Ante Vulić (Croatian pronunciation: [ǎːnte ʋǔːlitɕ]; 16 August 1928 – 7 August 1993) was a Croatian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ante Vulić | ||
| Date of birth | (1928-08-16)16 August 1928 | ||
| Place of birth | Split, Kingdom of Yugoslavia | ||
| Date of death | 7 August 1993(1993-08-07) (aged 64) | ||
| Place of death | Split, Croatia | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1951–1962 | Hajduk Split | 116 | (14) |
| Total | 116 | (14) | |
| National team | |||
| 1956 | PR Croatia | 1 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
He spent the entirety of his 11-year career with Hajduk Split, winning two Yugoslav league titles in 1952 and 1955. Although a talented goalkeeper, for a great part of his career he had to be a substitute to Vladimir Beara, who was named by legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin as the greatest keeper of all time.[1][2] However, he has never complained about that misfortune and according to Beara himself, Vulić was his best and most loyal friend, who even twice picked a fight to protect him.[3] He still managed to become the second-most-capped Hajduk Split goalkeeper ever, with 339 games (116 in the league, 17 in the domestic cup, 4 international games and 202 friendlies, scoring 29 goals in total),[4] after Radomir Vukčević (402).[5] Despite being a long-time substitute to Beara, he was also known as an excellent penalty taker. Beara (who was the first goalkeeper ever to save a penalty to Ferenc Puskás in the 1952 Olympic finals,[6] and who has also saved penalties from many other prominent strikers, having saved four penalties during a single game in a derby against Dinamo Zagreb) claimed that he has never seen a better penalty taker than Ante Vulić.[3]
Vulić was capped in the only international game the Croatian national team played while Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, a 5–2 win against Indonesia in Zagreb, on 12 September 1956.[citation needed]
Vulić's son, Zoran, also became a long-time player for Hajduk Split, the team's captain and later football manager, coaching Hajduk several times. Zoran also played internationally for Yugoslavia and Croatia.[citation needed]