Branko Rašović

Branko Rašović

Rašović in 1966 ahead of Partizan's European Cup final versus Real Madrid
Personal information
Date of birth	(1942-04-11)11 April 1942
Place of birth	Podgorica, Italian-occupied Montenegro
Date of death	11 October 2024(2024-10-11) (aged 82)
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1962–1964	Budućnost Titograd	22	(0)
1964–1969	Partizan	90	(0)
1969–1974	Borussia Dortmund	109	(0)
International career
1964–1967	Yugoslavia	10	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Branko Rašović (11 April 1942 – 11 October 2024) was a Montenegrin football defender who played for SFR Yugoslavia.

Club career

Budućnost Titograd

Rašović began with football in Budućnost Titograd as a center half. Even as a young player he excelled and received calls for youth selections of the Yugoslavia national team.

In the 1961–62 season, he managed with his club Budućnost to qualify for the Yugoslav First League. He played the 1962–63 season in the first league, but Budućnost was again relegated to second division. The next season, he got a call from FK Partizan and in the 1964–65 season he played again in first league competition but this time for FK Partizan.

Partizan

Rašović played five years in Partizan, from 1964 until 1969. In the first season, 1964–65, he gained a place in the starting eleven and won the title of champion of Yugoslavia. In that season, he played 17 league games for Partizan. In total, he played 210 games and scored two goals for Partizan. In international competitions he played 39 games and scored one goal. Crown of his career was the 1966 European Cup final in Brussels, when Partizan played against Spanish champions Real Madrid CF, but lost 2–1 at Heysel Stadium in front of 55,000 spectators.

Borussia Dortmund

In 1969, Rašović went to the German first league team Borussia Dortmund. Borussia played the next three seasons in the German top-flight Bundesliga. But after that, they were relegated and in the next two seasons, 1972–73 and 1973–74, they played in the German Regionalliga West. It was also the last season of his active professional career. Rašović spent five seasons in Dortmund and played 79 first league matches and 30 games in the Regionalliga. In total he played 109 league games for Borussia.

International career

Rašović made his debut for the Yugoslavia national team on 1 April 1964, in a friendly match against Bulgaria played at the Čair Stadium in Niš in front of 10,000 spectators and Yugoslavia won 1–0. Rašović ended his career in the national team on 7 October 1967, in a UEFA Euro 1968 qualification match against Germany. The match was played in Hamburg in front of 70,573 spectators and ended with Germany winning 3–1.

Despite this defeat, Yugoslavia qualified for the European Championship and recorded one of its greatest successes, playing the second time in its history in the European Championship finals. Rašović was capped ten times for Yugoslavia.

He earned a total of 10 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was an October 1967 European Championship qualification match against West Germany.

Personal life and death

His son Vuk is also a retired professional footballer, and former head coach of FK Partizan.

Branko Rašović died on 11 October 2024, at the age of 82.

External links

• Branko Rašović at National-Football-Teams.com
• Branko Rašović at the Football Association of Montenegro at the Wayback Machine (archived 24 December 2011) (in Serbian)
• Branko Rašović at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• Branko Rašović at Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian)