Nikola Jurčević

Nikola Jurčević (born 14 September 1966) is a former Croatian football player and manager.

Nikola Jurčević
Nikola Jurčević.JPG
Jurčević in training
Personal information
Date of birth (1966-09-14) 14 September 1966 (age 57)
Place of birthZagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position
Youth career
Dinamo Zagreb
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1984–1986Dinamo Zagreb4(0)
1986–1988Zagreb
1988–1989Royal Antwerp1(0)
1989–1991Zagreb33(25)
1991–1995Austria Salzburg130(42)
1995–1997SC Freiburg45(5)
1997–1999Austria Salzburg31(4)
Total211(51)
National team
1990–1991Croatia (unoff)2(0)
1994–1996Croatia17(2)
Teams managed
2002–2003Zagreb
2003–2004Dinamo Zagreb
2005Austria Salzburg
2005Slaven Belupo
2006–2012Croatia (assistant)
2012–2013Lokomotiv Moscow (assistant)
2013–2015Beşiktaş (assistant)
2015–2017West Ham United (assistant)
2018Dinamo Zagreb
2019Azerbaijan
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Club career

He started his career at Dinamo Zagreb. There he played alongside with Robert Prosinečki and Zvonko Boban. After a conflict with Dinamo's youth coach Belji he went to Royal Antwerp as an 18-year-old. After one year in Belgium he returned and played for FC Zagreb.

In the summer of 1991he signed with Austrian Bundesliga club SV Austria Salzburg. He was Austrian champion with Salzburg in 1994 and 1995 . In 1994 he scored 14 goals and was together with Heimo Pfeifenberger Austrian top scorer. With Salzburg he reached the UEFA Cup final in the 1993/94 season. Another success was the entry into the UEFA Champions League in the following season. [1]

After his successful years in Austria, he moved to SC Freiburg in the German Bundesliga for two years. There he made 45 appearances and scored 5 goals. After his stay in Germany he went back to Salzburg for a year.

He played 211 matches and scored 51 goals. Most of them he played for SV Austria Salzburg (161 matches-46 goals).

International

He made his debut for Croatia in a December 1990 against Romania. He came as a 66th-minute substitute for Ivan Cvjetković. He played 19 matches for Craoatia (2 unofficial) and scored 2 goals. Because Croatia was still officially part of Yugoslavia at the time, his first two games were unofficial. His final match was in December 1996 against Morocco.[2]

Managerial career

He started his coaching career in 2003 at his home club Dinamo Zagreb. In 2005 he became coach of his former club SV Austria Salzburg . After the Red Bull take over he was replaced as coach after just two games by Manfred Linzmaier. Then he coached the Croatian first division club NK Slaven Belupo Koprivnica till 2006.

From 2006 to 2017 Jurčević was an assistant to former Croatian national coach Slaven Bilić . (Croatia national team 2006–2012; Lokomotiv Moscow 2012–2013; Beşiktaş Istanbul 2013–2015 ; West Ham United 2015–2017). 2018 he was head coach at Dinamo Zagreb. 2018/19 he was coach of the Azerbaijan national football team. He was dismissed due to Azerbaijan's poor performance during the qualifiers for the 2021 European Championship.[3]

Honours

As a player

NK Zagreb

Austria Salzburg

Individual

As a manager

Dinamo Zagreb

Other websites

References

  1. FC Salzburg Wiki (German)
  2. "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  3. azerbaycan24.com
  4. HINA (15 May 2018). "Prvaci ostali bez trenera: Jurčević smijenjen nakon dva mjeseca". Novi List. Retrieved 15 May 2018.