Goran Bunjevčević
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Goran Bunjevčević | ||
| Date of birth | 17 February 1973 | ||
| Place of birth | Karlovac, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1993–1997 | Rad Belgrade | 105 | (7) |
| 1997–2001 | Red Star Belgrade | 138 | (18) |
| 2001–2006 | Tottenham Hotspur | 57 | (2) |
| 2006–2007 | ADO Den Haag | 27 | (2) |
| Total | 327 | (27) | |
| National team | |||
| 1998–2003 | Serbia and Montenegro | 16 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:35, 23 December 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Goran Bunjevčević (Serbian Cyrillic: Горан Буњевчевић) (born 17 February 1973 in Karlovac, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a former Serbian footballer who played as a defender, including 5 seasons at Tottenham Hotspur (2001–06).
Hailed in the press as the "Serbian Beckenbauer", he had a remarkably good disciplinary record and strong technique, being known for his reading of the game and flair for an incisive pass. The former Serbia and Montenegro international has recently moved from the dressing-room to the boardroom, back at Red Star Belgrade. He didn't hold the position very long as he resigned together with club president and board on 29 August 2008 after a disastrous start to the season
Club career
Yugoslavia
The son of a former military officer, Goran Bunjevčević was born in Karlovac and spent his childhood in the Croatian city of Split. Along his younger brother Mirko, they started playing football at the highly respected club Hajduk Split. Later, Dinamo Zagreb will also bring them to their youth team, however, because of Yugoslav wars, they moved to Serbian capital Belgrade and their careers separate as they joined different clubs. Goran initially played for low-division sides BASK and Grafičar, before he was finally given chance in the top flight with Rad. At Rad he excelled not only in his preferred sweeper position, but also in defensive or central midfield.
In 1997, he joined Red Star (FK Crvena zvezda). Making 125 league appearances, he developed into one of their key players, going on to be made captain. Whilst there, Red Star won 3 trophies: the First League of Yugoslavia in 2000, and the FR Yugoslav Cup in 1999/2000.
Tottenham
In the summer of 2001, Bunjevčević moved to London to play for Tottenham Hotspur, signing for £1,400,000 on 28 June to help replace Sol Campbell in central defence. His debut was on 18 August, in a 0–0 home draw against Aston Villa. He suffered badly with injuries early on at Tottenham, sustaining a fractured cheekbone against Chelsea, a bad injury that ruled him out for almost the entire season. In the 2002–03 campaign, his second season was relatively injury-free and he played well for Spurs, having much going for him. The manager, Glenn Hoddle, picked him in a number of positions in the first team – central defence, left-back, left wing-back and as the midfield anchor man. Since Hoddle's departure in 2003, the player found first team games hard to come by. His main difficulty stemmed from being a specialist sweeper in a Spurs team that never played this system, meaning he had to slot in either to defence or midfield positions that challenged him more. His ability at Premiership level was widely questioned by Tottenham Hotspur fans, particularly his pace and strength in tackling. Once the new coach Martin Jol arrived, Bunjevčević completely fell out of the first-team picture. Now only starting in League Cup matches, ironically it was during this season (2004/05) in the competition that he scored both of his only goals for the club (in the 6–0 away defeat of Oldham Athletic on 22 September,[1] and a late equaliser in the 4–3 away win against Bolton Wanderers on 29 October that took the game into extra time).[2] He was released on 26 May 2006 after five years at White Hart Lane and 57 appearances (starting in 47).[3]
Recent career
After release by Tottenham, Bunjevčević joined Dutch outfit ADO Den Haag. He played at the club for one season before retiring.
Administrative career
At the beginning of March 2008 he was named as Red Star Belgrade's sporting director, replacing Stevan Stojanović in the position.[4] Bunjevčević worked at the post under club president Toplica Spasojević.
On 2 September 2008 Bunjevčević left Red Star Belgrade along with club president Spasojević.[5]
International
| Serbian national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1998 | 1 | 0 |
| 1999 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | 9 | 0 |
| 2001 | 3 | 0 |
| 2002 | 1 | 0 |
| 2003 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 16 | 0 |
References
- ↑ "Oldham 0–6 Tottenham". BBC. 22 September 2004. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
- ↑ "Bolton 3–4 Tottenham (aet)". BBC. 27 October 2004. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
- ↑ Topspurs-Bunjevčević's record, 1 May 2008.
- ↑ B92-Bunjevčević named as general manager of FC Red Star, 3 March 2008.
- ↑ Toplica i Bunja pobegli, Tana v.d. predsednik;mondo.rs, 2 September 2008
External links
- Goran Bunjevčević at reprezentacija.rs
- FootballDatabase provides Goran Bunjevčević's profile and stats
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