Mladen Vranković (2 July 1937 – 12 February 2021) was a Croatian

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 manager.

Career

Born in

Rtina Rtina is a village in northern Dalmatia, Croatia. The population is 452 (census 2011). Rtina belongs to Zadar County, and is located about 13 km from the Motorway No. 1, Zagreb – Split. Rtina lies on a small promontory whose northeastern ...

, he played for his hometown club,

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...

, for eight seasons, collecting 350 caps. He also spent three years in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

playing for

Kansas City Spurs The Kansas City Spurs were an American professional soccer team who played in the North American Soccer League, based in Kansas City, Missouri. They played their home games at Kansas City Municipal Stadium, former home of the Kansas City Chief ...

. Following the end of his career he became a manager. He was Rijeka's manager between 1987 and 1989, leading the club to the

1986–87 Yugoslav Cup The 1986–87 Yugoslav Cup was the 39th season of the top football knockout competition in SFR Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Cup (), also known as the "Marshal Tito Cup" (''Kup Maršala Tita''), since its establishment in 1946. Hajduk Split beat Rijek ...

final against

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

. He briefly coached Australian club

Sydney Croatia Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but it ...

in the now defunct

Australian National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

during the 1991–92 season.

Managerial statistics

: *Dates of first and last games under Vranković; not dates of official appointments

Honours

Kansas City Spurs * NASL:

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

* Western Conference:

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

References

1937 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Rijeka Sportspeople from Zadar County Men's association football defenders Yugoslav men's footballers HNK Rijeka players Kansas City Spurs players Yugoslav First League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in the United States Yugoslav football managers HNK Rijeka managers HNK Šibenik managers Croatian football managers Sydney United 58 FC managers HNK Orijent managers NK Zadar managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in Australia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Australia National Soccer League (Australia) managers {{Croatia-footy-defender-stub