Ivan Toplak (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Иван Toплaк; 21 September 1931 – 25 July 2021) was a Serbian

football player 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Toplak played for

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 ...

and

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 ...

, with whom he had much success. As a player he also represented the Yugoslavia national team. As a manager he also managed Red Star, had a managing period in the United States, managed almost all levels of the Yugoslavia national team and also managed the Indonesia national team. At the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, he guided Yugoslavia to a bronze medal.

Club career

Toplak started his career at

NK Branik Maribor Nogometni klub Branik Maribor ( en, Branik Maribor Football Club), known as NK Branik or simply Branik, was an association football club based in the city of Maribor. Founded on 29 January 1949 they traced their origin back to 1919 and the esta ...

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

, where his family moved in 1943 from

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. In 1951, he signed with

, where he spent playing the next three years. With Olimpija, he won the

Slovenian Republic League The Slovenian Republic Football League ( sl, Slovenska republiška nogometna liga) was the highest football league in Slovenia within the Yugoslav football system. During the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the Ljubljana Subas ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

. In 1954, Toplak left Olimpija for

. He played at Red Star for seven years, until 1961. With Red Star he won the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

in the seasons 1955–56, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60. He had also won the

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

in the 1957–58 season and the 1958–59 season. On international club level, he won the

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hungar ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

. He left Red Star in 1961 and shortly after retired from football at the age of 30.

International career

Toplak earned one cap for the Yugoslavia national team in 1956, but did not score a goal in that game.

Managerial career

In 1964, Toplak became the new manager of

in the

. He managed the club for two years, but did not manage to win anything. After Yugoslavia, he went to the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 1967, where he managed the

California Clippers California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

from 1967 to 1968,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

from 1969 to 1971 and the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

from 1974 to 1975. In 1976 he left the US and came back to

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

, where from 1976 to 1977, he was manager of the Yugoslavia national team. After the A team, he managed the Yugoslavia U20 and Yugoslavia U21 sides, both at the same time from 1978 to 1980. He led the U21 side at the 1980 UEFA Euro U21 Championship where he got the team to the

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. In 1984, he led the Yugoslavia U23 side at the

. He guided the team to third place. In 1986 he was a co-manager of the Yugoslavia national team, this time alongside

Ivica Osim Ivan Osim (6 May 1941 – 1 May 2022), best known as Ivica Osim, was a Bosnian professional footballer and football manager. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football managers of all time and as one of the most influential foo ...

. From 1991 to 1993, Toplak managed the Indonesia national team. In 1993, after leaving Indonesia, he announced his managerial retirement.

Death

Toplak died on 25 July 2021 at the age of 89.

Honours

Player

Olimpija Ljubljana *

Red Star Belgrade *

: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1959–60 *

: 1957–58, 1958–59 *

Manager

Yugoslavia *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

Third place:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

References

External links

Profile on Serbian federation official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toplak, Ivan 1931 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Belgrade Serbian men's footballers Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Men's association football forwards NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945–2005) players Red Star Belgrade footballers Yugoslav First League players Yugoslavia national football team managers Yugoslav football managers Yugoslav expatriate football managers Serbian football managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Indonesia national football team managers Red Star Belgrade managers San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) coaches Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Expatriate football managers in Indonesia Serbia and Montenegro expatriate football managers Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the United States