Slobodan Santrač (, ; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

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 ...

manager and player. He is the all-time top scorer of 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, ...

with a total of 218 goals, as well as the top scorer in the history of

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 Karaburma, ...

. As manager, Santrač reached the knockout stage at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

with

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Koceljeva Koceljeva ( sr-cyr, Коцељева) is a village and municipality located in the Mačva District of western Serbia. According to the 2011 census results, the population of the village is 4,182, while population of the municipality is 13,129. Se ...

, Santrač grew up in

Gornji Milanovac Gornji Milanovac ( sr-Cyrl, Гoрњи Милановац, ) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 24,216, while the population of the municipality is 44,406. The town was foun ...

, starting out at local club

Takovo Takovo ( sr-cyr, Таково) is a village in the municipality of Gornji Milanovac, Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 458 people.Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i Stanova 2002. Knjiga 1: Nacionalna ili etnič ...

. He moved with his family to

Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the administrative area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants, 59,07 ...

in 1958 and soon joined Radnički, which merged into Metalac Valjevo in 1959. Due to his promising performances in the Serbian League, Santrač was transferred to

club

in the summer of 1965. He spent nine seasons with the ''Romantičari'', totaling 244 league appearances and scoring 169 goals. During that time, Santrač was the

top scorer on four occasions ( 1968,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, and

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

). He 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, ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, scoring a brace in the final against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. In 1974, after completing his

mandatory military service Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

, Santrač moved abroad and joined Swiss club

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

. He was their best scorer in both seasons during his stay with them, before returning to OFK Beograd near the end of the 1975–76 season. Santrač 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 ...

in the winter of 1978, winning

the league ''The League'' is an American sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, Illinois, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football league ...

just a few months upon arriving at the club. He spent two more seasons with the ''Crno-beli'', before switching to

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 ...

side Galenika Zemun in the 1980–81 season as part of the deal for

Dragan Mance Dragan Mance (, ; 26 September 1962 – 3 September 1985) was a Yugoslav footballer who played as a striker. He spent the majority of his career at Partizan, earning a legendary status among the club's supporters. Mance died in a car accident w ...

. With 19 goals in 1981–82, Santrač helped the team win promotion to the top flight for the first time ever. He retired from playing in 1983.

International career

Despite being a prolific scorer during his entire club career, Santrač never established himself at international level, making just eight friendly appearances (only 110 minutes played) for

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

between 1966 and 1974. His first cap for the national team came on 1 June 1966 in a 2–0 loss to

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and his only goal later that month against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, in a game that ended in a 1–1 draw.

Managerial career

In December 1994, Santrač started his managerial career at the helm of the national team of FR Yugoslavia, while the country was still under UN sanctions. He served as their manager for almost four years, qualifying the team for the

. Later on, Santrač moved to China and took charge of

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is th ...

, winning the double in 1999. He was also manager of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

(2001), and Macedonia (2005).

Death

Santrač died of a heart attack on 13 February 2016 at the age of 69.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial

Honours

Player

OFK Beograd *

: 1965–66 Partizan *

: 1977–78 *

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 ...

: 1977–78 Galenika Zemun *

: 1981–82 Individual *

Top Scorer: 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73 * European Bronze Shoe: 1971–72

Manager

Shandong Luneng *

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese, commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of the Chinese Football Associ ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh tit ...

Individual *

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country's ...

Coach of the Year: 1999

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santrac, Slobodan 1998 FIFA World Cup managers Association football forwards Beijing Renhe F.C. managers Chinese Super League managers Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in North Macedonia Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Switzerland FK Budućnost Valjevo players FK Partizan players FK Zemun players Grasshopper Club Zürich players Guangzhou City F.C. managers North Macedonia national football team managers OFK Beograd players People from Koceljeva Qingdao Hainiu F.C. (1990) managers Saudi Arabia national football team managers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate football managers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in China Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Serbia and Montenegro football managers Serbia and Montenegro national football team managers Serbian expatriate football managers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in China Serbian football managers Serbian footballers Shandong Taishan F.C. managers Swiss Super League players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav footballers Yugoslav Second League players Yugoslavia international footballers 1946 births 2016 deaths