Slobodan Santrač (, ; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a Serbian

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 ...

manager and player. He is the all-time top scorer of the Yugoslav First League with a total of 218 goals, as well as the top scorer in the history of

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

. According to the Brazilian outlet ''Almanaque dos Artilheiros'', he is the fourth highest topscorer in history with 1301 goals including all matches (youth and official friendlies). As a manager, Santrač reached the knockout stage at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

with

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

Club career

Born in Koceljeva, Santrač grew up in Gornji Milanovac, starting out at local club Takovo. He moved with his family to

Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 56,145 while the city admini ...

in 1958 and soon joined Radnički, which merged into Metalac Valjevo in 1959. Due to his promising performances in the Serbian League, Santrač was transferred to Yugoslav First League club

in the summer of 1965. He spent nine seasons with the ''Romantičari'', totaling 244 league appearances and scoring 169 goals. During that time, Santrač was the Yugoslav First League top scorer on four occasions ( 1968,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, and

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

). He also won the

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 ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, scoring a brace in the final against Dinamo Zagreb. In 1974, after completing his mandatory military service, Santrač moved abroad and joined Swiss club Grasshoppers. He was their best scorer in both seasons during his stay with them, before returning to OFK Beograd near the end of the 1975–76 season. Santrač was transferred to Partizan in the winter of 1978, winning

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just a few months upon arriving at the club. He spent two more seasons with the ''Crno-beli'', before switching to

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

side Galenika Zemun in the 1980–81 season as part of the deal for Dragan Mance. With 19 goals in 1981–82, Santrač helped the team win promotion to the top flight for the first time ever. He retired from playing in 1983.

International career

Despite being a prolific scorer during his entire club career, Santrač never established himself at international level, making just eight friendly appearances (only 110 minutes played) for

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 ...

between 1966 and 1974. His first cap for the national team came on 1 June 1966 in a 2–0 loss to

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and his only goal later that month against

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, in a game that ended in a 1–1 draw.

Managerial career

In December 1994, Santrač started his managerial career at the helm of the national team of FR Yugoslavia, while the country was still under UN sanctions. He served as their manager for almost four years, qualifying the team for the

. Later on, Santrač moved to China and took charge of Shandong Luneng, winning the double in 1999. He was also manager of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

(2001), and Macedonia (2005).

Death

Santrač died of a heart attack on 13 February 2016 at the age of 69.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial

Honours

Player

OFK Beograd *

: 1965–66 Partizan * Yugoslav First League: 1977–78 * Mitropa Cup: 1977–78 Galenika Zemun *

: 1981–82 Individual * Yugoslav First League Top Scorer: 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73 * European Bronze Shoe: 1971–72

Manager

Shandong Luneng * Chinese Jia-A League:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

* Chinese FA Cup:

Individual *

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams an ...

Coach of the Year: 1999

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santrac, Slobodan 1946 births 2016 deaths People from Koceljeva Sportspeople from Mačva District Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers OFK Beograd players Grasshopper Club Zurich players FK Partizan players FK Zemun players Yugoslav First League players Swiss Super League players Yugoslav Second League players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Serbia and Montenegro football managers Serbian football managers Serbia and Montenegro national football team managers Shandong Taishan F.C. managers Saudi Arabia national football team managers North Macedonia national football team managers Chinese Super League managers 1998 FIFA World Cup managers Guangzhou City F.C. managers Qingdao Hainiu F.C. managers Beijing Chengfeng F.C. managers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in China Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in North Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Serbian expatriate football managers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in China