Branko Stanković

Branko Stanković
Personal information
Date of birth	31 October 1921
Place of birth	Sarajevo, Kingdom of SCS
Date of death	20 February 2002 (aged 80)
Place of death	Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Position(s)	Right back
Youth career
1936–1939	Slavija Sarajevo
Senior career*
Years	Team
1939–1941	Slavija Sarajevo
1941–1945	BSK Beograd
1946–1958	Red Star Belgrade
Total
International career
1946–1956	Yugoslavia
Managerial career
1960	Željezničar
1963–1964	Olimpija Ljubljana
1964–1967	Vojvodina
1966	Yugoslavia (co-coach)
1968–1973	AEK Athens
1973–1975	Aris
1975–1976	Porto
1976–1977	PAOK
1977–1978	Vojvodina
1978–1982	Red Star Belgrade
1982–1984	Fenerbahçe
1984–1986	Beşiktaş
1986–1987	Fenerbahçe
1988	Red Star Belgrade
1989	Karşıyaka
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Branko "Stane" Stanković (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранко "Стане" Станковић, pronounced [brâːŋko stǎːŋkoʋitɕ]; 31 October 1921 – 20 February 2002) was a Bosnian Serb footballer and manager, from Sarajevo.

Playing career

Club

He started his career in SK Slavija Sarajevo, as a youth player in 1936. In 1941 he escaped from Sarajevo and joined Yugoslav pre-war most successful club, BSK Belgrade and played in the Serbian League during the war. In 1946 he came to Red Star Belgrade, where he established himself as one of the best defenders in the Yugoslav First League. Stanković played 195 games, with 14 scored goals.

International

Stanković mainly played for Red Star Belgrade and was capped 61 times for Yugoslavia.^[1] He participated at two World Cups and won a silver medal at each of the 1948 Olympics and the 1952 Olympics.^[2]^[3] His final international was a November 1956 friendly match away against England.^[4]

Stanković is one of the most elegant defense players of his time. Because of his playing style, he earned his nickname Ambassador. Players such as Bruno Belin, Milovan Đorić, Fahrudin Jusufi, Petar Krivokuća used to copy his playing style. He was strong, fast and very brave player, also a good header.

He retired in 1958 before his 37th birthday.

Managerial career

Stanković started his managerial career in Sarajevo in 1960, as manager of Željezničar. Later, he managed Red Star Belgrade and reached the 1979 UEFA Cup Final with them. Beside Red Star, he also managed a number of teams in different countries, such as Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş in Turkey, Porto in Portugal, AEK Athens, Aris and PAOK in Greece. He also coached Željezničar Sarajevo, Olimpija Ljubljana and FK Vojvodina in the spells. During 1966, he was also co-manager of the Yugoslavia national team along with Aleksandar Tirnanić, Miljan Miljanić, Rajko Mitić and Vujadin Boškov.

He is also famous because of his incident with one of the most popular Yugoslav players during that time, Dragan Stojković. Stanković retired from coaching in 1989.

Personal life

He had a degree in Physical education. He was married and had two sons, Dragan and Ratko.

Honours

Player

BSK Beograd

Serbian Football League: 1942–43, 1943–44

Red Star Belgrade

Yugoslav First League: 1951, 1952–53, 1955–56, 1955–57
Yugoslav Cup: 1948, 1949, 1950

Manager

Vojvodina

Yugoslav First League: 1965–66

AEK Athens

Alpha Ethniki: 1970–71

Red Star Belgrade

Yugoslav First League: 1979–80, 1980–81

Fenerbahçe

Süper Lig: 1982–83
Turkish Cup: 1982–83

Beşiktaş

Süper Lig: 1985–86

International goals

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	31 July 1948	Fulham, England	Luxembourg	1–1	6–1	1948 Summer Olympics

References

^ Branislav "Branko" Stankovic - International Appearances - RSSSF
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Branko Stanković". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-12-04. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
^ "Branko Stanković". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
^ "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 2021-05-22.