Boban Babunski ( mk, Бобан Бабунски; born 5 May 1968) is a
Macedonian retired
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played as a
central defender
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
, and a coach.
Playing career
Babunski was born in
Skopje
Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...
,
SR Macedonia
The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...
,
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...
. On the club level he started playing with hometown's
FK Vardar
FK Vardar Skopje ( mk, ФК Вардар Скопје), or simply Vardar, is a football club based in the capital city of Skopje, North Macedonia, North Macedonia. The club was founded in 1947 and currently competes in the Macedonian Second Foo ...
, then spent two seasons in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
with
PFC CSKA Sofia
CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...
to become of the first Macedonians to compete in the
A Football Group. After two solid years in the
Spanish second division
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
with
UE Lleida
Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with '' ...
he played the same time in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, at
Gamba Osaka
is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to st ...
.
Babunski retired professionally in 2001 at the age of 33, after stints with
AEK Athens FC
AEK FC ( el, ΠΑΕ A.E.K. ; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; ''Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos'', meaning ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filad ...
,
CD Logroñés
Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in '' Regional Preferente de La Rioja''.
Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...
,
K. Sint-Truidense V.V.
Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV () or by their nickname De Kanaries (, is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden in Limburg. Sint-Truiden plays in the Be ...
and
Chemnitzer FC
Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football.
The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 193 ...
– he left
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in December 2000, signing with native
FK Rabotnichki FK or fk may refer to:
In arts and entertainment:
* Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise.
* Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block.
* Funky Kong, a video game character.
Place ...
– the second and the last teams two also in the respective countries' second level.
Babunski was
capped
In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...
two times for
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
in 1991. Subsequently, during seven years, he played 23 matches and scored once for the newly formed
Macedonia.
Manager career
Babunski began his coaching career as assistant in the Macedonian national side, under
Slobodan Santrač
Slobodan Santrač (, ; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a 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. A ...
. When the latter resigned on 23 August 2005 he was appointed
interim manager
Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change with ...
but, on 17 February of the following year,
Srečko Katanec took over the job on a permanent basis.
On 23 July 2009, Babunski was signed as head coach of
Macedonian First Football League
The Macedonian First Football League ( mk, Прва македонска фудбалска лига, ''Prva Мakedonska Fudbalska Liga''), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competitio ...
champions
A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...
Rabotnichki, also from
Skopje
Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...
, winning
the domestic cup in his sole season. Four years later he returned to the national team.
Personal life
Babunski's sons,
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
and
Dorian, are also footballers. The former played youth football with
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
, whilst the latter did the same at
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
. Babunski's great-grandfather was
Jovan Babunski
Jovan Stojković ( sr-cyr, Јован Стојковић; 25 December 1878 – 17 February 1920), known as Jovan Babunski (Јован Бабунски), was a Serbian Chetnik commander ( sr, vojvoda, војвода) during the Macedonian ...
, a
Serbian Chetnik ''vojvoda''.
Statistics
Club
National team
References
External links
Profile at MacedonianFootball.com
*
*
Yugoslav national team dataMacedonian national team data*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babunski, Boban
1968 births
Living people
Footballers from Skopje
Association football central defenders
Yugoslav footballers
Macedonian footballers
Yugoslavia international footballers
North Macedonia international footballers
Dual internationalists (football)
FK Vardar players
PFC CSKA Sofia players
UE Lleida players
Gamba Osaka players
AEK Athens F.C. players
CD Logroñés footballers
Sint-Truidense V.V. players
Chemnitzer FC players
FK Rabotnički players
FK Kožuf players
Yugoslav First League players
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
Segunda División players
J1 League players
Super League Greece players
Belgian First Division A players
2. Bundesliga players
Macedonian First Football League players
Macedonian Second Football League players
Macedonian expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria
Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Japan
Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Japan
Expatriate footballers in Greece
Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Greece
Expatriate footballers in Belgium
Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium
Expatriate footballers in Germany
Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Macedonian football managers
North Macedonia national football team managers
FK Rabotnički managers
North Macedonia national under-21 football team managers
FK Vardar managers