Ernest Dubac (15 February 1914 – 27 February 1985) was a Croatian and Yugoslav 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, Dubac started his career with Hajduk Osijek before moving to JŠK Slavija Osijek. In 1937, he joined

BSK Belgrade OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK Beograd Mozzart ...

where he became one of the best centre-backs in the country and became a regular in the national team. He played for BSK until 1941 and won the 1938–39 Yugoslav Championship. When

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

started in Yugoslavia, he moved to

HŠK Građanski Zagreb HŠK Građanski (alternatively spelled ''Gradjanski'' or ''Gradanski''), also known as 1. HŠK Građanski or fully ''Prvi hrvatski građanski športski klub'' (), was a Croatian football club established in Zagreb in 1911 and dissolved in 1945. Th ...

in the

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

in 1941. He was champion of the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

with Građanski in 1943, with whom he finished his career a year later.

International career

Dubac played 14 games for the Yugoslavia national team, making his debut in a 1–0 home win against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

on 3 August 1938. He then joined the Independent Croatia national team in 1941, playing all 15 games which the team played during

Managerial career

After retiring, Dubac became a manager, managing

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

from 1951 to 1955,

NK Čelik Zenica Nogometni klub Čelik Zenica () is a professional football club based in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name ''Čelik'' means ''Steel'' in Bosnian, and it symbolizes the strength and power of the club in an industrial city well known for s ...

in 1958 and

NK Trešnjevka Nogometni klub Trešnjevka is a professional association football club from the city of Zagreb that is situated in Croatia. Formed in 1926 under the name Panonija, since 1929 the clubs has been known as Trešnjevka. It was promoted to the Yugo ...

from 1959 to 1966. He won the Croatian-Slovenian League (II tier competition of football in Yugoslavia at the time) with Osijek in the 1952–53 season and got the club promoted to the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

. He won the Second League with Trešnjevka as well, this time in the 1962–63 season in the West Division. He then led Trešnjevka in the Yugoslav First League for three seasons, from 1963 to 1966, until the club got relegated.

Personal life

In later life, Dubac became a dentist, after which he retired from that job as well in 1978. Seven years later, he died in his hometown of

on 25 February 1985 at the age of 71.

Honours

Player

BSK Belgrade *

: 1938–39 * Serbian Football League: 1940–41 Građanski Zagreb * Independent State of Croatia championship:

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

Manager

Osijek * Croatian-Slovenian League ''(II tier competition in Yugoslavia at the time)'': 1952–53 Trešnjevka * Yugoslav Second League - West Division: 1962–63

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubac, Ernest 1914 births 1985 deaths Footballers from Osijek People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) OFK Beograd players HŠK Građanski Zagreb players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers NK Osijek managers NK Čelik Zenica managers Burials at Saint Anne Cemetery JŠK Slavija Osijek players