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

, 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 data

Macedonian 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