Boban Babunski
Encyclopedia
Boban Babunski (born 5 May 1968 in Skopje
, Yugoslavia
) is a former Yugoslav
and Macedonian
football central defender, and also a coach. His son David Babunski is a member of FC Barcelona
's youth academy, while his younger son Dorian Babunski is a member of Real Madrid FC's youth academy.
, then spending two seasons in Bulgaria
with CSKA Sofia
. After two solid seasons in the Spanish second division
with UE Lleida
, he played the same time in Japan
, at Gamba Osaka
.
Babunski retired professionally in 2001, after stints with AEK Athens, CD Logroñés
and Chemnitzer FC
- he left Germany
in December 2000, signing with native FK Rabotnički
- the latter two also in the respective countries' second level.
He was capped
two times for Yugoslavia
in 1991. Subsequently, during seven years, he played 23 matches and scored once for the newly formed Republic of Macedonia.
Babunski began his coaching career as assistant in the national side, under Slobodan Santrač
. When the latter resigned on 23 August 2005, he was appointed caretaker manager but, on February 17 of the following year, Srečko Katanec
took over the job on a permanent basis.
On 23 July 2009, Babunski was signed as head coach of First Macedonian Football League champions Rabotnički, also from Skopje
, winning the domestic cup
in his sole season. Four years later, he returned to the national team, now with the U-21s.
|1985/86||rowspan="7"|Vardar Skopje||rowspan="5"|First League
||6||0||||||||||6||0
|-
|1986/87||19||0||||||||||19||0
|-
|1987/88||23||1||||||||||23||1
|-
|1988/89||14||0||||||||||14||0
|-
|1989/90||15||1||||||||||15||1
|-
|1990/91||Second League
||38||5||||||||||38||5
|-
|1991/92||First League
||26||7||||||||||26||7
|-
|1992/93||rowspan="2"|CSKA Sofia
||rowspan="2"|A PFG||12||1||||||||||12||1
|-
|1993/94||0||0||||||||||0||0
|-
|1994/95||rowspan="2"|Lleida
||rowspan="2"|Segunda División
||31||1||||||||||31||1
|-
|1995/96||31||1||||||||||31||1
|-
|1996||rowspan="3"|Gamba Osaka
||rowspan="3"|J. League 1||14||1||4||0||3||0||21||1
|-
|1997||23||5||2||1||5||1||30||7
|-
|1998||1||0||0||0||0||0||1||0
|-
|1998/99||AEK Athens
||Alpha Ethniki
||8||0||||||||||8||0
|-
|1999/00||Logroñés
||Segunda División
||33||0||||||||||33||0
|-
|1999/00||Sint-Truidense||First Division||1||0||||||||||1||0
|-
|2000/01||Chemnitzer FC
||2. Bundesliga
||8||1||||||||||8||1
|-
|2000/01||Rabotnički Skopje||Prva Liga||3||1||||||||||3||1
141||14||||||||||141||14
12||1||||||||||12||1
95||2||||||||||95||2
38||6||6||1||8||1||52||8
8||0||||||||||8||0
1||0||||||||||1||0
8||1||||||||||8||1
3||1||||||||||3||1
306||25||6||1||8||1||320||27
|}
|1991||2||0
|-
!Total||2||0
|}
|-
|1993||1||0
|-
|1994||3||0
|-
|1995||4||0
|-
|1996||2||1
|-
|1997||2||0
|-
|1998||1||0
|-
|1999||6||0
|-
|2000||4||0
|-
!Total||23||1
|}
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
) is a former Yugoslav
Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora...
and Macedonian
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
football central defender, and also a coach. His son David Babunski is a member of FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
's youth academy, while his younger son Dorian Babunski is a member of Real Madrid FC's youth academy.
Football career
On the club level, Babunski started playing with hometown's FK VardarFK Vardar
FK Vardar Skopje is a Macedonian football club based in the capital city of Skopje. FK Vardar is currently a member of the 1-MFL. FK Vardar is the most popular and renowned Macedonian football club both domestically and abroad, having won 6 national championships and 6 national cups...
, then spending two seasons in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
with CSKA Sofia
PFC CSKA Sofia
PFC CSKA Sofia , commonly known as CSKA or CSKA Sofia is a professional football club based in Sofia, Bulgaria. The club was officially founded on May 5, 1948. CSKA's abbreviation stands for Central Sports Club of the Army...
. After two solid seasons in the Spanish second division
Segunda División
The Segunda División is the lower tier of the two professional football leagues in Spain. From the season 2008-09 onwards, the name of the league is Liga Adelante.-History:...
with UE Lleida
UE Lleida
Club Lleida Esportiu is a Spanish football team based in Lleida, Catalonia. Founded in 2011, it plays in Segunda División B, holding home games at Camp d'Esports, with a capacity of 13,500 seats.-History:...
, he played the same time in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, at Gamba Osaka
Gamba Osaka
is a Japanese professional association football club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1. The team's name comes from the Italian word "gamba" meaning "leg" and the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to stand firm". Located in Suita, Osaka, the team's home stadium is Osaka Expo '70...
.
Babunski retired professionally in 2001, after stints with AEK Athens, CD Logroñés
CD Logroñés
Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in Regional Preferente de La Rioja....
and Chemnitzer FC
Chemnitzer FC
Chemnitzer FC is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony.The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 1933 in 1933 after the collapse of former Chemnitzer BC 1899....
- he left Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in December 2000, signing with native FK Rabotnički
FK Rabotnicki
FK Rabotnički is a football club that plays at the Philip II Arena in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. They currently compete in the Macedonian First League.-History:...
- the latter two also in the respective countries' second level.
He was capped
Cap (sport)
In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...
two times for Yugoslavia
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...
in 1991. Subsequently, during seven years, he played 23 matches and scored once for the newly formed Republic of Macedonia.
Babunski began his coaching career as assistant in the national side, under Slobodan Santrač
Slobodan Santrac
Slobodan Santrač is a retired Serbian football player and currently manager of Chinese Super League side Shaanxi Renhe Commercial Chanba F.C.....
. When the latter resigned on 23 August 2005, he was appointed caretaker manager but, on February 17 of the following year, Srečko Katanec
Srecko Katanec
Srečko Katanec is a Slovenian football manager and a former player capped for Yugoslavia and Slovenia. His last position was as the manager of the United Arab Emirates national football team.-Career:...
took over the job on a permanent basis.
On 23 July 2009, Babunski was signed as head coach of First Macedonian Football League champions Rabotnički, also from Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, winning the domestic cup
Macedonian Cup
The Macedonian Cup is the top knockout tournament of the Macedonian football. It was created in 1992.- Finals :-Performance By Club:The finals were:-External links:* *...
in his sole season. Four years later, he returned to the national team, now with the U-21s.
Club career statistics
|-|1985/86||rowspan="7"|Vardar Skopje||rowspan="5"|First League
Yugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...
||6||0||||||||||6||0
|-
|1986/87||19||0||||||||||19||0
|-
|1987/88||23||1||||||||||23||1
|-
|1988/89||14||0||||||||||14||0
|-
|1989/90||15||1||||||||||15||1
|-
|1990/91||Second League
Yugoslav Second League
Yugoslav Second League was the second tier football league of SFR Yugoslavia. The top clubs were promoted to the top tier, the Yugoslav First League....
||38||5||||||||||38||5
|-
|1991/92||First League
Yugoslav First League
The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...
||26||7||||||||||26||7
|-
|1992/93||rowspan="2"|CSKA Sofia
PFC CSKA Sofia
PFC CSKA Sofia , commonly known as CSKA or CSKA Sofia is a professional football club based in Sofia, Bulgaria. The club was officially founded on May 5, 1948. CSKA's abbreviation stands for Central Sports Club of the Army...
||rowspan="2"|A PFG||12||1||||||||||12||1
|-
|1993/94||0||0||||||||||0||0
|-
|1994/95||rowspan="2"|Lleida
UE Lleida
Club Lleida Esportiu is a Spanish football team based in Lleida, Catalonia. Founded in 2011, it plays in Segunda División B, holding home games at Camp d'Esports, with a capacity of 13,500 seats.-History:...
||rowspan="2"|Segunda División
Segunda División
The Segunda División is the lower tier of the two professional football leagues in Spain. From the season 2008-09 onwards, the name of the league is Liga Adelante.-History:...
||31||1||||||||||31||1
|-
|1995/96||31||1||||||||||31||1
|-
|1996||rowspan="3"|Gamba Osaka
Gamba Osaka
is a Japanese professional association football club, currently playing in the J. League Division 1. The team's name comes from the Italian word "gamba" meaning "leg" and the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to stand firm". Located in Suita, Osaka, the team's home stadium is Osaka Expo '70...
||rowspan="3"|J. League 1||14||1||4||0||3||0||21||1
|-
|1997||23||5||2||1||5||1||30||7
|-
|1998||1||0||0||0||0||0||1||0
|-
|1998/99||AEK Athens
AEK Athens FC
AEK Athens F.C. , the Athletic Union of Constantinople, is a Greek association football club based in the city of Athens, Greece. Outside Greece, the club is also known as AEK Athens, however, the word Athens is not part of the club's official title.Established in Athens in 1924 by Greek refugees...
||Alpha Ethniki
Super League Greece
The Superleague Greece is the highest professional football league in Greece. It was formed on July 16, 2006 and replaced Alpha Ethniki at the top of the Greek football league system. The league consists of 16 teams and runs from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each...
||8||0||||||||||8||0
|-
|1999/00||Logroñés
CD Logroñés
Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in Regional Preferente de La Rioja....
||Segunda División
Segunda División
The Segunda División is the lower tier of the two professional football leagues in Spain. From the season 2008-09 onwards, the name of the league is Liga Adelante.-History:...
||33||0||||||||||33||0
|-
|1999/00||Sint-Truidense||First Division||1||0||||||||||1||0
|-
|2000/01||Chemnitzer FC
Chemnitzer FC
Chemnitzer FC is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony.The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 1933 in 1933 after the collapse of former Chemnitzer BC 1899....
||2. Bundesliga
2. Fußball-Bundesliga
- Changes in division set-up :* Number of clubs: currently 18. From 1974 to 1981 there were two conferences, each of 20 teams. In 1981–91 it had 20...
||8||1||||||||||8||1
|-
|2000/01||Rabotnički Skopje||Prva Liga||3||1||||||||||3||1
141||14||||||||||141||14
12||1||||||||||12||1
95||2||||||||||95||2
38||6||6||1||8||1||52||8
8||0||||||||||8||0
1||0||||||||||1||0
8||1||||||||||8||1
3||1||||||||||3||1
306||25||6||1||8||1||320||27
|}
International career statistics
|-|1991||2||0
|-
!Total||2||0
|}
|-
|1993||1||0
|-
|1994||3||0
|-
|1995||4||0
|-
|1996||2||1
|-
|1997||2||0
|-
|1998||1||0
|-
|1999||6||0
|-
|2000||4||0
|-
!Total||23||1
|}