Goran Bunjevčević

Goran Bunjevčević

Personal information
Full name	Goran Bunjevčević
Date of birth	(1973-02-17) 17 February 1973
Place of birth	Karlovac, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	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)
International career
1998–2003	FR Yugoslavia	16	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Goran Bunjevčević (Serbian Cyrillic: Горан Буњевчевић, born 17 February 1973) is a former Serbian footballer who played as a defender in Serbia, England and the Netherlands.

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 of the season.

Club career

Yugoslavia

The son of a former military officer, Goran Bunjevčević was born in Karlovac SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, and spent his childhood in the Dalmatian city of Split. Along his younger brother Mirko, they started playing football in the youth selections of 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 FR 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, and a late equaliser in the 4–3 away win against Bolton Wanderers on 29 October that took the game into extra time). He was released on 26 May 2006 after five years at White Hart Lane and 57 appearances (starting in 47).

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. Bunjevčević worked at the post under club president Toplica Spasojević. On 2 September 2008 Bunjevčević left Red Star Belgrade along with club president Spasojević.

By December 2014, it had been 3 years since he became the chairman of FK Zemun.

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

External links

• Goran Bunjevčević at reprezentacija.rs
• FootballDatabase provides Goran Bunjevčević's profile and stats