Vladimir Beara

Vladimir Beara

Personal information
Full name	Vladimir Beara
Date of birth	2 November 1928(1928-11-02) (age 83)
Place of birth	Sinj, Kingdom of SCS
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1947–1955	Hajduk Split	136	(0)
1955–1960	Red Star Belgrade	83	(0)
1960–1963	Alemannia Aachen	23	(0)
1963–1964	Viktoria Köln	23	(0)
National team
1950–1959	Yugoslavia	59	(0)
Teams managed
1964–1966	Freiburger FC
1966–1967	Fortuna Sittard
1967–1968	NK Rijeka
1969–1970	Fortuna Köln
1970–1972	Hajduk Split (assistant coach)
1973–1975	Cameroon
1979	First Vienna
1980–1981	RNK Split
Honours Men's Football Competitor for Yugoslavia Olympic Games Silver 1952 Helsinki Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Vladimir Beara (born 2 November 1928 in Sinj) is a retired Croatian-born Serb football player, as goalkeeper, and also football manager.

Early life

Beara was born in the village of Zelovo near Sinj, Croatia (at the time in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes).

Career

For Hajduk Split (1946–55) Beara played 308 games, and helped his team to win the Yugoslav league title in 1950, 1952 and 1955.

He made, however, a transfer in 1955 to Belgrade's Red Star (1955–60), after the season he had won the third league title. With Red Star he won even more Yugoslav league titles, in 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, and won the Yugoslav Cup in 1958 and 1959. He played for Red Star against Manchester United in the last game United had played before the Munich Air Disaster. In 1963, the great Soviet goalkeeper, Lev Yashin said that not him, but Vladimir Beara is the greatest keeper of all times.

Beara ended his career in Germans clubs Alemannia Aachen (1960–62) and Viktoria Köln (1963–64).

International career

For Yugoslav national team, between 1950 and 1960, he played 59 games. Immediately after being selected to play for the Yugoslav national team he became famous mostly due to his fabulous defences in the match against England at the Highbury Arsenal Stadium. Since then he was often called by his nickname “Big Vlad”. Beara participated in 1952 Olympic Games, and won the silver medal. He played on three World Cups; World Cup 1950, World Cup 1954 and World Cup 1958. In 1953, Beara was one of four Croatian players on the FIFA Select XI who played against England.

Coaching career

In 1967 Beara finished a coaching course at the sports academy at the German Sport University Cologne, today's Hennes Weisweiler Academy. He went on to coach clubs in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Yugoslavia as well as the national team of Cameroon. A highlight of his coaching career was winning the Yugoslav national championship with Hajduk Split in 1971 as assistant coach to Slavko Luštica. This was the club's first championship since his departure as player in 1955.

Statistical career overview

National team:

• 1950-1959: Yugoslavia, 59 matches

Clubs:

• 1947–1955 Hajduk Split, 136 league matches
• 1955–1960 Red Star Belgrade, 83 league matches
• 1960–1963 Alemannia Aachen, 23 league matches
• 1963–1964 Viktoria Köln, 23 league matches (2nd division)

Honours:

• Olympic Games: Silver Medal 1952
• Championship of Yugoslavia: 1950, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960
• Cup von Yugoslavia: 1958, 1959

Coach / Manager:

• 1964-1966: Freiburger FC
• 1966-1968: Sittardia Sittard
• 1969-1970: SC Fortuna Köln
• 1973-1975: National team of Cameroon
• 1979-1979: First Vienna FC
• 1980-1981: RNK Split

References

• Nogometni leksikon (2004, in Croatian)
• Profile at Serbian football federation
• Profile at weltfussball.de
• Meet Yugoslavia's ballerina Beara, once the best keeper in the world; Jonathan wilson Blog @ Guardian.co.uk, 5 August 2008