Krešimir Arapović

Krešimir Arapović (23 November 1924 – 17 July 1994) was a Croatian football player and manager.

Krešimir Arapović

Personal information
Date of birth	(1924-10-23)23 October 1924
Place of birth	Čapljina, Kingdom SCS
Date of death	17 July 1994(1994-07-17) (aged 69)
Place of death	Split, Croatia
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1945–1946	Neretva
1947–1954	Hajduk Split	67	(20)
1954–1957	Srem
Managerial career
	Srem
	RFK Novi Sad
	Hajduk Split (youth)
1963–1964	Hajduk Split (assistant)
	Troglav Livno
	RNK Split
	Sloboda Užice
1969–1971	Borac Banja Luka
	Sloga Mravinci
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Biography

Born in Čapljina, Mostar Oblast, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he became a trophy winning HNK Hajduk Split player and coach. He played mostly as an offensive right-winger.

He started playing football while with the Partisans during the Second World War. In 1945 he became a player of NK Neretva where he played one season. In 1947 he started wearing the white shirt of Hajduk Split which he wore all the way until 1954. Nicknamed "Arap", he played with Hajduk a total of 216 matches having scored 81 goals, winning two national titles, in 1950 and 1952.

He leaves Split in direction of Sremska Mitrovica where he becomes player/manager of FK Srem. He earns his coaching diploma in Belgrade in 1961 and becomes the manager of Yugoslav Second League club RFK Novi Sad. Afterwards, he coached the youth team of Hajduk Split in a period when the club was giving much emphasis to working and discovering young talents throughout the lower leagues. He was also the assistant manager of Milovan Ćirić during the 1963–64 season. Arapović insisted in the creation within the club of a B team where the reserve and younger players would gain the necessary experience, a practice which ended up being very successful, with many players from his team becoming regular starters in the main team in future. For a short period during June 1964 he was the club's main coach.

In his coaching career he also managed NK Troglav Livno, RNK Split, FK Sloboda Užice, FK Borac Banja Luka and Sloga Mravinci.

Personal life

Death

He died on July 17, 1994, in Split and was buried in the city cemetery Lovrinac.

Honours

Hajduk Split

• Yugoslav First League: 1950, 1952

External links

• Krešimir Arapović at WorldFootball.net