Rale Rasic

Zvonimir "Rale" Rašić OAM (Serbian: Звонимир "Рале" Рашић; 26 December 1935 – 8 June 2023) was a Serbian-Australian association football player, coach and media personality.^[1]

Rale Rašić
OAM

Personal information
Full name	Zvonimir Rašić
Date of birth	(1935-12-26)26 December 1935
Place of birth	Dole, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Date of death	8 June 2023(2023-06-08) (aged 87)
Place of death	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1952–1956	Proleter Zrenjanin	56	(0)
1957	Vojvodina	0	(0)
1957–1961	Spartak Subotica
1961–1962	Borac Banja Luka	2	(0)
1962–1969	Footscray JUST
Total		58	(0)
International career
	Yugoslavia U21
Managerial career
1969	Footscray JUST
1969–74	Australia
1970	Melbourne Hungaria
1971	St George
1972–73	Marconi Stallions
1974–75	Pan Hellenic
1977–78	Marconi Stallions
1979–80	Adelaide City
1981–82	Blacktown City
1983	South Melbourne
1987–88	APIA Leichhardt
1992	Canterbury-Marrickville
1996	Rockdale Ilinden
1997	Fairfield Bulls
1997–99	Canberra Cosmos
2002–03	Marconi Stallions (technical director)
2018–23	Juventus Football Academy (technical director)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Born in Dole,^[2] Littoral Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Rasic begin his career playing in Yugoslav clubs. Also known as Zvonko Rasic,^[3] Zvonko being a usual diminutive for Zvonimir, he played with FK Proleter Zrenjanin,^[3] FK Vojvodina,^[4] FK Spartak Subotica^[5] and FK Borac Banja Luka.^[6] He migrated to Australia in 1962, but returned to Yugoslavia after 18 months to serve in the army. His obligations met, Rasic returned to Australia, and played football in the Victorian league.^{[citation needed]}

Managerial career

Rasic revolutionised the game in Australia^{[citation needed]}, he was appointed coach in 1970 at just 34 years of age, and in 1974, he led the Australia national team to the World Cup as coach.^[7]

After the World Cup, the Australian Soccer Federation sacked Rasic, replacing him with Englishman Brian Green. Rasic and others believe that he was dumped because he was not seen as being a real "Aussie." He has stated, "They took from me something that I was doing better than anyone else. I was a true-blue Aussie and nobody can deny that. I taught the players how to sing the national anthem."^{[citation needed]}

Rasic was a television presenter on SBS, during the Australian network's 2006 FIFA World Cup coverage. His biography, "The Rale Rasic Story," was published in 2006 by New Holland.^{[citation needed]}

Death

Rasic died on 8 June 2023, at the age of 87.^[8]

Honours

Rasic was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1989.^[9] In 2001, he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal and the Centenary Medal for "services to soccer", and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2004 Australia Day Honours for "service to soccer as a player, coach and administrator."^[10][11]