Dragoslav Stepanović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгослав Степановић, ; born 30 August 1948) is a Serbian retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach.

Club career

Stepanović made his name with

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburm ...

where he was a

right back 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 ...

fixture for 11 years between 1962 and 1973, before moving on to

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

for three seasons until 1976. Due to the transfer age restrictions in

SFR 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 ...

he had to wait until 28 years of age to move abroad. Stepanović's first stop abroad was

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 ...

with

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

where he became affectionately known as Steppi. He played in Frankfurt for two seasons (1976–1978). Next came a one-season stint with

Wormatia Worms VfR Wormatia 08 Worms is a German association football club that plays in Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club and its historical predecessors were regular participants in regional first-division football competition until the formation of the ...

. In July 1979 he joined English club

Manchester City F.C. Manchester City Football Club are an England, English association football, football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English football. Fo ...

for £140,000, and spent two seasons there. He finished out his career back in Germany with Wormatia Worms in 1981–82 season.

International career

Stepanović is a former Yugoslav international, and used to be a favourite of national team head coach

Vujadin Boškov Vujadin Boškov ( sr-cyr, Вујадин Бошков, ; 16 May 1931 – 27 April 2014) was a Serbian footballer and manager. A midfielder, he played 57 matches for the Yugoslav national team. He experienced his greatest success as a coach in 1 ...

International goals

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

Coaching career

Stepanović went on to become a successful football coach in Germany. He made a managerial name for himself in Germany with

before taking over at

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

, replacing Reinhard Saftig shortly before they won the 1993 DFB-Pokal Final. He was then signed to coach

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

in July 1995. He did not last until the end of the season, however, getting replaced in mid-March 1996. He was idolized in the US and finally came to Columbus, Ohio, in 2002 to coach the youth soccer club Blast FC. He has since returned to Germany, where he for a brief spell was team manager at

TuS Koblenz TuS Koblenz is a German association football club, located in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Fussball Club Deutschland Neuendorf, which was formed in 1911, is viewed as the foundation of the modern club. History Nazi era (1933–1945) The or ...

. In December 2006, Stepanović was a short-list candidate for the Bosnia-Herzegovina national team coaching spot, but the job went to

Fuad Muzurović Fuad Muzurović (born 3 November 1945) is a Bosnian retired professional football manager and former player. Playing career Although he did not have an international playing career, Muzurović is still remembered as a quality full-back playing ...

instead. On 24 August 2007, Stepanović was named the head coach of the

Serbian Superliga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

club

FK Čukarički Fudbalski klub Čukarički () is a Serbian professional Football team, football club from Belgrade, more precisely from the Čukarica municipality, that currently plays in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of Serbian football league system, Se ...

. His appointment came two weeks into the 2007–08 season during which Čukarički already played the Serbian powerhouses Red Star Belgrade and

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 ...

, managing a draw and a loss respectively, On 8 December 2008, he was fired by Čukarički. During the summer 2009 off season on 8 June 2009, he was named FK Vojvodina head coach for the upcoming 2009–10 season but he was released on 2 October 2009.

References

External links

Reprezentacija.rs profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stepanovic, Dragoslav 1948 births Living people People from Rekovac Yugoslav footballers Serbian footballers Association football defenders Yugoslavia international footballers OFK Beograd players Red Star Belgrade footballers Eintracht Frankfurt players Yugoslav First League players Bundesliga players English Football League players Manchester City F.C. players Yugoslav football managers Serbian football managers La Liga managers Bundesliga managers 2. Bundesliga managers AEK Athens F.C. managers Bayer 04 Leverkusen managers Eintracht Frankfurt managers Kickers Offenbach managers Athletic Bilbao managers 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig managers FK Vojvodina managers Stuttgarter Kickers managers Zamalek SC managers SV Eintracht Trier 05 managers Guangzhou City F.C. managers FK Čukarički managers FK Laktaši managers Serbian expatriate footballers Serbian expatriate football managers Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in West Germany Expatriate football managers in Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate football managers in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in Greece Serbian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in West Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in West Germany