Zlatko Papec (17 January 1934 – 3 February 2013) was a Croatian footballer.

Club career

He began his career playing as a left winger at Zagreb's Lokomotiva, at the time when the club was a regular member 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, ...

, and was part of the greatest attacking lineup in the history of the club, alongside Josip Odžak,

Vladimir Čonč Vladimir Čonč (13 January 1928 – 15 October 2012) was a Croatian footballer. Club career He played for several clubs from Zagreb, including Građanski, NK Poštar and Lokomotiva, but is best remembered for his eight-year spell with Dina ...

Vladimir Firm Vladimir Firm (5 June 1923 – 27 November 1996) was a Croatian football player. He was part of Yugoslavia's squad at the 1952 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches. International career Firm made his debut for Yugoslavia in a Jun ...

and Drago Hmelina. Papec appeared in 57 league matches for Lokomotiva in the period from 1952 to 1955, when he was

conscripted 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 und ...

and then served the compulsory military service in the

Yugoslav Navy The Yugoslav Navy ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска ратна морнарица, Jugoslavenska ratna mornarica, Yugoslav War Navy), was the navy of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992. It was essentially a coastal defense force with the miss ...

. After leaving the navy he joined

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

in 1956 and stayed with the club until 1964. In this period he appeared in a total of 366 matches and scored 167 goals (including 177 appearances and 55 goals in the First League). In 1964 he moved abroad and joined second level West German side

Freiburger FC Freiburger FC () is a German association football club based in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg. Freiburger FC were one of the founding clubs of the DFB ( German Football Association) in 1900. History Founded in 1897, for many decades FFC were t ...

, where he established himself as a first team regular immediately upon arrival and appeared in 130 matches in his four seasons with club. In 1968, he returned to Yugoslavia and briefly joined NK Rijeka. He had effectively retired in the late 1960s, although he later returned to the pitch and had a brief stint with second-level side NK Junak Sinj in the 1971–1972 season.

International career

Papec was capped for

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

six times between 1953 and 1956. He made his debut on 14 May 1953 in a friendly against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

played at

Heysel Stadium The King Baudouin Stadium (french: Stade Roi Baudouin , nl, Koning Boudewijnstadion ) is a sports ground in north-west Brussels, Belgium. Located in the Heysel district of the City of Brussels, it was built to embellish the Heysel Plateau in ...

and his last international game was a friendly against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

held on 23 December 1956 in Jakarta. He was also a member of the Yugoslav squad which reached the quarter-finals at the 1954 World Cup and was part of the Yugoslav team which won silver medal at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

in Melbourne.

International goals

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Papec, Zlatko 1934 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Zagreb Association football forwards Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers 1954 FIFA World Cup players Footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Yugoslavia Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players HNK Hajduk Split players Freiburger FC players HNK Rijeka players NK Junak Sinj players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in West Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Yugoslav football managers RNK Split managers NK Maribor managers Burials at Lovrinac Cemetery