Zlatko Zahovič

Zlatko Zahovič
Personal information
Full name	Zlatko Zahovič
Date of birth	1 February 1971 (age 38)
Place of birth	Maribor, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder (retired)
Club information
Current club	Maribor (Director of football)
Senior career*
National team
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.; † Appearances (Goals).;

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Zlatko Zahovič ( listen (help·info); born 1 February 1971) is a former Slovenian footballer. He is the current director of football for NK Maribor.

Zahovič was born in Maribor, SR Slovenia of the former Yugoslavia. He started his career at the youth team of Kovinar Maribor. In 1989 he was noticed by a well known Yugoslav football player Milko Đurovski (who at that time was doing military service in Maribor). He then played for Partizan (1989–1993), including a loan at Proleter Zrenjanin (1990–1991), Vitória Guimarães (1993–1996), Porto (1996–1999), Olympiacos (1999–2000), Valencia (2000–2001), Benfica (2001–2005).

In 2001 his team Valencia were very strong and reached the Champions League final, but lost after a penalty shootout against the German champions Bayern Munich. Zahovič was one of the unfortunate penalty takers to miss; to be more precise, Oliver Kahn saved his shot.

His first match for the Slovenian national team was on 7 November 1992 at a friendly match against Cyprus. The Slovenian national team qualified for the 2000 European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands, where Zahovič played very well, scoring three of Slovenia's four goals. He was the subject of an eighteen million pound bid from Fulham, but declined to join the Premier League side.

Slovenia also managed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan but Zahovič had a very serious argument with the Slovenian national coach Srečko Katanec and he was sent home immediately after the first match against Spain. Katanec resigned immediately after the World Cup, so Zahovič returned to the national team. He played his last national team match on 28 April 2004 against Switzerland. Altogether he played 80 matches (a record) for the national team and scored 35 goals (also a record), thus making him the most successful Slovenian football player since their independence in 1991 and the inception of the country's football association into FIFA in 1992.

Zahovič is infamous for his numerous public arguments and rows with coaches and management, the one with Srečko Katanec being the most prominent. Soon after at Olympiacos he had an argument with the management and he left the club before the season was over. He also had an argument with Valencia coach Héctor Cúper, believing that he was not being given enough opportunities. Nevertheless, he played for Valencia till the end of the 2001 season when he moved to Benfica, who he left in the middle of the 2004/05 season, retiring shortly afterwards.

In the summer of 2007 he became a sport director of football club NK Maribor from Slovenia. He signed a two year contract with the club.