Zlatko Kranjčar

Zlatko Kranjčar

File:Zlatko Kranjčar.jpg
Personal information
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Sepahan (head coach)
Youth career
1966–1973	Dinamo Zagreb
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1973–1983	Dinamo Zagreb	261	(98)
1983–1990	Rapid Vienna	201	(106)
1990-1991	VSE St. Pölten	12	(2)
Total		474	(206)
International career
1977–1983	Yugoslavia	11	(3)
1990	Croatia	2	(1)
Managerial career
1991–1992	Austria Klagenfurt
1992–1994	Segesta
1994–1996	Dinamo Zagreb
1996	FC Linz
1997	Slaven Belupo
1997	Segesta
1997–1998	NK Samobor
1998	Dinamo Zagreb
1999–2000	El-Masry
2000	Mura
2000–2001	Marsonia
2001–2002	NK Zagreb
2002–2003	NK Rijeka
2003–2004	NK Zagreb
2004–2006	Croatia
2006-2007	Croatia Sesvete
2007	Al-Shaab Sharjah
2009	DAC Dunajská Streda
2009	Persepolis
2010–2011	Montenegro
2011–	Sepahan
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Zlatko "Cico" Kranjčar (pronounced [zlâtkɔ t͡sǐːt͡sɔ krâɲt͡ʃaːr]; born 15 November 1956) is a Croatian football manager and former striker. He is the head coach of Sepahan in Iran Pro League.

Club career

Kranjčar started to play for Dinamo Zagreb at the age of 10 in 1966 and stayed in the club until 1983. He appeared in a total of 556 matches for the club and scored 98 goals in the championship. Then he transferred to Austrian club Rapid Vienna for which he played until 1990. The last club in his playing career was VSE St. Pölten for which he played for two months in late 1990.

International career

Between 1977 and 1983 he collected 11 caps and scored 3 goals for Yugoslavia. He also has two caps and scored one goal for the Croatian national team and is notable as the first team captain of the Croatian team in their first international match against the United States on 17 October 1990 in Zagreb.

Coaching career

Early years

Kranjčar started his coaching career in 1991 as an advisor at Austria Klagenfurt. From 1992 until 1994 he coached a Croatian club HNK Segesta and in 1994 he transferred to Croatia Zagreb, where he won the Croatian Championship and Cup in his first season. In 1996 he returned to Austria to coach FC Linz. A year later he was back in Croatia where he coached the clubs NK Slaven Belupo, HNK Segesta (again) and NK Samobor. In 1998 he came back to Croatia Zagreb and led the club to another win in both the Croatian Championship and Cup as well as to an appearance in the UEFA Champions League. In 1999 he started to coach an Egyptian club Al-Masry and in 2000 he went on to coach a Slovenian club NK Mura, where he also stayed for one season. In 2002 he became the Croatian championship winner with NK Zagreb.

Croatia

After Croatia's unsuccessful appearance at Euro 2004, Kranjčar was named the new coach of the country's national squad and he led the team in 18 international matches. They played fifteen matches in the World Cup 2006 qualifying rounds and won the group, but performed relatively badly in their three 2006 World Cup finals matches and were eliminated in the group stages. Due to this, the Croatian Football Federation decided not to renew his contract on 14 July 2006. In June 2007, he took over coaching position in United Arab Emirates team Al-Shaab but was sacked in December after a dispute with the board about player selection. On 22 April 2009, he was named as the new head coach of DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda.

Persepolis

On 1 July 2009, he was appointed as head coach of Iran Pro League side Persepolis after signed a two years contract. Despite having good players such as Karim Bagheri, Misagh Memarzadeh, Sepehr Heidari, Shpejtim Arifi and Sheys Rezaei, Persepolis was unsuccessful in the first weeks of the season. He was sacked by the club on 25 September 2009 but he was returned to the club after the support of the technical committee five days later.

His contract was renovated until the end of half season. He was replaced by Ali Daei on 28 December 2009 after his contract was expired.

Montenegro

In February 2010 he took over the Montenegro national team from Zoran Filipovic having a very poor start with two defeats in two friendly matches against Macedonia (away) and Albania (home) and a third defeat with Norway against which Zoran Filipovic had a stunning 3–1 home victory. He was dismissed on 8 September 2011, following Montenegro's defeat to Wales in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier six days earlier.

Sepahan

He was signed a two years contract with Iran Pro League three time champion, Sepahan on 28 October 2011 replaces his compatriot Luka Bonacic. In his first match as Sepahan head coach, Sepahan made a 0-0 draw with Persepolis which Kranjčar was it's head coach in 2009.

Statistics

As of 14 February 2012

Nat	Team	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %	GF	GA	+/-
	Segesta	July 1992	May 1994	64	22	15	27	034.38	79	88	–9
	Dinamo Zagreb	July 1994	July 1996	52	33	12	7	063.46	99	39	+60
	Samobor	May 1997	January 1998	10	9	1	0	090.00	26	8	+19
	El-Masry	February 1999	August 2000	30	20	5	5	066.67	44	10	+34
	Rokela	June 2002	June 2003	22	5	3	14	022.73	23	33	–10
	Croatia	July 2004	August 2006	25	11	8	6	044.00	29	15	+14
	Persepolis	July 2009	December 2009	21	8	9	4	038.10	31	24	+7
	Montenegro	February 2010	September 2011	12	6	2	4	050.00	14	11	+3
	Sepahan	November 2011	Present	14	9	4	1	064.29	22	6	+16

Personal life

He was married in 1983 and has a son, Niko is also a professional footballer who is currently playing for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, and the Croatian national team. His son and his daughter in law. Simona has a baby girl by the name of Loree who was born on 7 March 2011.

External links

• Zlatko Kranjčar at National-Football-Teams.com
• Zlatko Kranjcar at the Serbia national football team website Template:Sr icon