Josip Weber, nicknamed Joske, (born Josip Veber; 16 November 1964 – 8 November 2017) was a professional

footballer 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 lea ...

who played as a forward. He represented

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 ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

at international level.

Club career

Weber began his senior career in Yugoslavia with lower league side NK Borac Podvinje. He then joined BSK Slavonski Brod where he played 3 seasons before moving to

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, that competes in the Croatian First Football League, Cro ...

of 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) ...

in 1985. He spent 2 seasons in Split, winning the 1987

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

. He also played for Yugoslav side NK Dinamo Vinkovci. He then moved to Belgium where he played several seasons for Cercle Brugge. There he proved to be a prolific goalscorer, becoming Belgium's top scorer several consecutive seasons without any contention despite Cercle Brugge only being an average team in the league at the time. Eventually he did join RSC Anderlecht (which was Belgium's top team at the time) and looked like he was headed for a brilliant few years. Unfortunately he got sidelined by a serious knee injury and never got to fulfil his clearly great potential with RSC Anderlecht, one of the few glimpses he was able to show was a strong performance in the Champions League match against Hungarian team Ferencvaros.

International career

In his international career, Weber became notable as one of the last footballers who played for national teams of two countries after being granted permission through clear connection shown from his family members. In July 1992, he started his international career with the Croatia national team during their Australian tour, where he appeared in all three of their friendly matches against the Australia national team and also managed to score Croatia's only goal during the tour as he scored in the second match, which they lost 3–1. The other two matches ended with a 1–0 win for Australia and a goalless draw respectively. After that, he never played for Croatia again. During the 1993–94 season, Weber took the job as a Belgium international team striker. Belgium national team (he was allowed to play for Belgium because his grandfather was originally from Belgium and because the previous matches for Croatia were all friendlies that were not under FIFA. Croatia only joined FIFA and UEFA in 1993). He made his debut for Belgium on 3 June 1994 in their friendly match against

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, which was highly successful as he managed to score five goals in a 9–0 win. He was also a regular member of the Belgian team at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

in the United States and played in all of their four matches at the tournament, starting three of them. He nevertheless did not manage to score any goals before Belgium was eliminated by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the round of 16. In minute 63 of the game, he was brought down in the penalty area by

Thomas Helmer Thomas Helmer (born 21 April 1965) is a German former footballer. His preferred playing position was sweeper, but he was primarily deployed as a centre-back.Radnedge, Keir ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of European Football'' (1997, Carlton Books) ...

, but referee

Kurt Röthlisberger Kurt Röthlisberger (born 21 May 1951 in Suhr) is a retired football referee from Switzerland. He is known for supervising five matches in the FIFA World Cup: three matches in 1990, and two in 1994. Career In the 1994 World Cup, he refereed the ...

did not grant the penalty that could have led to a 3–2 score and a red card for the defender. He won a total of eight international caps and scored six goals for Belgium, all in 1994. Five of his goals were scored in a 9-0 Belgian victory over

. His final international was an October 1994 European Championship qualification match away against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Death

Weber died on 8 November 2017 in

Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (, ), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod is the 7th lar ...

, Croatia from

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

Career statistics

International

*''Weber's team's score listed first, score column indicates score after each Weber goal.''

Honours

Hajduk Split *

: 1986–87 Anderlecht *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 1994–95 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

: 1995 Individual * Belgian First Division top scorer: 1991–92 (26 goals), 1992–93 (31 goals), 1993–94 (31 goals)

References

External links

*
Profile
- Cercle Brugge {{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Josip 1964 births 2017 deaths Footballers from Slavonski Brod Yugoslav people of German descent Croatian people of German descent Belgian people of German descent Belgian people of Croatian descent Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) 1994 FIFA World Cup players NK Marsonia players HNK Hajduk Split players HNK Cibalia players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Yugoslav First League players Belgian Pro League players Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from cancer in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium 20th-century Belgian sportsmen