Bobek returned to Yugoslavia and again took over Partizan, finishing second in the Yugoslav league in the 1967–68 season and third in 1968–69. After that, he returned to Greece to manage Olympiacos, spending ten months at the club. He briefly worked in Turkey, and then took over the recently promoted Galenika Zemun in the Yugoslav second level.

He was then hired by Dinamo Zagreb for the 1972–73 season, but was sacked in November 1972 after only four months, with the club sitting at the bottom of the table, winning only two out of their first 13 games. During the 1974–75 season he returned to Panathinaikos for a second time, but without much success. He also coached Espérance ST in Tunisia, and his last managing job was at Vardar, with whom he won the 1978–79 Yugoslav Second League East Division title and promotion to the First League.

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

Death Bobek died shortly after midnight on 22 August 2010 in Belgrade.

Career statistics

Club

International Scores and results list Yugoslavia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bobek goal.

Managerial statistics + Managerial record by team and tenureTeamFromToRecord Legia Warsaw 15 April 1959 31 December 1959 Partizan 1 July 1960 29 April 1963 Panathinaikos 1 July 1963 30 June 1967 Partizan 1 July 1967 30 June 1969 Olympiacos 1 August 1969 30 June 1970 Altay 1 July 1970 28 December 1970 Dinamo Zagreb 1 July 1972 20 December 1972 Galenika Zemun 1 July 1973 30 June 1974 Panathinaikos 5 September 1974 30 June 1975 Panetolikos 1 July 1975 30 June 1976 Espérance 1 August 1976 30 June 1978 Vardar 1 July 1978 30 June 1982Career total Honours

Player Partizan Yugoslav First League: 1946–47, 1948–49 Yugoslav Cup: 1947, 1952, 1954, 1956–57

Yugoslavia Olympic Silver Medal: 1948, 1952 Balkan Cup runner-up: 1946 and 1947

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

Records Yugoslavia all-time top scorer: 38 goals

Manager Partizan Yugoslav First League: 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63

Panathinaikos Alpha Ethniki: 1963–64, 1964–65 Greek Cup: 1967

Vardar Yugoslav Second League: 1978–79