Safet Susic

Safet "Pape" Susic (pronounced [safet suʃitɕ]; born 13 April 1955) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of TFF First League club Akhisarspor. He was a gifted midfielder known for his dribbling skills and technical ability, and is strongly reputed to have been one of the finest European players of his generation. Susic played for Yugoslavia in two FIFA World Cups, 1982 and 1990, and at UEFA Euro 1984. As a manager, he qualified the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In 2017, Susic was inducted into the PSG Hall of Fame.

He played as an attacking midfielder, often in a role of trequartista or fantasista (i.e. a creative playmaker) and rarely as a second striker for Sarajevo, Paris Saint-Germain and Red Star, and internationally for Yugoslavia. Even more later during his career, Susic was utilized more in a role of a deep-lying playmaker, both for club and national team. In 2010, France Football voted him as Paris Saint-Germain's best player of all time and the best foreign player of Ligue 1 of all time, with his compatriot and friend who also had a spell with PSG, Vahid Halilhodzic, being voted seventh. As part of the UEFA Jubilee Awards in 2004, the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina chose Susic as the nation's greatest ever player.

Following his retirement from playing, he started working as a manager. He worked for a number of club sides: Cannes, Istanbulspor, Al Hilal, Konyaspor, Ankaragucu, Caykur Rizespor, Ankaraspor, Evian, Alanyaspor, Akhisarspor and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

Club Career

Early career

Born in Zavidovici, FPR Yugoslavia, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Susic started playing football in the youth team of his hometown club Krivaja.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Сафет Сушич (russian)