Branko Oblak (born 27 May 1947) is a Slovenian football coach and former international player. He usually played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

deep-lying playmaker A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

Playing career

Brane, as he is often known, started playing football at the youth team of Svoboda. In 1965 he went to Ljubljana's more famous club, Olimpija. He made his debut on 20 May 1966 against

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

in Belgrade, 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 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

for what was a world record fee for that season. In the 1976–77 season, Oblak's second year at the club, Schalke 04 finished the league in second place, behind Borussia 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 various

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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 Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in 1971. The same year he had the honour of playing at Pelé's farewell match at the Maracanã in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. At the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

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 ...

, he and his teammate

Danilo Popivoda Danilo Popivoda ( sr-cyr, Данило Попивода; 1 May 1947 – 9 September 2021) was a football player and manager. On the international level he played for the Yugoslavia national team (20 matches and five goals) and was a participa ...

became the first

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

ns 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 by

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. His excellent pass for the first goal in the semi final match against

is still remembered among football experts. After the tournament, he retired from international football. In altogether 46 matches he scored six goals.

Coaching career

After retirement as a football player, Oblak started coaching at various Slovenian clubs, including three times at Olimpija Ljubljana,

NK Naklo Nogometni klub Naklo ( en, Naklo Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Naklo or simply Naklo, is a Slovenian football club from Naklo. The club played a total of four seasons in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the country's highest division, in t ...

and

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top flight of Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. Koper is one of five ...

. He proved to be a good youth coach, so in February 2004 he was named the new Slovenia under-21 national coach. On 24 May 2004, he replaced

Bojan Prašnikar Bojan Prašnikar (born 3 February 1953) is a Slovenian football manager and former player. Prašnikar managed the Slovenian national team three times, between 1991 and 1993, in 1998, and between 2002 and 2004. Playing career Prašnikar starte ...

as the head coach of the

Slovenia national football team The Slovenia national football team ( sl, Slovenska nogometna reprezentanca) represents Slovenia in men's international football and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia, the governing body for football in Slovenia. The squad ...

. The team started brightly under his guidance, with the highlight being a 1–0 over

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(eventual World Champions) in a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

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 by

Matjaž Kek Matjaž Kek (born 9 September 1961) is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Slovenia national team. Playing career Kek started his career at his home club NK Maribor, before moving to another Mar ...

. In 2009, he again took the managers job at his home club

NK Olimpija Ljubljana Nogometni klub Olimpija Ljubljana (; en, Olimpija Ljubljana Football Club), commonly referred to as Olimpija Ljubljana or simply Olimpija, is a professional football club, based in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the Slo ...

. He was relieved of his duties after only four games. In November 2003,

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

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" rivals such as Srečko Katanec and

Zlatko Zahovič Zlatko Zahovič (; born 1 February 1971) is a Slovenian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. After making a name for himself in Europe in Portugal, most notably with Porto and Benfica where he amassed Primeira ...

Career statistics

International

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oblak, Branko 1947 births Living people Footballers from Ljubljana UEFA Golden Players Yugoslav footballers Slovenia national football team managers Yugoslav First League players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945–2005) players Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich footballers HNK Hajduk Split players FC Schalke 04 players HNK Šibenik players 1974 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1976 players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Yugoslav expatriates in Germany Expatriate footballers in Austria Yugoslav expatriates in Austria Expatriate footballers in Germany NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945–2005) managers NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) managers Yugoslavia international footballers Slovenian football managers NK Rudar Velenje managers Association football midfielders