Bujon “Bo” Vuckovic

by Paul

Bujon “Bo” Vuckovic signed with the Vermont Voltage as a forward in the spring of 1999. Within a few short months he would buy the team and move them from Vermont’s capital to a small town fifteen miles from the Canadian border. This is the way Vuckovic operates, and in his nine years with the club he has taken the Voltage from a struggling team, to an award winning athletic organization.

Vuckovic came to the United States in 1991 to play for Franklin Pierce University, and spent most of the 90s playing indoor soccer across the country. After short stints with the New England Revolution and the New Hampshire Phantoms of the USL, Vuckovic landed in Vermont in 1999 for the summer PDL season in between indoor soccer obligations. Vuckovic purchased the team and moved them to St. Albans, Vermont between the 1999 and 2000 seasons before he had even turned thirty.

Taking on managerial, coaching and player’s duties for next several seasons, Vuckovic made a number of key signings to boost the team. Vuckovic signed Goran Hunjak of Croatia and Bo Simic of Serbia for his first season in charge. However, it was Vuckovic who shined both on and off the field, leading the team in scoring with seventeen goals. It would also be the first time the Voltage would feature in the playoffs. At the end of the season the USL awarded Vermont the most improved organization for 2000.

The Voltage would continue to be a fearsome playoff contender in the years to come, and clinched the Northeast Division Championship in 2003. While on-field performance began to fall in 2004, Vuckovic’s impact as a businessman has been an important part of the Voltage’s success in more recent years. The Voltage brand has expanded to include a ladies team, and a number of soccer camps. In 2005 the Voltage were chosen as the Franklin County Business of the year, and in 2006 total attendance reached almost 30,000.

Bo Vuckovic has shown that he is a manager who is capable of taking chances. More often than not, those chances have paid off. His expertise both on and off the field has taken the Voltage from the brink of failure to an impressive organization, and an attractive team to young players. Many PDL teams have failed in the past ten years precisely because there has been no one like Vuckovic to take the reigns. He is a leader who has served at every level and achieved the full potential of a PDL team.