Ante Vulić (; 16 August 1928 – 7 August 1993) was a Croatian 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, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

Club career

He spent the entirety of his 11-year career with Hajduk Split, winning two Yugoslav league titles in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

. Although a talented goalkeeper, for a great part of his career he had to be a substitute to

Vladimir Beara Vladimir Beara ( sr-Cyrl, Владимир Беара; ; 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 ...

, who was named by legendary Soviet goalkeeper

Lev Yashin Lev Ivanovich Yashin (; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990) was a Soviet professional footballer considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the sport. He was the first and only goalkeeper to win a Ballon d'Or, a feat whi ...

as the greatest keeper of all time. However, he has never complained about that misfortune. According to Beara himself, Vulić was his best and most loyal friend, who even twice picked a fight to protect him. He still managed to become the second-most-capped Hajduk Split goalkeeper ever, with 339 games (116 in the league, 17 in the domestic cup, 4 international games and 202 friendlies, scoring 29 goals in total), after Radomir Vukčević (402). Despite being a long-time substitute to Beara, he was also known as an excellent penalty taker. Beara (who was the first goalkeeper ever to save a penalty to

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

in the 1952 Olympic finals, and who has also saved penalties from many other prominent strikers, having saved four penalties during a single game in a derby against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

) claimed that he has never seen a better penalty taker than Ante Vulić.

International career

Vulić was capped in the only international game the Croatia national team played while Croatia was part of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, a 5–2 win against Indonesia in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, on 12 September 1956.

Personal facts

Vulić's son,

Zoran Zoran ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран) is a common South Slavic name, the masculine form of Zora, which means ''dawn, daybreak''. The name is especially common in Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia and to some degree in Slovenia. Notable people with this g ...

, also became a long-time player for Hajduk Split, the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and later

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

, coaching Hajduk several times. Zoran also played internationally for

and Croatia and they are the only father and son who played for Croatia before its independence from Yugoslavia was established.Kapetan kojemu je Hajduk oduzeo traku jer se u Beogradu prekrižio
- Vecernji

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vulic, Ante 1928 births 1993 deaths Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football goalkeepers Yugoslav men's footballers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players Yugoslav First League players Burials at Lovrinac Cemetery