Blagoje "Blažo" Bratić (March 1, 1946 – July 31, 2008) was a Bosnian Canadian

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 ...

and manager.

Playing career

Club

Born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

, he started playing football in Pretis Vogošća (later known as UNIS, and today as FK Vogošća) at the age of 14. As a talented youngster, he moved to Željezničar where he would become one of the more notable Yugoslav defenders at the time. He made his debut for Željo's first team in 1964, and was a standout member of the club's greatest generation that won its only

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, ...

title in

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 mean solar tim ...

. He played 343 official competitive games for FK Željezničar, more than anyone in the club's 86-year-old history. He scored a total of 32 goals for the club in all competitions.

International

Bratić made his debut for

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

in a June 1972

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and has earned a total of 3 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a week later at the same tournament in Brazil against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. He decided to end his playing career in 1976, at the age of 30.

Managerial career

He stayed in football, however, as the head coach of lower division sides such as Lokomotiva Brčko, Famos Hrasnica, GOŠK Dubrovnik, and Iskra Bugojno, before finally getting a chance to lead a top-division team with FK Željezničar in the first part of 1987/88 season. In the early 1990s he coached in Penang,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In 1994, Bratić and his family fled to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

to escape the Bosnian War. For some time, he worked as sports director and coach of the Toronto Metro Lions.

Personal life

Bratić was married to his wife Miza with whom he had two sons named Denis and Saša.

Death

Bratić died on July 31, 2008 at the age of 62. He is interred in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery.Grave location
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Honours

Player

Željezničar *

: 1971–72

References

External links

*
Profile
at reprezentacija.rs {{DEFAULTSORT:Bratic, Blagoje 1946 births 2008 deaths Footballers from Sarajevo Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Yugoslav Wars refugees Bosnia and Herzegovina refugees Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to Canada Canadian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Canadian people of Serbian descent Association football defenders Bosnia and Herzegovina footballers Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers FK Željezničar Sarajevo players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav football managers NK GOŠK Dubrovnik managers NK Iskra Bugojno managers FK Željezničar Sarajevo managers Yugoslav First League managers Burials at York Cemetery, Toronto