Josip Weber


Josip Weber, nicknamed Joske, was a Croatian-Belgian professional football forward. He represented Croatia and Belgium at international level.

Club career

Weber began his senior career in Yugoslavia with lower league side NK Borac Podvinje. He then joined BSK Slavonski Brod where he played 3 seasons before moving to HNK Hajduk Split of the Yugoslav First League in 1985. He spent 2 seasons in Split, winning the 1987 Yugoslav Cup. He also played for Yugoslav side NK Dinamo Vinkovci.

International career

In his international career, Weber became notable as one of the last footballers who played for national teams of two countries after being granted permission thought clear connection shown from his family members. In July 1992, he started his international career with the Croatian national team during their Australian tour, where he appeared in all three of their friendly matches against the Australian national team and also managed to score Croatia's only goal during the tour as he scored in the second match, which they lost 3–1. The other two matches ended with a 1–0 win for Australia and a goalless draw respectively. After that, he never played for Croatia again.
During the 1993–94 season, Weber took the job as a Belgium international team striker. Belgian national team. He made his debut for Belgium on 3 June 1994 in their friendly match against Zambia, which was highly successful as he managed to score five goals in a 9–0 win.
He was also a regular member of the Belgian team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States and played in all of their four matches at the tournament, starting three of them. He nevertheless did not manage to score any goals before Belgium was eliminated by Germany in the round of 16. In minute 63 of the game, he was brought down in the penalty area by Thomas Helmer, but referee Kurt Röthlisberger did not grant the penalty that could have led to a 3–2 score and a red card for the defender.
He won a total of eight international caps and scored six goals for Belgium, all in 1994. Five of his goals were scored in a 9-0 Belgian victory over Zambia.

Career statistics

International goals for Croatia

International goals for Belgium

Death

Weber died on 8 November 2017 in Slavonski Brod, Croatia from prostate cancer.