Iztok Puc - Club Career

Club Career

Puc was first noticed by RK Borac in 1983 when their goalkeeper, Yugoslav international Zlatan Arnautović, spotted him and reported his findings to the club officials. He was then tracked by the club and their scouting service and a few years later the young promising player was given an offer to join their club. Abas Arslanagić, the coach of Borac, which was one of the top Yugoslav clubs at the time, wanted the young teenager to join his team immediately, however, Puc was persuaded by Miro Požun to finish high school first and complete at least some form of education. Puc listened to his mentor, finished high school one year later and finally joined Borac in 1985 where he signed his first professional contract. Upon his arrival in Banja Luka, he immediately became the best player of the team and the best goalscorer of the entire league. Although he has never won any major domestic honours with Borac, he is nevertheless considered as one of the best players in history of the club.

He later played for RK Zagreb from Croatia, and Celje and Prule 67 from Slovenia. During his career he won a total of 18 domestic trophies and was a member of the Zagreb squad which won the elite EHF Champions League in 1992 and 1993. He is most remembered for the game-winning goal in the 1993 Champions League final where he scored in the final seconds of the game. He has also won three Croatian league and three Croatian cup titles. His longest spell was with Celje, where he played for five years during which time he won five Slovenian league and five Slovenian cup titles and played in the EHF Champions League semi-final three times in a row. Miro Požun was the head coach of Celje during the 1994–95 season with whom Puc won his first Slovenian league and cup title. He made a total of 136 appearances for Celje, scoring 630 goals in the process. Puc last played for Prule 67 where he won both domestic titles, league and cup, in the 2001–02 season and appeared in another Champions league semi-final one year later.

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