Velimir Sombolac

Velimir Sombolac

Personal information
Full name	Velimir Sombolac
Date of birth	(1939-02-27)27 February 1939
Place of birth	Banja Luka, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Date of death	22 May 2016(2016-05-22) (aged 77)
Place of death	Gradiška, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1955–1957	BSK Banja Luka
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1957–1959	Borac Banja Luka
1959–1965	Partizan	102	(0)
1965–1970	Olimpija Ljubljana	70	(0)
1970–1971	Orijent Rijeka
1971–1973	Borac Banja Luka
National team
1958–1959	Yugoslavia U21	10	(0)
1960	Yugoslavia Olympic	2	(0)
1960	Yugoslavia	3	(0)
Teams managed
1973–1974	Sloga Gornji Pogradci
1976–1979	Kozara Gradiška
1998–2001	Republika Srpska
Honours Men's Football Representing Yugoslavia Olympic Games 1960 Rome Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Velimir Sombolac (Serbian Cyrillic: Beлимиp Coмбoлaц; 27 February 1939 – 22 May 2016) was a Serbian footballer and manager.

Career

After having played ten matches for the Yugoslav U-21 team, and also five for the national "B" team, he was in the Olympic team that represented Yugoslavia at the 1960 Summer Olympics. There, Yugoslavia won the gold eliminating hosts Italy in the semi-finals, and beating Denmark ( 3–1 ) in the final. Afterward, Sombolac also played five matches for the Yugoslavia national football team.

Right after retiring, in 1973, he took charge of a small regional club called FK Sloga Gornji Pogradci, that provided him with crucial experience for returning, in 1974, to Borac, to become the assistant manager until 1976.

After the break-up of Yugoslavia, he worked at the Football Association of Republika Srpska, helping to form all the youth category teams. From 1998 to 2001, he was the head coach of the Republika Srpska official football team.

Other websites

• Profile at Worldfootball
• Profile and career story Archived 2016-04-03 at the Wayback Machine at Serbian Federation website (in Serbian)