Velimir SOMBOLAC

Defender Velimir Sombolac débuted at the senior level in Yugoslavia in 1957 with FK Borac Banja Luka. In 1959 he moved to Partizan Beograd, one of the best Yugoslav football clubs. Sombolac played with Partizan until 1965 and won Yugoslav titles with them in 1961-63 and 1965. From 1965-70 he was with Olimpija Ljubljana, before finishing his career with Orijent Rijeka in 1970-71 and Borac Banja Luka in 1971-73. Internationally, after earning 10 caps with the Yugoslav U-21 team from 1958-59, Sombolac was capped three times with the Yugoslav national team in 1960. He was a member of the 1960 Yugoslav Olympic team that won gold, where he played two matches.

After finishing his playing career, Sombolac worked as a football coach. He was head coach of Sloga Gornji Pogradci from 1973-74 and of Kozara Gradiška from 1976-79. He later worked as a children’s coach in his home town of Gradiška, Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the break-up of Yugoslavia, Sombolac worked with the Football Association of Republika Srpska, which is one of two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, helping to form all the youth category teams. From 1998-2001, he was head coach of the Republika Srpska team.