Alen Bokšic
Encyclopedia
Alen Bokšić (ˈalɛn ˈbɔkʃitɕ; born 21 January 1970) is a former football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 attacker from Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

. He was a renowned forward known for his technique.

Career

Bokšić was born in Makarska
Makarska
Makarska is a small town on the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, about southeast of Split and northwest of Dubrovnik. It has a population of 13,716 residents. Administratively Makarska has the status of a town and it is part of the Split-Dalmatia County....

 and started his career in the club Zmaj from Makarska. As a young player he moved to Hajduk Split and was introduced into the first team (1987–91). With Hajduk, he won the Yugoslav League Cup
Yugoslav Cup
The Yugoslav Cup, officially the Marshal Tito Cup, was one of two major football competitions in the former Yugoslavia, the other one being the Yugoslav League Championship. The Yugoslav Cup took place after the league championships when every competitive league in Yugoslavia had finished, in order...

 in 1987 and 1991. In 174 games for Hajduk, he scored 60 goals.

Bokšić scored in the 1991 Yugoslavian Cup final against Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...

 for what proved to be the winning goal. He moved to AS Cannes
AS Cannes
Association Sportive de Cannes Football is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently play in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth division of French football. Cannes plays its home matches at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin...

 in France (1991–92), but was plagued by injuries and played only one game the entire season.
In his only full season with Olympique Marseille
Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille is a French association football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, the club plays in Ligue 1 and have spent most of its history in the top tier of French football. Marseille have been French champions nine times and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times. In...

 (1992–93), he led the Ligue 1
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 , is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....

 goal scoring charts with 23, won the French league title and the European Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

.

After joining Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...

 in Italy in 1993, Bokšić was voted fourth for the 1993 European Footballer of the Year
European Footballer of the Year
The "", literally translated as "the golden ball" and often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award, was an annual association football award. It was presented to the player who had been considered to have performed the best over the previous calendar year...

, behind winner Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio is a retired Italian footballer. Widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation, Baggio won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1993. He is the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups. He is also one of the top 5 all-time...

, Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Nicolaas Bergkamp , is a former Dutch professional footballer who is currently the assistant manager to Frank de Boer at Ajax. At club level he played for Ajax, Internazionale, and Arsenal, and also represented the Netherlands at international level...

, and Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona
Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona is a French actor and former French international footballer. He played for Auxerre, Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nîmes and Leeds United before ending his professional footballing career at Manchester United, where he won four Premier League titles in...

. In Italy, he played for Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...

 (1993–96 and 1997–2000) and Juventus (1996–97). In 1997, he won the Italian league title with Juventus. After his return to Lazio, he won the Italian cup in 1998, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...

 in 1999, and Italian league title and cup in 2000.

Following his spell at Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...

, he surprised the footballing world by joining Middlesbrough FC in the English Premier League where he scored twice on his Middlesbrough debut in a 3-1 win at Coventry City FC

Despite his injury problems, he went on to score 12 goals in his first season at the Middlesbrough FC and was subsequently named Player of the Year. He was less affected by injuries in the 2001/02 season, but could only muster eight goals in a Boro side short of goals and creativity throughout the entire side. Whilst a Middlesbrough player he went to the 2002 World Cup
2002 World Cup
2002 World Cup may refer to:*Alpine skiing – 2002 Alpine Skiing World Cup*Athletics – 2002 IAAF World Cup*Field Hockey:** 2002 Men's World Hockey Cup** 2002 Women's World Hockey Cup...

 finals with Croatia, but failed to score in his country's three group games.

On 1 February 2003 the striker announced his decision to retire from football, after a succession of injuries had restricted his appearances at the Riverside stadium. Boksic came to a mutual agreement with Middlesbrough FC to bring the curtain down on his illustrious career. His last match for Middlesbrough was on 11 January 2003 in a 2-2 draw with Southampton F.C.
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

 at the Riverside Stadium. His final goal for Middlesbrough came in the memorable 3-1 win over Manchester United at the Riverside on 26 December 2002.

International career

Twenty year old Bokšić was a member of the Yugoslav national squad
Yugoslavia national football team
The Yugoslavia national football team represented the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in association football. It enjoyed a modicum of success in international competition. In 1992, during the Yugoslav wars, the team was suspended from international...

 during World Cup 1990
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...

, but coach Ivica Osim
Ivica Osim
Ivan "Ivica" Osim is a Bosnian former football player and manager. He was most recently head coach of Japan, before he suffered a stroke in November 2007 and left the post...

 did not give him a single minute of action, preferring the more experienced Zlatko Vujović
Zlatko Vujovic
Zlatko Vujović is a retired Bosnian Croat footballer who played as a striker....

 and Darko Pančev
Darko Pancev
Darko Pančev is a retired Yugoslav and Macedonian footballer, and winner of the Golden Boot award in 1991.-Club career:Pančev was the highest scorer in top-division European football in the 1990–91 season with 34 goals, and should have won the European Golden Boot award...

 for places upfront.

For the Croatian national team
Croatia national football team
The Croatia national football team represents Croatia in international football. The team is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in the country, and has been managed since 2006 by former player Slaven Bilić...

, Bokšić was capped 40 times, scoring 10 goals. He played for his country at Euro 96
1996 UEFA European Football Championship
The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by England, who won the right to host the tournament ahead of bids from Austria, Portugal and the Netherlands. It was the tenth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first to use the...

. He missed Croatia's surprising third place run in the 1998 FIFA World Cup
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...

 due to injury. This was a devastating blow for the Croatian team as they could not pair him together with Davor Šuker
Davor Šuker
Davor Šuker , is a retired Croatian footballer. He played as a striker for a number of European clubs as well as the Croatian national team, where he is the all-time top goal scorer with 45 goals....

 to form arguably the most potent striking force in the tournament. He finally made his World Cup playing debut in the 2002 World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...

 at the age of 32.

Statistics

|-
|1987/88||rowspan="4"|Hajduk Split
HNK Hajduk Split
HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and...

||rowspan="4"|First League
Yugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...

||13||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1988/89||26||7||||||||||||||||
|-
|1989/90||27||12||||||||||||||||
|-
|1990/91||29||6||||||||||||||||

|-
|1991/92||Cannes
AS Cannes
Association Sportive de Cannes Football is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently play in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth division of French football. Cannes plays its home matches at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin...

||Division 1
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 , is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....

||1||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|1992/93||rowspan="2"|Olympique Marseille
Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille is a French association football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, the club plays in Ligue 1 and have spent most of its history in the top tier of French football. Marseille have been French champions nine times and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times. In...

||rowspan="2"|Division 1
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 , is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....

||37||23||||||||||||||||
|-
|1993/94||12||3||||||||||||||||

|-
|1993/94||rowspan="3"|Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...

||rowspan="3"|Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||21||4||||||||||||||||
|-
|1994/95||23||9||||||||||||||||
|-
|1995/96||23||4||||||||||||||||
|-
|1996/97||Juventus
Juventus F.C.
Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...

||Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||22||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|1997/98||rowspan="3"|Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...

||rowspan="3"|Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||26||10||||||||||||||||
|-
|1998/99||3||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|1999/00||19||4||||||||||||||||

|-
|2000/01||rowspan="3"|Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...

||rowspan="3"|Premier League||28||12||||||||||||||||
|-
|2001/02||22||8||||||||||||||||
|-
|2002/03||18||2||||||||||||||||
95||27||||||||||||||||
50||26||||||||||||||||
137||34||||||||||||||||
68||22||||||||||||||||
350||109||||||||||||||||
|}
|-
|1993||1||0
|-
|1994||4||0
|-
|1995||6||2
|-
|1996||5||2
|-
|1997||7||2
|-
|1998||1||1
|-
|1999||5||1
|-
|2000||4||1
|-
|2001||2||1
|-
|2002||5||0
|-
!Total||40||10
|}

International goals

Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 3 September 1995 Maksimir, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

3 – 1
7 – 1
Euro 1996 Qualifying
2–3 8 October 1996 Renato Dall'Ara
Stadio Renato Dall'Ara
Stadio Renato Dall'Ara is a multi-purpose stadium in Bologna, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and the home of Bologna F.C. 1909. The stadium was built in 1927 and holds 38,279...

, Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

3 − 1
4 − 1
World Cup 1998 Qualifying
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
-Qualified teams:The following 32 teams qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup: - qualified automatically as hosts - qualified automatically as defending champions-Notes:...

4 – 1
4 11 October 1997 Bežigrad, Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

3 – 0
3 – 1
World Cup 1998 Qualifying
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
-Qualified teams:The following 32 teams qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup: - qualified automatically as hosts - qualified automatically as defending champions-Notes:...

5 15 November 1997 Olympic
Olimpiysky National Sports Complex
The Olympic National Sports Complex is a multi-use sports facility in Kiev, Ukraine, located on the slopes of city's central Cherepanov Hill, Pechersk Raion. The stadium is the premier sports venue of Ukraine and one of the world's largest...

, Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

1 – 1
1 – 1
World Cup 1998 Qualifying
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
-Qualified teams:The following 32 teams qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup: - qualified automatically as hosts - qualified automatically as defending champions-Notes:...

6 22 April 1998 Gradski vrt, Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...

4 – 0
4 – 1
Friendly
Exhibition game
An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...

7 9 October 1999 Maksimir, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

1 – 0
2 – 2
Euro 2000 Qualifying
8 26 April 2000 Ernst Happel, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

1 – 1
2 – 1
Friendly
Exhibition game
An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...

9 11 October 2000 Maksimir, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

1 – 0
1 – 1
World Cup 2002 Qualifying
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
A total of 199 teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament. and , as the co-hosts, and , as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 29 spots open for competition....

10 6 October 2001 Maksimir, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

1 – 0
1 – 0
World Cup 2002 Qualifying
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
A total of 199 teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament. and , as the co-hosts, and , as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 29 spots open for competition....


Honours

  Hajduk Split
  • Yugoslav Cup
    Yugoslav Cup
    The Yugoslav Cup, officially the Marshal Tito Cup, was one of two major football competitions in the former Yugoslavia, the other one being the Yugoslav League Championship. The Yugoslav Cup took place after the league championships when every competitive league in Yugoslavia had finished, in order...

    : 1991


  Marseille
  • UEFA Champions League
    UEFA Champions League
    The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

    : 1993


  Juventus
  • Serie A
    Serie A
    Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

    : 1997
  • UEFA Supercup: 1996
    1996 UEFA Super Cup
    The 1996 UEFA Super Cup was played on 15 January 1997 and 5 February 1997 between Juventus of Italy, winner of 1995-96 UEFA Champions League and Paris Saint-Germain of France, winner of the 1995-96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup...

  • Intercontinental Cup
    Intercontinental Cup (football)
    The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the World Club Championship, Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores...

    : 1996
    1996 Intercontinental Cup
    The 1996 Intercontinental Cup was a football match played on November 26, 1996 between Juventus, winners of the 1995-96 UEFA Champions League, and River Plate, winners of the 1996 Copa Libertadores. The match was played at the National Stadium in Tokyo...



  Lazio
  • Serie A
    Serie A
    Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

    : 2000
    Serie A 1999-00
    Lazio won the title on the final day of the season in controversial cirumstances. Juventus, the only other team left in contention on the day lost their match against Perugia in terrible conditions at a rain-sodden Stadio Renato Curi, many considering the pitch unplayable. Pierluigi Collina the...

  • Italian Cup
    Coppa Italia
    The Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...

    : 1998
    Coppa Italia 1997-98
    -First Leg:---------Second Leg:--------Lazio win Coppa Italia 3–2 on aggregate.-References:*...

    , 2000
    Coppa Italia 1999-00
    -First Leg:---------Second Leg:--------Lazio win Coppa Italia 2–1 on aggregate.-References:*...

  • UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
    UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
    The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...

    : 1999
  • UEFA Supercup: 1999
    1999 UEFA Super Cup
    The 1999 UEFA Super Cup was a football match played on 27 August 1999 between the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League winners, Manchester United, and Lazio, winners of the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup....


Personal

Bokšić married Ajda in 1990. The couple had three children (daughter Stella and sons Toni and Alen) before divorcing in 2000.

In 2004 from a relationship with girlfriend Jadranka Fržop, Bokšić had another daughter Laura.

External links

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