Branko "Stane" Stankovià(, ; 31 October 1921 â 20 February 2002) was a Bosnian Serb footballer and manager, from Sarajevo.
He started his career in SK Slavija Sarajevo, as a youth player in 1936. In 1941 he escaped from Sarajevo and joined Yugoslav pre-war most successful club, BSK Belgrade and played in the Serbian League during the war. In 1946 he came to Red Star Belgrade, where he established himself as one of the best defenders in the Yugoslav First League. StankoviÃÂ played 195 games, with 14 scored goals.
StankoviÃÂ mainly played for Red Star Belgrade and was capped 61 times for Yugoslavia. He participated at two World Cups and won a silver medal at each of the 1948 Olympics and the 1952 Olympics. His final international was a November 1956 friendly match away against England.
Because of his playing style, StankoviÃÂ earned the nickname Ambassador. Players such as Bruno Belin, Milovan ÃÂoriÃÂ, Fahrudin Jusufi, Petar KrivokuÃÂa copy his playing style.
He retired in 1958 before his 37th birthday.
Stankoviàstarted his managerial career in Sarajevo in 1960, as manager of à ½eljezniÃÂar. Later, he managed Red Star Belgrade and reached the 1979 UEFA Cup Final with them. Beside Red Star, he also managed a number of teams in different countries, such as Fenerbahçe and Beà Âiktaà  in Turkey, Porto in Portugal, AEK Athens, Aris and PAOK in Greece. He also coached à ½eljezniÃÂar Sarajevo, Olimpija Ljubljana and FK Vojvodina in the spells. During 1966, he was also co-manager of the Yugoslavia national team along with Aleksandar TirnaniÃÂ, Miljan MiljaniÃÂ, Rajko Mitiàand Vujadin Boà ¡kov.
He is also famous because of his incident with one of the most popular Yugoslav players during that time, Dragan StojkoviÃÂ. StankoviÃÂ retired from coaching in 1989.
He had a degree in Physical education. He was married and had two sons, Dragan and Ratko.
BSK Beograd
Red Star Belgrade
Vojvodina
AEK Athens
Red Star Belgrade
Fenerbahçe
Beà Âiktaà Â