Albin Pelak

Albin Pelak (born 9 April 1981) is a Bosnian retired football player.

Pelak is most famous in Bosnian and Sarajevo circles for signing with Željezničar after making an explicit promise to FK Sarajevo supporters that he would never play there.

Prior to signing with Željezničar, Pelak was one of the most popular players for Sarajevo, earning the praise of the press as well supporters for his high work rate and leadership ability. He was a key part of Sarajevo's exceptionally talented youth squad composed of players born in 1981/1982 that was one of the most talented squads in Bosnia and Herzegovina's history. Many players from that generation such as Alen Škoro, Džemal Berberović, Damir Mirvić went on to have relatively successful careers in Europe.

Pelak himself also made several tries, albeit unsuccessful at playing abroad, going to Cerezo Osaka of Japan in 2002 and Dinamo Zagreb of neighboring Croatia in 2003. While he did not stay at either club for very long, it was reported that he had been paid handsomely for his failed bids abroad; his deal with Cerzo Osaka reportedly netted him €1 million. On 4 April 2009, Pelak ended his contract with Željezničar and joined Olimpik, playing in the Bosnian Premier League.

He made his debut for Bosnia and Herzegovina in an August 2002 friendly match against Serbia and Montenegro and has earned a total of 2 caps, scoring no goals. His second and final international was an October 2005 World Cup qualification match against San Marino.^[1]

^[2]

• Albin Pelak at National-Football-Teams.com
• Albin Pelak at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)