Dražan Jerković (Croatian pronunciation: [drǎʒan jěːrkoʋitɕ];[1] 6 August 1936 – 9 December 2008) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional football manager and player. A forward, 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)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1954–1965 Dinamo Zagreb 142 (96)
1965–1966 AA La Gantoise 3 (1)
Total 145 (97)
International career
1956 PR Croatia 1 (0)
1960–1964 Yugoslavia 21 (11)
Managerial career
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
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Yugoslavia
European Championship
Silver medal – second place 1960 France Team
Gold medal – first place 1971 İzmir as coach
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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

Club career

edit

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]

International career

edit

Jerković 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 (2–1; 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 (3–1) and lost to Chile in the third place match (1–0).

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. His final international was a September 1964 friendly match against Austria.[3]

Managerial career

edit

Dražan Jerković was also the first manager of the Croatia national team since independence, between 1990 and 1992. He died on 6 December 2008 in Zagreb.[4]

Career statistics

edit

Club

edit
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[5]
Club Season League
Division Apps Goals
Dinamo Zagreb 1954–55 Yugoslav 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
Total 142 96
La Gantoise 1965–66 Belgian First Division 3 1
Career total 145 97

International

edit
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Croatia 1956 1 0
Total 1 0
Yugoslavia 1960 3 2
1961 5 3
1962 11 5
1963 0 0
1964 2 1
Total 21 11

References

edit
  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. ^ "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Umro Dražan Jerković, ponajbolji hrvatski nogometaš svih vremena". slobodnadalmacija.hr (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. 10 December 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. ^ Dražan Jerković at National-Football-Teams.com