Dražan Jerković

Dražan Jerković (Croatian pronunciation: [drǎʒan jěːrkoʋitɕ];[1] 6 August 1936 – 9 December 2008) was a Croatian professional football manager and player. His professional playing career spanned from 1954 to 1966, during which he played for Dinamo Zagreb and AA La Gantoise.

Dražan Jerković

Jerković with Yugoslavia at the 1962 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Date of birth	(1936-08-06)6 August 1936
Place of birth	Šibenik, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Date of death	9 December 2008(2008-12-09) (aged 72)
Place of death	Zagreb, Croatia
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1954–1965	Dinamo Zagreb	142	(96)
1965–1966	AA La Gantoise	3	(1)
Total		145	(97)
National team
1956	PR Croatia	1	(0)
1960–1964	Yugoslavia	21	(11)
Teams managed
1971–1972	Dinamo Zagreb
1973–1974	Austria Klagenfurt
1974–1975	Villacher SV
1975–1976	Dinamo Vinkovci
1976–1982	NK Zagreb
1978	Yugoslavia
1990–1992	Croatia
Honours Men's football Representing  Yugoslavia European Championship 1960 France Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Biography

His first name is sometimes (incorrectly) spelled "Dražen". He was born in Šibenik, at the time in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Playing career

Jerković played for Dinamo Zagreb (1954–65). Severe injuries forced him to retire early, at the height of his career. With Dinamo he won the league title in 1958, and league cup in 1960 and 1965. In 315 games for Dinamo, he scored 300 goals.[2]

He played internationally for Yugoslavia between 1960 and 1964, scoring 11 goals in 21 games. He participated in the 1960 European Championship and the 1962 FIFA World Cup. He was also part of the Yugoslav squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but did not play.

In UEFA Euro 1960, he scored two goals against France in the semifinal, which Yugoslavia won (5–4). In the final, Yugoslavia lost against USSR (1–2; AET), finishing second.

In the 1962 FIFA World Cup, Jerković scored four goals and was, with five other players, the top goalscorer, winning the World Cup Golden Boot. Yugoslavia finished in fourth place. In the quarter-final, Yugoslavia beat Germany, while in the semifinal they lost to Czechoslovakia (1–3) and lost to Chile in the third place match (0–1).

Jerković played in a single international match with Croatia, as the Croatia national team was assembled in communist Yugoslavia once for a friendly against Indonesia in 1956. He was also the first manager of the Croatia national team since independence, between 1990 and 1992.

He died on 6 December 2008 in Zagreb.[3]

Career statistics

Club

[4]

Club performance			League
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals
Yugoslavia			League
1954–55	Dinamo Zagreb	First League	1	0
1955–56			12	9
1956–57			15	9
1957–58			22	17
1958–59			14	7
1959–60			16	16
1960–61			8	5
1961–62			19	16
1962–63			14	12
1963–64			4	0
1964–65			17	5
Belgium			League
1965–66	La Gantoise	First Division	3	1
Country	Yugoslavia		142	96
	Belgium		3	1
Total			145	97

International

Croatia national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1956	1	0
Total	1	0

Yugoslavia national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1960	3	2
1961	5	3
1962	11	5
1963	0	0
1964	2	1
Total	21	11

References

1. "Jerònim". Hrvatski jezični portal (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 17 March 2018. Jérković
2. "Najbolji strijelci". www.nk-dinamo.hr (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 15 March 2011.
3. "Umro Dražan Jerković, ponajbolji hrvatski nogometaš svih vremena". slobodnadalmacija.hr (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. 10 December 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
4. "Dražan Jerković". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.

• Dražan Jerković at Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian)
• Nogometni leksikon (2004, in Croatian)