Stjepan Bobek (; 3 December 1923 – 22 August 2010) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional

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 ...

striker and later

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 ...

. Usually a forward or attacking midfielder, Bobek was renowned for his technique, vision and goalscoring ability and is commonly regarded as one of Yugoslavia's greatest players. He is remembered for his time at Belgrade's Partizan, where he moved to following the end of

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 ...

. He played for Partizan between 1945 and 1959 helping them win two

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) ...

titles and four

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 ...

s, and was named the club's greatest player in history in 1995. Internationally, he is the second all-time top scorer for the Yugoslavia national team, scoring 38 goals in 63 appearances between 1946 and 1956, and was member of Yugoslav squads which won two Olympic silver medals (in 1948 and 1952) and played in two

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 ...

s (in 1950 and 1954). After retiring from active football in 1959, he was a successful manager, winning Yugoslav and Greek national titles with Partizan and Panathinaikos.

Club career

Bobek was born in Zagreb and started playing at the age of 13 for Viktorija, a lower league club, using his brother's registration papers. When he was 20 he became the center-forward of Građanski Zagreb. He was the top scorer of the

twice, in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

(25 goals) and

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

(21 goals).

Partizan

He came to

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

in 1946 and played for them until 1959. During his time in Partizan, he played 468 games and scored 403 goals, still holding the club record. Bobek won two Yugoslav League titles and the

four times. He scored his first goals in official matches, on 1 September 1946, in the 2nd leg of the

. He scored twice in a 6–1 home victory over Budućnost. On 5 January 1947, Bobek scored his first goal, in his first Eternal derby against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

, in a 3–4 home defeat. That was also the first goal in the Derby scored by Partizan player, because the previous two were own goals. On 8 June 1947 in a league match played in

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

between 14. Oktobar and Partizan (1–10), Bobek scored eight goals – an absolute record that has never been broken until the end of Yugoslav First League or its successor leagues. He scored 25 goals in 22 matches in his first season of First League of SFR Yugoslavia and also won his first title. In May 1951, Partizan played three friendly matches in England. The first match was played on 9 May, against Hull City and Partizan beat them 3–2. Bobek scored two goals in that victory. Three days later he again played brilliantly and scored a goal in Partizan's second victory over English teams. The result was the same three days later against

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. One month later, he scored twice in one of the biggest victories in Eternal Derby, in a 6–1 home victory over Red Star. In November of that year, Bobek scored a six goals against Sloboda Titovo Užice, in a ''qualifying round'' of Yugoslav Cup, in a 11–1 away victory. A week later, he also set a record in the Yugoslav Cup. He scored eight goals in 15–0 home victory over Sloga Petrovac. On 29 November 1952, Bobek scored a goal in a 6–0 victory over a arch rival Red Star Belgrade in the final of the Yugoslav Cup. A three weeks before, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 home victory over one of the best

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

teams at that time – 1. FC Köln. Bobek continued with great performances in following seasons. He scored a goal in biggest victory ever in Eternal Derby. After four minutes, he scored first goal on the match, in a 7–1 home victory over Red Star, on 6 December 1953. On 11 April 1954, he scored four goals in 8–0 home league victory over Rabotnički. Two years later after winning second Yugoslav Cup, he won a third. Again Partizan beat Red Star, but this time 4–1 and Bobek again scored one goal. On 4 September 1955, Bobek scored a goal in first ever match of

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

. Partizan draw (3–3) with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. He played all four matches in the

1955–56 European Cup The 1955–56 European Cup was the first season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. It was won by Real Madrid, who defeated Reims 4–3 in the final at Parc des Princes, Paris, on 13 June 1956. UEFA had been officially ...

including a legendary victory 3–0 over

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in the quarter-finals.

International career

Bobek played for Croatia U21 between 1943 and 1945. He made his debut for the Yugoslavia national team on 9 May 1946, in a 2–0 win over

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 ...

at the Letná Stadium, which was the nation's inaugural match as

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. He scored his first international goal against the same opponents on 29 September 1946, in a 4–2 win at the JNA Stadium. Bobek won two Olympic silver medals for Yugoslavia, scoring four goals in London 1948 and three in Helsinki 1952. He also appeared at the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

and

s, scoring once in a 1950 4–1 win over

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. On 17 October 1954, Bobek scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 5–1 win over

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, which were also his last goals on international duty. He reached 38 goals for Yugoslavia on that day and became the national side's top scorer, surpassing Blagoje Marjanović's 37-goal tally. Bobek's record stood for over 66 years, until it was beaten by

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

's Aleksandar Mitrović on 27 March 2021.

Managerial career

After retiring from active playing Bobek went into management. In 1959 he became the coach of

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

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, moving back to Yugoslavia the next season to manage Partizan. He won three successive Yugoslav league championships with Partizan (1961, 1962, 1963) before being replaced by Kiril Simonovski in 1963. In 1963 Bobek moved to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

where he spent four years at the helm of Panathinaikos. He led the club to two Greek championship titles, including the first undefeated season for any Greek club, in the 1963–64 season. Bobek returned to Yugoslavia and again took over Partizan, finishing second in the Yugoslav league in the 1967–68 season and third in 1968–69. After that, he returned to Greece to manage

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

, spending ten months at the club. He briefly worked in Turkey, and then took over the recently promoted Galenika Zemun in the Yugoslav second level. He was then hired by

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

for the 1972–73 season, but was sacked in November 1972 after only four months, with the club sitting at the bottom of the table, winning only two out of their first 13 games. During the 1974–75 season he returned to Panathinaikos for a second time, but without much success. He also coached Espérance ST in Tunisia, and his last managing job was at

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

, with whom he won the 1978–79 Yugoslav Second League East Division title and promotion to the First League. In 1995, he was named the all-time greatest player of Partizan. In 2009, Bobek's biography written by sports journalist Fredi Kramer was published.

Death

Bobek died shortly after midnight on 22 August 2010 in Belgrade. He is interred in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens in the Belgrade New Cemetery.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Player

Partizan *

: 1946–47, 1948–49 *

: 1947, 1952, 1954, 1956–57 Yugoslavia * Olympic Silver Medal:

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

* Balkan Cup runner-up:

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

and

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

Individual * Yugoslav First League top scorer:

, 1953–54 * FK Partizan ''Magnificent Eleven'' (1995) * FK Partizan Best player in club history (1995) Records * Yugoslavia all-time top scorer: 38 goals

Manager

;Partizan *

: 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63 ;Panathinaikos *

Greek Championship The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

: 1963–64, 1964–65 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

;Vardar *

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 ...

: 1978–79

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bobek, Stjepan 1923 births 2010 deaths Footballers from Zagreb Croats of Serbia Men's association football forwards Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Olympic medalists in football Olympic footballers for Yugoslavia Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics 1950 FIFA World Cup players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Admira Wacker players HŠK Građanski Zagreb players FK Partizan players Yugoslav First League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Yugoslav football managers Legia Warsaw managers FK Partizan managers Panathinaikos F.C. managers Olympiacos F.C. managers Altay S.K. managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb managers Panetolikos F.C. managers Espérance Sportive de Tunis managers FK Vardar managers FK Zemun managers Yugoslav First League managers Super League Greece managers Yugoslav expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Poland Expatriate football managers in Greece Expatriate football managers in Turkey Expatriate football managers in Tunisia Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Greece Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Tunisia Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery