Nenad Bjeković (, ; born 5 November 1947) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

n football administrator and former player 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Lazarevo Lazarevo (; hu, Lázárfő) is a village located in the Zrenjanin municipality, in the Central Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The village has a Serb ethnic majority (94.77%) and a total populat ...

, a village near

Zrenjanin Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; hu, Nagybecskerek; ro, Becicherecu Mare; sk, Zreňanin; german: Großbetschkerek) is a city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbi ...

, Bjeković started out at his local club Zadrugar Lazarevo, before switching to Proleter Zrenjanin. He stayed there for four years, making his

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, ...

debut in the 1967–68 season. In 1969, Bjeković was transferred to

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 ...

. He spent seven seasons with the ''Crno-beli'', netting 82 league goals in 198 appearances. In the 1975–76 season, Bjeković was the Yugoslav First League top scorer with 24 goals, helping Partizan win its seventh championship title. In 1976, Bjeković moved abroad to France and signed with

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

. He played five seasons with ''Les Aiglons'', scoring a total of 85 goals in 143 league appearances. In 2013, Bjeković was named the club's player of the century.

International career

At international level, Bjeković played 22 matches for

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

and netted four goals. He scored on his debut for the national team in a friendly match against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in Belo Horizonte on 19 December 1968. His last cap came on 24 February 1976 in a 2–1 away friendly win over

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

in Algiers.

Post-playing career

After hanging up his boots, Bjeković started his managerial career as an assistant to

Miloš Milutinović Miloš Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Милутиновић; 5 February 1933 – 28 January 2003) was a Serbian professional footballer and manager from Yugoslavia. Milutinović is regarded as one of the most talented players in his count ...

at Partizan in 1982. He would replace Milutinović as manager at the start of the 1984–85 season. At the helm of Partizan, Bjeković won back-to-back championship titles in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

. In 1987, Bjeković was appointed as manager of his former club

. He was released after two years in charge. In 1990, Bjeković returned to Partizan as manager, but stayed just two months. After his managerial career, Bjeković served as

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 ...

of Partizan for almost two decades. He resigned from the position in May 2007. On 17 April 2018, Bjeković was elected as vice-president of the Serbian Football Association.

Personal life

Bjeković is the father of fellow footballer

Nenad Bjeković Nenad Bjeković (, ; born 5 November 1947) is a Serbian football administrator and former player and manager. Club career Born in Lazarevo, a village near Zrenjanin, Bjeković started out at his local club Zadrugar Lazarevo, before switching to ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Yugoslavia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bjeković goal''

Honours

Player

Proleter Zrenjanin *

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918–1 ...

: 1966–67 Partizan *

: 1975–76 Individual *

Top Scorer: 1975–76

Manager

Partizan *

: 1985–86, 1986–87

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjekovic, Nenad Association football forwards Expatriate football managers in France Expatriate footballers in France FK Partizan managers FK Partizan non-playing staff FK Partizan players FK Proleter Zrenjanin players Ligue 1 managers Ligue 1 players OGC Nice managers OGC Nice players Serbian football managers Serbian footballers Serbian sports executives and administrators Sportspeople from Zrenjanin Yugoslav expatriate football managers Yugoslav expatriate footballers Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in France Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers Yugoslav footballers Yugoslav Second League players Yugoslavia international footballers 1947 births Living people