Safet "Pape" Sušić (; born 13 April 1955) is a Bosnian professional

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 ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. He was a gifted

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 ...

known for his dribbling skills and technical ability, and is strongly reputed to have been one of the finest European players of his generation. Sušić played 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 two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, and at

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

. As a manager, he qualified the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team to the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

. Sušić played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, often in a role of ''trequartista'' or ''fantasista'' (i.e. a creative playmaker) and rarely as a second striker for

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 ...

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

and

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

, and internationally for Yugoslavia. Even more later during his career, he was utilized more in a role of a deep-lying playmaker, both for club and national team. In 2010, ''

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

'' voted Sušić as Paris Saint-Germain's best player of all time and the best foreign player of

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

of all time, with his compatriot and friend who also had a spell with PSG, Vahid Halilhodžić, being voted seventh. As part of the

UEFA Jubilee Awards To celebrate the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)'s 50th anniversary in 2004, each of its member associations was asked by UEFA to choose one of its own players as the single most outstanding player of the past 50 years (1954–2003). ...

in 2004, the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina chose Sušić as the nation's greatest ever player. Following his retirement from playing, Sušić started working as a manager. He worked for a number of club sides:

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

İstanbulspor İstanbulspor Kulübü is a Turkish association football, football and sports club founded by Istanbul High School students in 1926. In 2004–05, they were relegated from the Turkish Süper Lig (Super League) to the TFF First League. For many d ...

, Al Hilal,

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

, Ankaragücü,

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Rize, a city on the eastern Black Sea region, Black Sea coast. The team competes in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Football in Turkey, Turkish footba ...

, Ankaraspor, Évian,

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü, known as Corendon Alanyaspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are play ...

, Akhisarspor and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Sušić won his only trophy as manager with Akhisarspor, the 2018 Turkish Super Cup.

Club career

Early career

Born in Zavidovići, FPR Yugoslavia, present-day

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, Sušić started playing football in the youth team of his hometown club Krivaja. In 1972, he joined the youth team of

Sarajevo

Sušić made his senior debut for Sarajevo in 1973, one year after joining the youth team. During the 1979–80 season, he was the top scorer in the

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) ...

with 17 goals. In 1979, he was honoured as the Yugoslav Footballer of the Year, also being selected as the best athlete hailing from

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

. In 1981, Sušić was awarded the Sixth April Award of Sarajevo.

Paris Saint-Germain

In 1982, Sušić signed with

, where he became a star on the European stage. During his first season with the club, Sušić helped PSG to win the

1982–83 Coupe de France The Coupe de France 1982–83 was its 66th edition. It was won by Paris SG which defeated FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes, commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Naunnt''), is a French professional ...

, scoring three goals over two legs in the semi-final against

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, and once in 3–2 victory over

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. During the 1985–86 season, Sušić scored ten goals as the Parisiens won their first ever national league title. Overall, Sušić scored 85 goals and made a record 95 assists for PSG between 1982 and 1991. He is fifth in the club's all-time appearance list with 344 appearances, tied with Paul Le Guen. On 22 September 1984, in a 7–1 home drubbing of

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

, he assisted on five of the side's goals. At 36, Sušić went to the second

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

-based club for a final year with

. On 5 February 2010, ''

''chose Sušić as the best player in the history of

, ahead of players such as Carlos Bianchi, Mustapha Dahleb,

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or left winger. Widely reg ...

George Weah George Manneh Oppong Weah (born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian politician and former professional Association football, footballer who served as the 25th president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Before his election for the presidency, Weah served ...

, Joël Bats, Raí and Luis Fernández.

Red Star

In his only season with Red Star, he played in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

, the second division of French Football. He played in 17 league games for the club in that season campaign, scoring 3 goals in the process. Shortly after leaving Red Star, Sušić announced his retirement from football in 1992.

International career

During Sušić's playing career, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of

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 ...

and thus he represented the Yugoslavia national team at international level. Between 1977 and 1990, Sušić appeared 54 times for Yugoslavia, scoring 21 times. He debuted for his country in 1977 and scored his first goals for the team against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in October of that year. A month later, he scored a hat-trick in a 6–4 victory against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

during the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification. However, this was Yugoslavia's only victory of their group and they failed to qualify for the tournament finals. In June 1979, Sušić scored his second international hat-trick as Yugoslavia beat

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 ...

4–1 in a friendly match held 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 ...

. In September, he again scored three times in a 4–2 win over world champions

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Sušić was a member of the Yugoslav team that qualified for the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

, scoring once in a 5–0 win against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. Sušić was top scorer of Yugoslavia in

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for

. His two goals in a 3–2 win over

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

in the final qualification fixture helped Yugoslavia to finish three points ahead of the Bulgarians and one point ahead of

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and advance to the tournament finals. Yugoslavia ultimately finished bottom of their group in France, losing all three matches. At the age of 35, Sušić made his second appearance at a World Cup finals as a member of Yugoslavia's squad for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

in Italy. He scored his only World Cup goal in the team's 4–1 win against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

during the group stage. He played 61 minutes before being substituted for

Dejan Savićević Dejan Savićević ( cyrl, Дејан Савићевић, ; born 15 September 1966) is a Montenegrin former professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Since 2001, he has been the president of the Football ...

in the penalty shootout loss to eventual runners-up Argentina at the quarter-final stage. His final international was a November 1990 European Championship qualification match away against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. In 2004, to celebrate

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

's Jubilee, Sušić was selected as the Golden Player of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.Golden players take center stage
; UEFA.com, 29 November 2003 His former international teammate, Darko Pančev declared:

Managerial career

Early career

Sušić first managed French club

during the 1994–95 season and the beginning of the 1995–96. From 1996 until 1999, he managed

, then Al Hilal in 2001,

from 2004 to 2005, Ankaragücü from 2005 until 2006,

on two occasions, first in 2006 and the second time from 2007 to 2008. Sušić was then hired by Ankaraspor in March 2008. He left Ankaraspor in June 2008.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

On 28 December 2009, Sušić was named head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. His debut was a friendly match against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. Bosnia and Herzegovina won the game 2–1 after goals from Vedad Ibišević and Miralem Pjanić. After only 2 wins in Sušić's 6 first matches in charge of the national team, including an important 2–0 loss against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

, Sušić came under a lot of criticism from several journalists and columnists who called for his head. Sušić recorded a 1–1 draw against France during a second game in

and ensured Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for their second consecutive qualification play-off berth for UEFA Euro 2012 which was played against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in November of that year.

2014 FIFA World Cup

From August 2012 to August 2013, Sušić's Bosnia and Herzegovina side was on a nine-game unbeaten streak run. On 8 August 2013, the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team achieved their highest ever FIFA ranking, 13th place. On 15 October 2013, the country qualified for the

in Brazil, their first major tournament in the country's history as an independent nation. Sušić's side fared well in their first World Cup match against

despite losing 2–1. An unlucky own goal and some brilliance from football legend

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

saw them to a defeat. However, highs taken from the match were the good play the team demonstrated and the materialisation of their first World Cup goal scored by Vedad Ibišević. The team however controversially exited the competition at the group stage of the tournament after their second game against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

having an equaliser scored by Edin Džeko wrongly disallowed for offside. This revitalised the calls for reformation of the FIFA governing body and the replacement of linesmen with technology so as to remove human error from lines decisions. Bosnia and Herzegovina won their last game in the competition against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

with a healthy 3–1 victory which would've seen them through instead of Nigeria, who incidentally failed to defeat Iran, to a round of 16 match with France.

Contract extension and sacking

In July 2014, Sušić signed a two-year contract to continue as head coach, after he withdrew his resignation. On 17 November 2014, the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sušić parted ways after poor showing of the national team in the first four games of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.

Évian

On 13 July 2015, Sušić was named manager of French

club Évian. On his debut he registered a draw. After the first four rounds, his new side registered four drawn games. On 11 January 2016, Sušić was sacked by Évian due to a run of poor results at the club. After 20 rounds, the club was placed 13th on the table and were eliminated from the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

at the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

. He was replaced by Romain Revelli.

Alanyaspor

On 27 January 2017, Sušić signed a contract with

until June 2018. He was sacked on 25 December 2017 because of a string of poor results.

Akhisarspor

On 30 June 2018, Sušić was named new manager of

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

winner Akhisarspor. After about a month and a half, Akhisarspor as cup winners, participated in the Turkish Super Cup match against league champions Galatasaray. The result after full-time was 1–1, but Akhisar won 5–4 on penalties. That was Akhisar's second mayor trophy in the club's history and the first in Sušić's managerial career. On 17 September 2018, after only collecting two points in five games in the league, Sušić was sacked.

Legacy

'' Safet Sušić Pape'' is a bestseller novel written by Bosnian novelist

Zlatko Topčić Zlatko Topčić (born 30 April 1955) is a Bosnian screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He has written a number of films, including: ''Remake (2003 film), Remake'', ''The Abandoned (2010 film), The Abandoned'', ''Miracle in Bosnia''; theater p ...

, and published in 2007. Popular Sarajevo sketch comedy and variety TV series, Top Lista Nadrealista, also on occasion treated a subject of football and popular sportsmen-women in their program, with songs dedicated to Sušić and Yugoslav national football team under management of another Sarajevan,

Ivica Osim Ivan Osim (6 May 1941 – 1 May 2022), best known as Ivica Osim, was a Bosnian professional Football player, footballer and Manager (association football), football manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football managers of all ...

, being prominent feature of couple episodes.

Personal life

Sušić comes from a sporting family. Sead Sušić, a former footballer, is Safet's older brother. Safet's nephew, Tino-Sven Sušić, is also a footballer, formerly even a player of

who also alongside Safet appeared at the

in Brazil. Safet's mother Paša died on 28 April 2018 at the age of 96.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Paris Saint-Germain * French Division 1: 1985–86 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 1982–83 Individual *''Sport Ideal European XI'': 1979 * ADN Eastern European Footballer of the Season: 1979, 1984 *

Foreign Player of the Year: 1982–83 * Yugoslav Footballer of the Year: 1979 *

– Greatest Bosnian Footballer of the last 50 Years: 2003 *

Top Goalscorer: 1979–80 (17 goals)

Manager

Akhisarspor * Turkish Super Cup:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Individual * Bosnia and Herzegovina Manager of the Year:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Awards

* Sixth April Award of Sarajevo: 1981

References

External links