Božidar Senčar (1927–1985) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who started playing for his hometown club

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 ...

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

in 1946.

Club career

After spending a season and a half with Dinamo he was picked up by Partizan during the 1947–48 season where he spent the following three seasons, helping them win the Yugoslav championship in 1949. In 1950, he returned to Dinamo and won the

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

in 1951. In 1952, he left Dinamo again, this time to join their biggest Croatian rivals, Hajduk Split, with whom he reached the Yugoslav Cup final in 1953 (which Hajduk lost to BSK Belgrade 2–0). After two seasons at Hajduk, Senčar returned to Zagreb and joined NK Zagreb where he played a single season before joining German giants Bayern Munich for the 1956–57 season. His last stop was at NAC Breda where he had only three appearances in the last season of his professional career, before retiring in 1958.

International career

Senčar made his debut for

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 ...

in a 1950 World Cup qualifier against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

on 21 August 1949 in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

which Yugoslavia won 6–0. Senčar scored his only international goal in the 44th minute after a hat-trick by Miloš Pajević. He later appeared at the away game against Israel in September 1949, but was subsequently dropped from the squad led by Milorad Arsenijević to the 1950 World Cup. After the World Cup, he earned one more cap in a friendly against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in May 1951.

Honours

**Winner (1): 1948–49 ''(with Partizan)'' *

**Winner (1): 1951 ''(with

)'' **Runner-up (1): 1953 ''(with Hajduk Split)''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sencar, Bozidar 1927 births 1985 deaths Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players FK Partizan players HNK Hajduk Split players NK Zagreb players FC Bayern Munich footballers NAC Breda players Yugoslav First League players Bundesliga players Eredivisie players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands