Boris "Boro" Bračulj (4 August 1939 – 26 July 2019) was a

Bosnian Croat The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats (), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are also one of ...

former professional

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

who was originally from

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Club career

Bračulj started playing youth football in his hometown's Junak Sinj in 1954. A year later, he moved to

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

suburb

Ilidža Ilidža ( sr-cyrl, Илиџа, ) is a spa town and a municipality located in Sarajevo Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has a total population of 66,730 with 63,528 in Ilidža itself, and i ...

and began playing for Igman. He played for the youth squad until he became a part of the first team in 1957. He also played for Čelik Zenica before moving to Željezničar in 1963. He played in 97 league matches for the club, scoring 18 goals. Bračulj retired from active football in 1969.

International career

While playing for Čelik Zenica in 1962, Bračulj was called up to the

Yugoslavia Olympic football team The Yugoslavia Olympic football team was the men's national football team of Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1992 in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After the state's dissolution in 1992, the following teams were formed: * Bosn ...

for the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Managerial career

After finishing his playing career, Bračulj stayed in football as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He is considered to be one of the best Bosnian football fitness coaches. He worked in the Željezničar youth squads, and then as a manager of Jedinstvo Bihać, Iskra Bugojno and Leotar. In 1978, Bračulj became an assistant manager to

Ivica Osim Ivan Osim (6 May 1941 – 1 May 2022), best known as Ivica Osim, was a Bosnian professional Football player, footballer and Manager (association football), football manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football managers of all ...

in Željezničar. He was also Željezničar manager on two occasions, the first occasion being from 1986 to 1987, and second one being from 1997 to 1998. During a period in the 1988–89 season, Bračulj held the

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

role at Željezničar alongside

Mišo Smajlović Drago "Mišo" Smajlović (; born 28 October 1938) is a Bosnian retired professional football manager and former player. Club career Smajlović began his career in Sloga, a small amateur club from Sarajevo. In 1955 he moved to the youth team of ...

. His last managerial position was that of

Olimpik Olimpik (or sometimes named ''Olympic'', in , in ) — a series of Soviet Union, Soviet produced Superheterodyne receiver, superheterodyne portable radio receiver. The first model was developed in 1977 by the Ukrainian artist Mykola Lebid. The pr ...

manager from 2000 to 2001.

Death

Bračulj died at the age of 79 on 26 July 2019 in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

References

External links

FK Željezničar Sarajevo all-stars
at pesmitidelcalcio.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Braculj, Boris 1939 births 2019 deaths Footballers from Sinj Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers NK Čelik Zenica players FK Željezničar Sarajevo players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers Bosnia and Herzegovina football managers NK Jedinstvo Bihać managers NK Iskra Bugojno managers FK Željezničar Sarajevo managers FK Leotar managers FK Olimpik managers Yugoslav First League managers First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers