Ante Vulić

Ante Vulić
Personal information
Full name Ante Vulić
Date of birth (1928-08-16)16 August 1928
Place of birth Split, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Date of death 7 August 1993(1993-08-07) (aged 64)
Place of death Split, Croatia
Playing position Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1951–1962 Hajduk Split 116 (14)
Total 116 (14)
National team
1956 Croatia 1 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Ante Vulić (16 August 1928 – 7 August 1993) was a Croatian footballer goalkeeper.

Club career

He spent the entirety of his 11-year career with Hajduk Split, winning two Yugoslav league titles in 1952 and 1955. Although a talented goalkeeper, for a great part of his career he had to be a substitute to Vladimir Beara, who was named by legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin as the greatest keeper of all time.[1][2] However, he has never complained about that misfortune and according to Beara himself, Vulić was his best and most loyal friend, who even twice picked a fight to protect him.[3] He still managed to become the second-most-capped Hajduk Split goalkeeper ever, with 339 games (116 in the league, 17 in the domestic cup, 4 international games and 202 friendlies, scoring 29 goals in total),[4] after Radomir Vukčević (402).[5] Despite being a long-time substitute to Beara, he was also known as an excellent penalty taker. Beara (who was the first goalkeeper ever to save a penalty to Ferenc Puskás in the 1952 Olympic finals,[6] and who has also saved penalties from many other prominent strikers, having saved four penalties during a single game in a derby against Dinamo Zagreb) claimed that he has never seen a better penalty taker than Ante Vulić.[3]

International career

Vulić was capped in the only international game the Croatian national team played while Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, a 5–2 win against Indonesia in Zagreb, on 12 September 1956.

Personal facts

Vulić's son, Zoran, also became a long-time player for Hajduk Split, the team's captain and later football manager, coaching Hajduk several times. Zoran also played internationally for Yugoslavia and Croatia.

References

  1. ↑ Wilson, Jonathan (5 August 2008). "Meet Yugoslavia's ballerina Beara, once the best keeper in the world". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Buturugeanu, Alex (1 October 2010). "Trădătorii (III): Vladimir Beara". Istoria Fotbalului. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  3. 1 2 Bibić, Milorad (21 August 2000). "NEKADA I SADA: VLADIMIR BEARA, JEDAN OD NAJBOLJIH SVJETSKIH NOGOMETNIH VRATARA; U SPLITU VLAJ, U SVIJETU - VELIKI VLADIMIR!". Slobodna Dalmacija. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  4. ↑ Statistika na službenim stranicama HNK Hajduka
  5. ↑ Zanimljivi podaci
  6. ↑ Carter, Jon (2 August 2012). "Magical Magyars dominate Olympics". ESPN.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
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