Budimir Vujačić (born 4 January 1964) is a Montenegrin former professional

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, rugb ...

. Mainly a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he could also operate as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Born in

Titograd Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro forme ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

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 ...

, Vujačić grew up in

Petrovac na Moru Petrovac ( cnr, Петровац, ) is a coastal town in Montenegro, within Budva Municipality. Petrovac is located on the coast between Budva and Bar, where the old mountain road from Podgorica reaches the coast. It has a 600 m long sandy bea ...

, and began his football career with local outfit

OFK Petrovac OFK Petrovac is a football club based in Petrovac, Montenegro. They currently compete in the First League of Montenegro. History OFK Petrovac was founded in 1969, under the name ''FK Nafta''. During the first season, they played in the lowest-ti ...

. In 1985, aged 21, he moved abroad, playing three solid seasons for

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

in the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. In January 1988, Vujačić returned home and signed with

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, the second ...

. He was a member of the team that won 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, ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. In June 1989. he joined

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 ...

. At the

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

outfit, he was an everpresent defensive figure (also contributing with ten league goals during his spell), as the team won one

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cl ...

and the first edition of the championship after the creation of

Serbia and Montenegro 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 of the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

, with Partizan leading second-placed neighbours

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by 14 points, whilst only conceding 20 goals in 36 matches. Vujačić then joined

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

, winning the

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

in the only season in which he was a regular starter (29 matches, two goals). He retired from football in 1998 at the age of 34, after a short spell in Japan with

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The team's home stadium is Noevir Stadium Kobe, in Hyōgo-ku, though some home matc ...

International career

Vujačić made his senior national team debut for

SFR 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 ...

on 27 May 1989, in a

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

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 ...

(1–0 loss in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

) – he played the entire second half. He was later included to UEFA Euro 1992, but the nation would be suspended due to the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

. In total, he gained a total of 12

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(eight plus four for the newly created

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 of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

), but did not attend any major international tournament. His final international was a December 1996

away against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

Post-playing career

Following his retirement, Vujačić served as

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, secti ...

for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, and was responsible for bringing

Zoran Tošić Zoran Tošić ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Тошић, ; born 28 April 1987) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Greek Super League club Lamia. He has built a reputation as a free-kick specialist and a tricky dribbler. Toši ...

and

Adem Ljajić Adem Ljajić ( sr-cyr, Адем Љајић, ; born 29 September 1991) is a Serbian professional footballer who last played as an attacking midfielder for Beşiktaş and the Serbia national team. Ljajić began his career with FK Jošanica, and l ...

to the club's attention.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * *
National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vujacic, Budimir 1964 births Living people Footballers from Podgorica Association football defenders Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers Serbia and Montenegro footballers Serbia and Montenegro international footballers Montenegrin footballers OFK Petrovac players FK Obilić players SC Freiburg players FK Vojvodina players FK Partizan players Sporting CP footballers Vissel Kobe players 2. Bundesliga players Yugoslav First League players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Primeira Liga players J1 League players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Germany Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Japan Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Japan Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Montenegrin expatriate sportspeople in Portugal