Branko Strupar (born 9 February 1970) is a Croatian-Belgian former professional footballer who played as a striker. In 1999, he became a naturalised Belgian. He consequently played for the Belgium national team with whom he played 17 matches and scored 5 times. Early career Strupar was born in Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia and started his footballing career with the local county tier club NK Špansko in the west of the city. He was scouted by a number of Croatian and European clubs in early 1990s and ultimately joined KRC Genk in 1994. Club career Strupar played in Belgium for KRC Genk, winning promotion to the Belgian First Division in 1996 and becoming champion of Belgium with the same team in 1999. He also won the Belgian Golden Shoe as Player of the Year for 1998. In 1998, he finished as top scorer with 22 goals. He moved to Derby County in December 1999, where he most notably scored the first British league goal of the year 2000 after two minutes against Watford (a game in which he scored twice). While at Derby Strupar gained popularity with his prolific scoring ability. Despite an excellent goals-to-games ratio when fit, injuries curtailed his Derby career, and he was eventually given a free transfer, with which he returned to Croatia for a brief spell at Dinamo Zagreb to wind up his career. International career He made his debut for Belgium in an August 1999 friendly match against Finland, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for Sandy Martens, and earned a total of 17 caps, scoring 5 goals. His final international was a June 2002 World Cup match against Tunisia. Personal life Strupar lives in his native Zagreb with his wife, daughters Dora and Laura and his son Bruno. He worked as a guest football commentator on the Croatian network RTL. Honours Genk Belgian Cup: 1997–98 Belgian First Division: 1998–99 Dinamo Zagreb Croatian Football Super Cup: 2003 Belgium FIFA Fair Play Trophy: 2002 World Cup Individual Belgian First Division A top scorer: 1997–98 (22 goals) Belgian Golden Shoe: 1998 References BBC website External links 1970 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Croatian emigrants to Belgium Naturalised citizens of Belgium Association football forwards Yugoslav footballers Croatian footballers Belgian footballers Belgium international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players K.R.C. Genk players Derby County F.C. players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Belgian Pro League players