Srečko Katanec

Srečko Katanec

Srečko Katanec in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth	(1963-07-16) 16 July 1963
Place of birth	Ljubljana, SFR Yugoslavia
Height
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder, centre-back
Youth career
1970–1981	Ljubljana
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1985	Olimpija	81	(10)
1985–1986	Dinamo Zagreb	21	(3)
1986–1988	Partizan	56	(10)
1988–1989	VfB Stuttgart	26	(1)
1989–1994	Sampdoria	87	(12)
Total		271	(36)
International career
1983–1990	Yugoslavia	31	(5)
1994	Slovenia	5	(1)
Managerial career
1996–1998	Slovenia U21 (co-manager)
1998	Gorica
1998–2002	Slovenia
2002–2003	Olympiacos
2006–2009	Macedonia
2007–2008	Hajduk Split
2010–	Istra 1961
2009–2011	United Arab Emirates
2013–	Slovenia
Medal record Representing Yugoslavia Men's Football 1984 Los Angeles Team Competition
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Srečko Katanec [ˈsretʃkɔ kaˈtanets] (born 16 July 1963) is a Slovenian football manager and a former player capped for Yugoslavia and Slovenia national teams. On 31 December 2012, he accepted a job as a Slovenian coach. He managed to qualify for the 2000 European Championship and the 2002 FIFA World Cup in his first period as a Slovenian coach between 1998 and 2002.

Playing career

Katanec started playing football at the age of seven at Ljubljana. In 1981 he went to Olimpija Ljubljana, in 1985 to Dinamo Zagreb and next year to Partizan Belgrade and was a Yugoslav champion in 1987. In 1988 he joined VfB Stuttgart. This team reached UEFA Cup finals in 1989 and lost against Diego Maradona's Napoli. He stayed in Germany only one season. In 1989 he signed for Italian Sampdoria and already at his first season there he won European Cup Winners' Cup. In 1991, his Sampdoria won a "Scudetto", next year it reached Champions League finals and lost against FC Barcelona. In 1994, he also won the Coppa Italia with Sampdoria under manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.

He was already selected into Yugoslav national team at 1984 European Championship in France, but he has fonder memories of 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles where Yugoslavia team won a bronze medal. He was playing successfully in the qualifying round for 1990 World Cup in Italy so he became the third Slovenian to play at a World Cup where he played three matches of five. Those were the last three caps for Yugoslavia, in altogether 31 matches he scored five goals.

Then he played five more matches (and scored a goal) for Slovenian national team but only one official match. That was a qualifying round for the 1996 European Championship in England, it took place on 7 September 1994 in Maribor against Italy. Soon after this match his contract with Sampdoria expired and he finished his football playing career.

Coaching career

Since 1996 he co-coached Slovenian U21 team with Drago Kostajnšek. Meanwhile, he successfully finished a school for trainers and in 1998 he became a coach of HIT Gorica. But not for a long time as on 1 July of that year he was chosen a Slovenian national team selector.

He led his team very successfully through the qualifying round and managed to qualify to the 2000 European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands and thus started a football mania in Slovenia. There Slovenia played well, earning draws against FR Yugoslavia and Norway and losing to Spain, which was considered quite successful. Slovenia also managed to qualify to the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan but this time the team played worse, losing all three matches against Spain, South Africa and Paraguay, but most disappointing was Katanec's huge argument with the team's star player Zlatko Zahovič. Because of this he resigned immediately after the World Cup and on 2 November in the same year he was chosen as coach at Olympiakos Piraeus. It is believed that his argument with Zahovič played a crucial role as the club also had arguments with Zahovič three years before. But under Katanec's command Olympiakos played worse than expected and on 7 February 2003 the club's management took a chance and fired him immediately after his criticism of the relations inside the club.

In 2004 he was a serious candidate to become national team coach of Croatia with a support of the Croatian Football Federation. But a lobby of influential coaches and managers strongly opposed him so Katanec decided to quit the candidate procedure and Zlatko Kranjčar was chosen instead of him.

On 17 February 2006, Katanec was appointed as Macedonia's head coach for a two-year contract. Following a mixed set of results in the qualifying campaign for World Cup 2010 including a 1–0 win against Scotland and a 4–0 loss to the Netherlands, Katenec resigned from the position on 6 April 2009. A dispute with influential player Goran Pandev was cited by Katanec as the reason for his departure. On 21 June 2009, he was presented as a new head coach of the United Arab Emirates football national team. On 6 September 2011, Katanec was sacked as manager of United Arab Emirates after two successive defeats in the third round of qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

On 31 December 2012 he accepted the offer from the Football Association of Slovenia to become coach for the Slovenian national team for the second time, and was officially appointed on 4 January 2013.

Personal life

Katanec was born in Ljubljana to Croat parents from Međimurje. He has two sons, Svit and Ian.

Honours

Club

Partizan

• Yugoslav First League: 1986–87; runner-up 1987–88

VfB Stuttgart

• UEFA Cup: Runner-up 1988–89

Sampdoria

• Serie A: 1990–91
• Coppa Italia: 1993–94; runner-up 1990–91
• Supercoppa Italiana: 1991
• Cup Winners' Cup: 1989–90
• European Cup: Runner-up 1991–92

Career statistics

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Yugoslavia			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
1980–81	Olimpija Ljubljana	First League	2	0
1981–82			17	0
1982–83			29	4
1983–84			33	6
1984–85	Dinamo Zagreb	First League	0	0
1985–86			21	3
1986–87	Partizan	First League	28	4
1987–88			28	6
Germany			League		DFB-Pokal		Other		Europe		Total
1988–89	Stuttgart	Bundesliga	26	1
Italy			League		Coppa Italia		League Cup		Europe		Total
1989–90	Sampdoria	Serie A	27	5
1990–91			26	2
1991–92			26	4
1992–93			4	0
1993–94			4	1
Total	Yugoslavia		130	19
	Germany		26	1
	Italy		87	12
Career total			243	32

Managerial statistics

As of 17 November 2015

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Slovenia	December 2012	present	28	12	2	14	42.86

External links

• Srečko Katanec Slovenia stats at the Football Association of Slovenia website (Slovene)
• Srečko Katanec Yugoslavia stats at Reprezentacija.rs (Serbian)
• Srečko Katanec – FIFA competition record
• Srečko Katanec at National-Football-Teams.com