Goran Bunjevčević ( sr-cyr, Горан Буњевчевић, ; 17 February 1973 – 28 June 2018) was a Serbian

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 le ...

who played as a defender in Serbia, England and the Netherlands.

Playing career

Club career

Tottenham Hotspur

Bunjevčević joined

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in May 2001 from Red Star Belgrade for a reported fee of £5 million. He made his

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 Foo ...

debut on 18 August against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in a 0–0 draw. In September of the 2001-02 season Tottenham played

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the league and Bunjevčević suffered a fractured cheekbone which left him out of the squad till December. Starting only in League Cup matches, during the 2004-05 season he scored his only goals (two) for the club (in the 6–0 away defeat of

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

on 22 September in the competition, and a late equaliser in the 4–3 away win against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

on 29 October that took the game into extra time). He was released on 26 May 2006 after five years at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

and making a total of 58 appearances in all competitions.

ADO Den Haag

After release by Tottenham, Bunjevčević joined Dutch outfit

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

. He played at the club for one season before retiring.

International career

Bunjevčević was a member of the

FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup A relationship breakup, breakup, or ...

side at the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

but he did not appear in any matches. In total, he collected sixteen caps between 1998 and 2003 for the national side.

Administrative career

At the beginning of March 2008 he was named as

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 ...

's sporting director, replacing

Stevan Stojanović Stevan Stojanović ( sr-cyr, Стеван Стојановић; born 29 October 1964) is a retired Serbian Association football, football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper best known for captaining Red Star Belgrade side which won th ...

in the position. Bunjevčević worked at the post under club president

Toplica Spasojević Toplica Spasojević ( sr-cyr, Топлица Спасојевић; born 1956 in Svilajnac, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia), is a former president of Red Star Belgrade. He has graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics. Work experience ...

. On 2 September 2008 Bunjevčević left Red Star Belgrade along with club president Spasojević. By December 2014, it had been 3 years since he became the chairman of

FK Zemun Fudbalski klub Zemun (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Земун) is a Serbian professional football club based in Zemun, Belgrade, that competes in the Serbian League Belgrade. History Immediately after the end of the Second Wo ...

. In May 2016, Bunjevčević was elected into an executive board of the

Football Association of Serbia The Football Association of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски савез Србије, ФСС / ) is the governing body of football in Serbia, based in Belgrade. It organizes Serbian football leagues, namely the Serbian Superliga, the Serbia n ...

under a new president,

Slaviša Kokeza Slaviša Kokeza ( sr-Cyrl, Славиша Кокеза, ; born 7 July 1977) is a Serbian businessman, football administrator and former player. Between 20 May 2016 to 22 March 2021, he served as the president of the Football Association of Serbia ...

. He became sport director of the association, managing among others the appointment of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

coach.

Personal life

His younger brother

Mirko Mirko (Cyrillic script: Мирко) is a masculine given name of South Slavic origin. By Slavic etymology, the name is composed of the root ''mir'' (meaning peace) and hypocoristic suffix ''-ko'' usual in South Slavic languages, which together me ...

was also a footballer.

Death

On 20 May 2018, Bunjevčević suffered an

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus (s ...

followed by a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and had to undergo emergency surgery. While in hospital care, the Serbian national team at the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

beat

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

1-0, and the team captain and only scorer

Aleksandar Kolarov Aleksandar Kolarov (; born 10 November 1985) is a Serbian former professional footballer. Although primarily a left-back, Kolarov could also operate as a centre-back and anywhere along the left flank and was known for his overlapping attacking ru ...

dedicated the goal and the win to Bunjevčević. On 28 June 2018, Bunjevčević died at the age of 45 after over a month in a coma.

Career statistics

International

Honours

;Red Star Belgrade *

First League of FR Yugoslavia The First League of Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Прва савезна лига / Prva savezna liga) was the top football league of Serbia and Montenegro, before the country's dissolution in 2006. The league was formed following the breakup of Yu ...

: 1999–00, 2000–01 *

FR Yugoslavia Cup The Serbia and Montenegro Cup was an association football knockout cup tournament of Serbia and Montenegro played between 1992 and 2006, after which Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. The competition was the continuation of the old M ...

: 1998–99, 1999–00

References

External links

Goran Bunjevčević
at reprezentacija.rs
FootballDatabase provides Goran Bunjevčević's profile and stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunjevcevic, Goran 1973 births 2018 deaths Serbs of Croatia Sportspeople from Karlovac Association football defenders Serbia and Montenegro international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players FK Rad players Red Star Belgrade footballers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players ADO Den Haag players Premier League players Eredivisie players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Serbian footballers Serbian sports executives and administrators Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro footballers Serbian expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in England Serbian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Deaths from aneurysm