Dragoslav Stepanović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгослав Степановић, ; born 30 August 1948) is a Serbian retired

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 ...

player and coach.

Club career

Stepanović made his name with

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English language, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK ...

where he was a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

fixture for 11 years between 1962 and 1973, before moving on to

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

for three seasons until 1976. Due to the transfer age restrictions in

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

he had to wait until 28 years of age to move abroad. Stepanović's first stop abroad was

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

with

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

where he became affectionately known as Steppi. He played in Frankfurt for two seasons (1976–1978). Next came a one-season stint with Wormatia Worms. In July 1979 he joined English club

Manchester City F.C. Manchester City Football Club is a professional football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Assoc ...

for £140,000, and spent two seasons there. He finished out his career back in Germany with Wormatia Worms in 1981–82 season.

International career

Stepanović is a former Yugoslav international, and used to be a favourite of national team head coach Vujadin Boškov.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Yugoslavia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Stepanović goal.''

Coaching career

Stepanović went on to become a successful football coach in Germany. He made a managerial name for himself in Germany with

before taking over at

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

, replacing Reinhard Saftig shortly before they won the 1993 DFB-Pokal Final. He was then signed to coach

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

in July 1995. He did not last until the end of the season, however, getting replaced in mid-March 1996. He was idolized in the US and finally came to Columbus, Ohio, in 2002 to coach the youth soccer club Blast FC. He has since returned to Germany, where he for a brief spell was team manager at TuS Koblenz. In December 2006, Stepanović was a short-list candidate for the Bosnia-Herzegovina national team coaching spot, but the job went to Fuad Muzurović instead. On 24 August 2007, Stepanović was named the head coach of

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

club Čukarički. His appointment came two weeks into the 2007–08 season during which Čukarički already played the Serbian powerhouses Red Star Belgrade and Partizan, managing a draw and a loss respectively, On 8 December 2008, he was fired by Čukarički.During the summer 2009 off season on 8 June 2009, he was named FK Vojvodina head coach for the upcoming 2009–10 season but he was released on 2 October 2009.

Honours

Manager

Rot-Weiss Frankfurt

* Hessian Cup: 1988-89

Bayer Leverkusen

* DFB Pokal: 1992-93

References

External links

Reprezentacija.rs profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stepanovic, Dragoslav 1948 births Living people People from Rekovac Footballers from Pomoravlje District Yugoslav men's footballers Serbian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Yugoslavia men's international footballers OFK Beograd players Red Star Belgrade footballers Eintracht Frankfurt players Yugoslav First League players Bundesliga players English Football League players Manchester City F.C. players Yugoslav football managers Serbian football managers La Liga managers Bundesliga managers 2. Bundesliga managers AEK Athens F.C. managers Bayer 04 Leverkusen managers Eintracht Frankfurt managers Kickers Offenbach managers Athletic Bilbao managers 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig managers FK Vojvodina managers Stuttgarter Kickers managers Zamalek SC managers SV Eintracht Trier 05 managers Guangzhou City F.C. managers FK Čukarički managers FK Laktaši managers Serbian expatriate men's footballers Serbian expatriate football managers Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Expatriate football managers in Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate football managers in Spain Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in Greece Serbian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in West Germany Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in West Germany