Ljubomir "Ljubo" Benčić (2 January 1905 – 24 February 1992) was a Croatian and Yugoslav

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 and coach.

Playing career

Club

Spending his entire career at Hajduk Split, Benčić was a right winger and centre forward. He started playing top-flight football in 1921 and by 1923 he became the club's best all-time scorer with a total of 43 goals. In 1925 he played his 100th game for the Whites, and in 1930 he scored his 300th goal for Hajduk. Until his retirement in 1935 he scored 355 goals in 353 unofficial games for Hajduk, which makes him currently Hajduk's third all-time goalscorer (behind Frane Matošić with 729 and Leo Lemešić with 445 goals). With Hajduk he won two Yugoslav championship titles, in 1927 and 1929, and was also the league's top scorer in 1928, scoring 8 goals in 5 games.

International

Between 1924 and 1927 Benčić earned 5 caps and scored 2 goals for the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

national football team. He debuted on 28 September 1924 against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and his last game for the national team was on 28 October 1927 against

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. The game ended in a 7–1 defeat, and Benčić scored the only goal for his team. He was also part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes' 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 ...

, but he did not play in any matches.

Managerial career

After he stopped playing in 1935 he stayed in football and had two stints as manager of Hajduk: from 1939 to 1941 (the last two seasons before

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 ...

, during the war, and then the first few seasons after the war from 1946 to 1948. When he moved to

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

he managed NK Milicioner (which later merged with NK Borac to form NK Zagreb). In 1957 he managed Bologna FC with Bernard Vukas. Upon returning to Croatia he managed

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 ...

and NK Zadar. Benčić died in 1992 in Zagreb.

Honours

* Yugoslav Championship: 1927, 1929 *Yugoslav Championship top scorer: 1928

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bencic, Ljubo 1905 births 1992 deaths People from Stari Grad, Croatia Footballers from Split-Dalmatia County People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics HNK Hajduk Split players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers HNK Hajduk Split managers HNK Rijeka managers NK Zagreb managers Bologna FC 1909 managers NK Zadar managers Yugoslav expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Italy