Drago "Mišo" Smajlović (; born 28 October 1938) is a Bosnian retired professional

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and former

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Club career

Smajlović began his career in Sloga, a small amateur club from

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. In 1955 he moved to the youth team of Željezničar. Two years later, Smajlović signed a professional contract with Željezničar for whom he played more than 400 games and scored 241 goals. He was handed his debut by Miroslav Brozović. If considering only official matches, he played 190 games and scored 97 goals (with 88 goals in 166 league matches). Smajlović was the top goalscorer of the 1962–63 Yugoslav First League season with 18 goals. In 1967, he went abroad to Belgium to play at

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. After a season and a half in Belgium, Smajlović returned to Yugoslavia and continued playing for Olimpija Ljubljana and Čelik Zenica after which he ended his professional playing career.

International career

Smajlović was one of the best strikers in Yugoslavia at the time. He played for youth national teams and the "B team", before making his debut for the senior Yugoslavia national team in 1963. He collected four

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for Yugoslavia, scoring one goal. His final international was an April 1964

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against

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. Smajlović is remembered as a great sportsman. Journalists often called him a ''gentleman in the football shoes''. The fact that Smajlović did not play for one of the bigger Yugoslav clubs limited his chances of being a regular choice in the national team.

Managerial career

After his playing days were over, Smajlović dedicated himself to a managerial career. In 1988, he was invited to Canada and soon after was named

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in the

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. Smajlović was the manager of his former club Željezničar on several occasions. He also worked as a sporting director in the club. It is important to say that he was among the responsible ones for saving Željezničar going

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during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

. In 1997, he was elected to be a head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 national team. After Faruk Hadžibegić stepped down as senior Bosnia and Herzegovina national team head coach in October 1999, Smajlović was first appointed as a caretaker head coach and several months later, in 2000, he was definitely elected as head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. After the end of his contract in 2002, Smajlović never renewed it. He ultimately decided to end his managerial career after leaving the national team.

Honours

Player

Željezničar *

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

(West): 1961–62 Čelik ZenicaMitropa Cup
at rsssf.org * Mitropa Cup: 1971–72 Individual *

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) ...

top scorer: 1962–63

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smajlovic, Miso 1938 births Living people Footballers from Sarajevo Men's association football forwards Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers FK Željezničar Sarajevo players Standard Liège players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945–2005) players NK Čelik Zenica players Yugoslav First League players Yugoslav Second League players Belgian Pro League players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Yugoslav football managers Toronto Croatia coaches Bosnia and Herzegovina football managers FK Željezničar Sarajevo managers Bosnia and Herzegovina national under-21 football team managers Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team managers Canadian National Soccer League coaches Yugoslav First League managers First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers Yugoslav expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Canada