1. Vladimir Beara played the vast majority of his professional club career for Hajduk Split and Red Star Belgrade in the Yugoslav Federal League and for the Yugoslavia national football team.
20 Facts About Vladimir Beara
1. 2.
Vladimir Beara is considered to have been one of the best goalkeepers of his era.
3.
Vladimir Beara was born into an ethnic Serb family to parents Jakov and Marija in the village of Zelovo Sutinsko near Sinj in present-day Croatia.
4.
For Hajduk Split Vladimir Beara played 308 games, and helped his team to win the Yugoslav League title in 1950,1952 and 1955.
5.
Vladimir Beara made a transfer in 1955 to Belgrade's Red Star, after the season he had won the third league title.
6.
Vladimir Beara was Red Star's goalkeeper against Manchester United in the last game United had played before the Munich air disaster.
7.
In 1963, the great Soviet goalkeeper, Lev Yashin said that not him, but Vladimir Beara is the greatest keeper of all time.
8.
Vladimir Beara ended his career in German clubs Alemannia Aachen and Viktoria Koln.
9.
Vladimir Beara played 59 games for the Yugoslavia national team between 1950 and 1960.
10.
Vladimir Beara participated in the 1952 Summer Olympic Games; he was a member of the team that reached the final against Hungary, winning a silver medal.
11.
Vladimir Beara represented his nation in three World Cups; World Cup 1950, World Cup 1954 and World Cup 1958.
12.
In 1967 Vladimir Beara finished a coaching course at the sports academy at the German Sport University Cologne, today's Hennes Weisweiler Academy.
13.
Vladimir Beara went on to coach clubs in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Yugoslavia as well as the national team of Cameroon.
14.
Vladimir Beara won the African Cup Winners' Cup with Tonnerre Yaounde in 1975.
15.
On 11 August 2014, Vladimir Beara's family announced that he died in Split, Croatia after several strokes over the previous year.
16.
The decision made by Vladimir Beara's widow Jadranka to bury him at a Catholic cemetery was met with criticism, because Vladimir Beara was a staunch believer of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
17.
Vladimir Beara was an athletic and self-confident keeper, endowed with an eye-catching yet effective style.
18.
Vladimir Beara was nicknamed The ballet dancer with the hands of steel because of his ability to combine elegance with goalkeeping skills.
19.
Vladimir Beara made me catch a small ball about the size of a baseball and after that it was very easy for me to catch a football.
20.
Vladimir Beara kept goal on his toes, like a coiled spring, always ready to pounce.