| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Branko Strupar | ||
| Date of birth | (1970-02-09)9 February 1970 (age 55) | ||
| Place of birth | Zagreb,SR Croatia,Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1989–1994 | Špansko | 137 | (68) |
| 1994–1999 | Genk | 168 | (106) |
| 1999–2003 | Derby County | 41 | (16) |
| 2003–2004 | Dinamo Zagreb | 13 | (7) |
| Total | 359 | (197) | |
| International career | |||
| 1999–2002 | Belgium | 17 | (5) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Branko Strupar (born 9 February 1970) is a Croatian-Belgian former professionalfootballer who played as astriker. In 1999, he became a naturalised Belgian. He consequently played for theBelgium national team, with whom he played 17 matches and scored five times.
Strupar was born inZagreb,Croatia,Yugoslavia and started his footballing career with the local county tier clubŠpansko in the west of the city. He was scouted by a number of Croatian and European clubs in early 1990s, and ultimately joinedGenk in 1994.
Strupar played in Belgium forGenk, winning promotion to theBelgian First Division in 1996, and becoming champion of Belgium with the same team in 1999. He also won theBelgian Golden Shoe as Player of the Year for 1998. In 1998, he finished as top scorer with 22 goals. He moved toDerby County in December 1999, where he most notably scored the first British league goal of the year 2000 after two minutes againstWatford, a game in which he scored twice.[1] While at Derby, Strupar gained popularity with his prolific scoring ability.
Despite an excellent goals-to-games ratio when fit, injuries curtailed his Derby career, and he was eventually given a free transfer,[2] with which he returned to Croatia for a brief spell atDinamo Zagreb to wind up his career.
He made his debut forBelgium in an August 1999friendly match againstFinland, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute forSandy Martens, and earned a total of 17 caps, scoring five goals.[3] His final international was a June 2002World Cup match againstTunisia.[4]
Strupar lives in Prečko with his wife, daughters Dora and Laura and his son Bruno. He worked as a guest football commentator on the Croatian networkRTL.
Genk[5]
Dinamo Zagreb[6]
Belgium
Individual
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