Ivan "Ivica" Bek (; 29 October 1909 – 2 June 1963), also known as Yvan Beck, was a Serbian-French

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He was part of Yugoslavia's team at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

and at the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, ...

Club career

Bek was born to a German father, and a Czech mother in the Serbian capital Belgrade borough of

Čubura Čubura (), ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Located in Belgrade's municipality of Vračar, it is a synonym of the city's bohemian life. Location Čubura stretches along the crossroad of the streets of ''Makenzi ...

. Aged 16, he started playing in

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 scored 51 goals in 50 matches. In 1928, Bek moved to

Mačva Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; ) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava (river), Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is nam ...

, and soon proceeded to French

FC Sète FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pak ...

. In his first season, he reached the cup finals, but lost 2–0 against

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. Next year in cup finals against RC France, was victorious for Sète (3–1) with Bek scoring two decisive goals in extra time. Four years later with the same club, Bek was part of the first team that win the Double in France. Bek helped Yugoslavia get third place in the first

FIFA world cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

in Uruguay. Bek and his team went on a train from Belgrade to Marseille. When they came to Marseille they went on a crew ship to Uruguay in the second class.

International career

Internationally, Bek represented the Kingdom of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

(seven caps, four goals) and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(five caps). For Yugoslavia he debuted in 1927 against Bulgaria (2–0), participated Olympic tournament in 1928 in Amsterdam and played in the

for Yugoslavia scoring three goals. In 1933, Bek took French citizenship and renamed himself Yvan Beck and in February 1935 he was picked for the first time for the Equipe Tricolore.

International goals

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

Post-playing career

During the Second World War, Bek was a member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

. After the war, he worked as a dockworker in Sète, where he died from a heart attack.

Honours

FC Sète * Champion of France: 1934 * French Cup: 1930, 1934

References

External links

* * * *
Yvan Beck at the French Football Federation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bek, Ivan 1909 births 1963 deaths Footballers from Belgrade Footballers from Sète Serbian people of German descent Serbian people of Czech descent French people of German descent French people of Czech descent Yugoslav emigrants to France Serbian emigrants to France Naturalized citizens of France Naturalised association football players Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics 1930 FIFA World Cup players Dual internationalists (men's football) OFK Beograd players FK Mačva Šabac players FC Sète 34 players AS Saint-Étienne players Nîmes Olympique players AS Aix-en-Provence players Yugoslav First League players Ligue 1 players French Resistance members 20th-century French sportsmen