Branko "Stane" Stanković (, ; 31 October 1921 – 20 February 2002) was a Bosnian Serb footballer and manager, from Sarajevo.
Playing career
Club
He started his career in SK Slavija Sarajevo, as a youth player in 1936. In 1941 he escaped from Sarajevo and joined Yugoslav pre-war most successful club, BSK Belgrade and played in the Serbian League during the war. In 1946 he came to Red Star Belgrade, where he established himself as one of the best defenders in the Yugoslav First League. Stanković played 195 games, with 14 scored goals.
International
Stanković mainly played for Red Star Belgrade and was capped 61 times for Yugoslavia. He participated at two World Cups and won a silver medal at each of the 1948 Olympics and the 1952 Olympics. His final international was a November 1956 friendly match away against England.
Stanković is one of the most elegant defense players of his time. Because of his playing style, he earned his nickname Ambassador. Players such as Bruno Belin, Milovan Đorić, Fahrudin Jusufi, Petar Krivokuća used to copy his playing style. He was strong, fast and very brave player, also a good header.
He retired in 1958 before his 37th birthday.
Managerial career
Stanković started his managerial career in Sarajevo in 1960, as manager of Željezničar. Later, he managed Red Star Belgrade and reached the 1979 UEFA Cup Final with them. Beside Red Star, he also managed a number of teams in different countries, such as Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş in Turkey, Porto in Portugal, AEK Athens, Aris and PAOK in Greece. He also coached Željezničar Sarajevo, Olimpija Ljubljana and FK Vojvodina in the spells. During 1966, he was also co-manager of the Yugoslavia national team along with Aleksandar Tirnanić, Miljan Miljanić, Rajko Mitić and Vujadin Boškov.
He is also famous because of his incident with one of the most popular Yugoslav players during that time, Dragan Stojković. Stanković retired from coaching in 1989.
Personal life
He had a degree in Physical education. He was married and had two sons, Dragan and Ratko.
