Branko Kralj (10 March 1924 – 18 December 2012) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n footballer who played as

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He was born and died in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

Club career

Kralj joined local side

HŠK Concordia HŠK Concordia was a Croatian football club formed in Zagreb. The club was founded as the Srednjoškolski športski klub in 1906. By the end of the First World War the club had played many matches with both domestic and foreign clubs. After the wa ...

in 1938. After World War II when the club was disbanded he joined NK Borac. Borac later merged into today's NK Zagreb and Kralj moved to local powerhouse

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 ...

. During his time with Dinamo he appeared in a total of 108 matches (including 61

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, ...

games) and helped the club win the 1953–54 championship title. He retired the following season after sustaining a career-ending injury during a match against Velež Mostar.

International career

He was called up for

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

39 times during his time at Dinamo, but always as a substitute for the team's first-choice goalkeeper

Vladimir Beara Vladimir Beara (; 26 August 1928 – 11 August 2014) was a Yugoslav football goalkeeper and manager. He played the vast majority of his professional club career for Hajduk Split and Red Star Belgrade in the Yugoslav Federal League and for the Yu ...

of Hajduk Split. He eventually earned three caps for the national team, each time coming on as a substitute for Beara between 1954 and 1955, and was a member of the Yugoslav squad which reached the quarter-final in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. He was also part of Yugoslavia's squad at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

, but he did not play in any matches. After retiring from active football he graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

and worked in Dinamo's club management.

References

External links

*
Branko Kralj
at the

Serbia national football team The Serbia national football team ( sr, Фудбалска репрезентација Србије, Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in men's international football competition. It is controlled by the Football Association ...

website
Branko Kralj's obituary
1924 births 2012 deaths Footballers from Zagreb Association football goalkeepers Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers 1954 FIFA World Cup players HŠK Concordia players NK Zagreb players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Yugoslav First League players Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb alumni {{Croatia-footy-goalkeeper-stub