Full name Slobodan Santrac Name Slobodan Santrac Years Team Role Football manager | 1965–1974 OFK Beograd Height 1.71 m 1974–1976 Grasshoppers | |
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Date of birth (1946-07-01) 1 July 1946 (age 69) Place of birth Koceljeva, FPR Yugoslavia Similar People Radomir Antic, Radovan Curcic, Dejan Stankovic, Dick Advocaat, Marko Pantelic | ||
Klub ampiona no 23 slobodan santrac nastavak pri e by mirjana beka pavlovi
Slobodan Santrač (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Сантрач; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a Yugoslav and Serbian football 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. After finishing his playing career, Santrač was manager of numerous clubs and national teams. He reached the knockout stage with FR Yugoslavia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.
Contents
- Klub ampiona no 23 slobodan santrac nastavak pri e by mirjana beka pavlovi
- Club career
- International career
- Managerial career
- Death
- Player
- Manager
- Individual
- References
Club career
Born in Koceljeva, Santrač played for Metalac Valjevo in the early 1960s, before transferring to OFK Beograd in 1965. He spent the following nine seasons with the Romantics, making 244 league appearances and scoring 169 goals. During that time, Santrač was the Yugoslav First League top scorer on four occasions (1968, 1970, 1972 and 1973). He also won the Yugoslav Cup in 1966, 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 the club, before returning to OFK Beograd midway through the 1975–76 season. Santrač was transferred to Partizan in the winter of 1978, winning the league after only a few months upon arriving at the club. He spent two more seasons with the Black-Whites, before joining Galenika Zemun during the 1980–81 season.
International career
Despite being a prolific striker during his entire active playing career, Santrač never established himself in the national team. He made only eight appearances (only 110 minutes played) for Yugoslavia between 1966 and 1974. Santrač scored one goal for the national team in a friendly against Sweden, 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 1998 FIFA World Cup. Santrač then moved to China and took charge of Shandong Luneng, winning the double in 1999. He was also manager of Saudi Arabia (2001), and Macedonia (2005).
Death
On 13 February 2016, Santrač died of a heart attack, aged 69. He was survived by his wife Biljana and sons Aleksandar and Nenad.