- Branko Oblak
Football player infobox
playername = Branko Oblak
fullname =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1947|5|27
cityofbirth =Ljubljana SR Slovenia
countryofbirth =SFR Yugoslavia
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1965 - 1973
1973 - 1975
1975 - 1977
1977-1980
1983-1985
clubs =Olimpija Ljubljana NK Hajduk Split FC Schalke 04 FC Bayern Munich SV Spittal
caps(goals) =
nationalyears = 1970-1977
nationalteam = Yugoslavia
nationalcaps(goals) = 46 (6)
manageryears = 1994-1995
1995
2002-2003
2004
2004-2006
managerclubs =Olimpija Ljubljana Olimpija Ljubljana Olimpija Ljubljana
Slovenia U-21
SloveniaBranko Oblak (born on
May 27 ,1947 inLjubljana ,SR Slovenia ,SFR Yugoslavia ) is aSlovenia n football coach and former international player.Brane, as he is often known, started playing football at the youth team of
Svoboda Ljubljana . In 1965 he went to Ljubljana's more famous club, Olimpija. He made his debut onMay 20 ,1966 against Partizan inBelgrade , where he scored both Olimpija's goals for a 1:2 win. He stayed with Olimpija until 1973. During that time he played 181 matches and scored 33 goals.In 1973 he moved to
Hajduk Split and stayed there for two seasons. In both seasons Hajduk won the national champion and cup winner titles. In 1975 he signed a two-year contract with Schalke 04 of the German Bundesliga. In the 1976-77 season, Oblak's second year at the club, Schalke 04 finished the league in 2nd place, behindBorussia Mönchengladbach . In the summer of 1977, Oblak went to Bayern Munich. He stayed there for three seasons and in his final season with the club (1979-80), Bayern became the German champion. After that, Oblak played in variousAustria n amateur clubs until 1987, when he retired as a football player.Oblak's debut for the Yugoslav national team came in a friendly match against Romania in 1971. The following year he had the honour of playing at
Pelé 's farewell match at the Maracanã inRio de Janeiro . At the 1974 World Cup inGermany , he and his teammateDanilo Popivoda became the firstSlovenians to play in a World Cup. Even more impressive is that Oblak was selected into the best squad of the World Cup. In 1976 he played at the European Championship, which was hosted byYugoslavia . His excellent pass for the first goal in the semi final match against Germany is still remembered among football experts. After the tournament, he retired from international football. In altogether 46 matches he scored 6 goals.After retirement as a football player, Oblak started coaching at various Slovenian clubs, including twice at Olimpija Ljubljana. He proved to be a good youth coach, so in February 2004 he was named the new Slovenia Under-21 national coach. In May 2004, Slovenian national team head coach
Bojan Prašnikar was fired due to bad results and onMay 24 2004 Oblak was chosen to replace him. The team started brightly under his guidance, with the highlight being a 1:0 over Italy (eventual World Champions) in a World Cup qualifying match. However, the team soon ran into a series of bad results, and the pressure mounted on Oblak, until finally in late 2006, he was fired from the job. He was succeeded byMatjaž Kek .In November 2003
UEFA member football associations organized surveys to find the best national players in 50 year period of existence of UEFA. In Slovenia Branko Oblak was awarded this title, "beating" such rivals asSrečko Katanec andZlatko Zahovič .External links
* [http://www.uefa.com/uefa/history/associationweeks/association=57163/newsId=248815.html UEFA.com - Slovenia's Golden Player]
* [http://www.reprezentacija.co.yu/cgi-bin/index.pl?str=igraci&strana=Oblak_Branko Profile at Serbian federation]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.