Have Mostar residents forgotten football legend Sula Rebac?

One of Mostar's best footballers, Sulejman Sula Rebac, reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals as Velež coach in 1974. In the first round, they eliminated Spartak Moscow, then Rapid Vienna, before their clash in the third round against Derby County promoted them to European sensation. Many assessed that Mostar residents were playing the most beautiful football in the entire former Yugoslavia.

The super-strong Derby was expected to have an easy task after a 3-1 win at the Baseball Ground in the first match. However, in the second leg, it was 4-1, and Rođeni advanced to the quarter-finals, where they were stopped by Twente Enschede (1-0, 0-2).

Rebac was born in Mostar in 1929, and at the age of fourteen, he joined the Partisans and was an active participant in the National Liberation Struggle. During World War II, he lost three brothers - Husnija was killed at Sutjeska, Meho at Ivan-sedlo, and just a day before the liberation of Mostar, on February 13, 1945, the Germans hanged Ahmet in Sarajevo.

After the war, Sula joined Velež and quickly became one of the most promising footballers of his time. He played as a right winger. He played over 500 matches for FK Velež between 1947 and 1957.

From Velež, he moved to Hajduk Split, where he was part of the club's best attacking line-ups in history. He won the championship with Hajduk in 1955. Rebac returned from Split to FK Sarajevo, where he finished his playing career. In his entire career, he played over 1000 matches and scored over 600 goals.

For a time, he was also the coach of Željezničar.

He passed away on November 16, 2006, in a Mostar hospital, at the age of 77, from a stroke.