Blagoje Paunović (

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, t ...

: Благоје Пауновић; 4 June 1947 – 9 December 2014) was 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 defender 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 ...

Playing career

Born in Pusto Šilovo,

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

, he started his youth career in

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; en, Partizan Football Club), sometimes known as Partizan Belgrade in English, is a Serbia, Serbian professional football club (association football), football ...

as a nine-year-old, although minimum age required to start playing for Partizan youths was ten. He was spotted by Partizan coach Virgil Popescu who insisted in bringing him over. Apart from short spell abroad, Blagoje spent most of his time in Partizan and, as a player or coach, he was part of Partizan for almost half a century. Paunović played for ten seasons with

, amassing nearly 300 official appearances with the Belgrade club. During the 70's, he formed an efficient backline alongside

Dragan Holcer Dragan Holcer (19 January 1945 – 23 September 2015) was a Yugoslav footballer who played as a defender. Holcer was born in captivity in a Nazi prison camp to Slovenian father Franc Holcer and Austrian mother Ida Orelli of mixed Austrian-Italia ...

and

Miroslav Pavlović Miroslav Pavlović ( sr-cyrl, Мирослав Павловић; 23 October 1942 – 19 January 2004) was a Serbian footballer. While playing in the United States, he was known as Miro Pavlovic. On the national level he played for Yugoslavia na ...

. At 28, in 1975, Paunović joined FC Utrecht in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. After two seasons abroad he returned home for a spell with OFK Kikinda, played briefly in the

United States 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

by representing the

Oakland Stompers The Oakland Stompers were a soccer team based out of Oakland, California that played the 1978 season in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Stompers played in the Western Division of the American Conference and finished the year with ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

and closed out his career also in his country's capital, with lowly FK Sinđelić; whilst in North America, he played under the name Paki Paunovich. On the international level, Paunović played a total of 39 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 ...

, making his debut on 12 November 1967 in a 4–0 home win against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

for the

UEFA Euro 1968 The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third UEFA European Championship, an event held every four years and organised by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968. It ...

qualifiers, and participating at the final stages in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Coaching career

In the 1994–95 campaign Paunović, already a coach, was one of five managers in charge of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in '' Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...

, which ranked last in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

with an all-time low 13 points. In 2009, after a long spell with Partizan's youth teams, he signed with Serbian first division side

FK Smederevo Fudbalski klub Smederevo 1924 ( sr-cyr, Фудбалски клуб Смедерево 1924), commonly known as Smederevo, is a Serbian professional football club based in Smederevo. During Yugoslavia the club mainly played in amateur ranks of co ...

Personal life

Paunović's son, Veljko, was also a footballer and later manager of Chicago Fire,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, and the Serbian U18, U19, and U20 teams. He too started his extensive career with Partizan, but played mainly in Spain.

References

External links

National team data
* *

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paunovic, Blagoje 1947 births 2014 deaths People from Medveđa Yugoslav men's footballers Serbian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Yugoslav First League players FK Partizan players OFK Kikinda players Eredivisie players FC Utrecht players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Oakland Stompers players Yugoslavia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1968 players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the United States Serbian football managers La Liga managers CD Logroñés managers FK Teleoptik managers FK Smederevo 1924 managers Serbian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain FK Partizan non-playing staff Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Spain FK Sinđelić Beograd players