Fredi Bobic ( sl, Fredi Bobič, born 30 October 1971) is a German football executive and former player who played as a striker. He is the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

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 ...

club Hertha BSC.

Club career

Bobic was born in Maribor, SFR Yugoslavia, to a Slovene father and a Croatian mother. A few months after his birth, his parents emigrated with him to Germany and settled down first in

Ditzingen Ditzingen ( Swabian: ''Ditzenge'') is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km northwest of Stuttgart, and 12 km southwest of Ludwigsburg. The Hirschlanden transmitter was ...

, then in Stuttgart. There, he started playing football at VfR Bad Cannstatt but soon switched to the youth team of VfB Stuttgart. While in Stuttgart, he also acquired German citizenship. Bobic reached his prime in the mid-1990s at VfB Stuttgart in the

. In his first Bundesliga season (1994–95), he scored a goal in each of his first five games, so he became a candidate for the Germany national team after only a few appearances in the first German league. In 1996, he was the Bundesliga's top scorer with 17 goals. At Stuttgart, he formed part of a successful attacking line-up, along with strike partner

Giovane Élber Élber de Souza (born 23 July 1972), commonly known as Giovane Élber, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer in various clubs, Élber's career was mostly spent in Germany, where he repres ...

and attacking midfielder

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov ( bg, Красимир Генчев Балъков, ; born 29 March 1966) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who last served as the head coach of Bulgarian club CSKA 1948. A former attacking ...

, known as the "magic triangle". After four years in Stuttgart, in 1999 he signed with

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

and was the club's top scorer in both 1999–2000 and 2000–01. However, after the signings of

Jan Koller Jan Koller (; born 30 March 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was noted for his height, strong physique, and heading ability. He began his career at Sparta Prague, then moved to Belgium, where he becam ...

and

Márcio Amoroso Márcio Amoroso dos Santos (born 5 July 1974) is a Brazilian football pundit and former professional player who mainly played as a forward. He played for several teams in his home country as well as in Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece ...

in the summer of 2001, he soon fell out of favor and played only three games in the first half of 2001–02 season. Subsequently, Bobic was loaned to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

side Bolton Wanderers, where he had a successful spell, playing a key role in keeping Bolton in the Premiership. His

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in the 4–1 win against Ipswich at the Reebok Stadium ensured Bolton stayed up, and remained the last Bolton hat-trick in a competitive game until Joe Mason in the 2014–15 season. He scored once more for Bolton, in a 3–2 victory over Aston Villa. After returning from England, Bobic was signed by newly promoted Bundesliga side Hannover 96 where he reestablished himself as one of the league's top scorers, netting 14 times in 27 games. In 2003, he was signed by Hertha BSC, where he played for two seasons, scoring 8 goals in 54 games. He last played for Croatian outfit NK Rijeka before retiring in June 2006, at the end of the 2005–06 season.

International career

Bobic won 37

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

(10 goals) for the Germany national team and was part of the

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

winning squad. He also played at

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, having returned to the national team in 2002 after a four-year absence.

Managerial career

upBobic with VfB Stuttgart Bobic signed a contract as a managing director of Bulgarian club Chernomorets Burgas on 25 March 2009 and worked in the club with his former teammate Krasimir Balakov. On 27 July 2010, Bobic became new director of sport of

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

. On 20 January 2012, he extended his contract with VfB Stuttgart until June 2016. He took on the role as board representative for sport of the club on 10 April 2013. Bobic was sacked on 24 September 2014. On 1 June 2016, Bobic became sporting director of

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 ...

. During his term the club won the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

after beating Bayern Munich in the final (3–1). On 14 April 2021, Hertha BSC announced its decision to hire Bobic as their new managing director for sport starting 1 July 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

: 1996–97 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

: runner-up: 1997–98 Borussia Dortmund *

: 2001–02 NK Rijeka * Croatian Cup: 2005–06 Germany *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: 1996 Individual * Bundesliga top scorer: 1995–96 * ''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

Team of the Season: 1995–96

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bobic, Fredi 1971 births Living people Naturalized citizens of Germany Yugoslav emigrants to Germany Slovenian emigrants to Germany German people of Slovenian descent German people of Croatian descent Slovenian people of Croatian descent Sportspeople from Maribor German footballers Association football forwards Germany international footballers UEFA European Championship-winning players Kicker-Torjägerkanone Award winners UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2004 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Premier League players Croatian Football League players Stuttgarter Kickers players VfB Stuttgart players TSF Ditzingen players Borussia Dortmund players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Hannover 96 players Hertha BSC players HNK Rijeka players German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Croatia