Goalkeeping great Vladimir Beara of Croatia died at 85

Goalkeeping great Vladimir Beara of Croatia died in city Split of Croatia on 11 August 2014. He died after a series of strokes over the past year. He was 85.

He was considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time in Football history. In 1963 legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin while receiving FIFA’s Golden Ball had reportedly said, “I am not the best goalkeeper in the world, it is Vladimir Beara.”

About Vladimir Beara

• Beara played 59 games for former Yugoslavia and also played for football clubs Hajduk Split, Red Star Belgrade, Alemannia Aachen and Victoria Cologne.
• He earned the nickname Great Vlad after he saved a penalty against Hungarian striker Ferenc Puskas at the 1952 Olympic Games finals in Helsinki. The save helped former Yugoslavia earn Silver medal in that Olympics.
• From 1947 to 1960, Beara goalkeeping helped former Yugoslav teams Hajduk from Croatia and Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade win seven national championships from 1947 to 1960.
• He also played for Germany from 1960 to 1964.
• He also coached clubs in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia and Cameroon’s national team in 1970s.
• He played in three FIFA World Cups; World Cup 1950 held in Brazil, World Cup 1954 held in Switzerland and World Cup 1958 held in Sweden.
• Beara was born in an ethnic Serb family in the village of Zelovo near Sinj in present-day Croatia.

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