 Bjelica in 2017 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1971-08-20)20 August 1971 (age 53) | ||
| Place of birth | Osijek,SR Croatia,Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Dinamo Zagreb (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1989–1990 | Metalac Olt | ||
| 1990–1991 | Osijek | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1991–1993 | Osijek | 28 | (7) |
| 1993–1996 | Albacete | 79 | (19) |
| 1996–1998 | Real Betis | 30 | (2) |
| 1998–1999 | Las Palmas | 24 | (3) |
| 1999–2001 | Osijek | 30 | (16) |
| 2001–2004 | Kaiserslautern | 65 | (5) |
| 2002–2003 | Kaiserslautern II | 6 | (0) |
| 2004–2006 | Admira Wacker | 52 | (12) |
| 2006–2008 | Kärnten | 58 | (17) |
| Total | 372 | (81) | |
| International career | |||
| 1993 | Croatia U21 | 1 | (0) |
| 2001 | Croatia B | 1 | (0) |
| 2001–2004 | Croatia | 9 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2007–2009 | Kärnten | ||
| 2009–2010 | Lustenau 07 | ||
| 2010–2013 | WAC St. Andrä | ||
| 2013–2014 | Austria Wien | ||
| 2014–2015 | Spezia | ||
| 2016–2018 | Lech Poznań | ||
| 2018–2020 | Dinamo Zagreb | ||
| 2020–2022 | Osijek | ||
| 2023 | Trabzonspor | ||
| 2023–2024 | Union Berlin | ||
| 2024 | Dinamo Zagreb | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Nenad Bjelica (Croatian pronunciation:[něnaːdbjělitsa]; born 20 August 1971) is a Croatian professionalfootball manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Croatian clubDinamo Zagreb.
Born inOsijek, Bjelica started playing for a local club,Metalac Olt, in the 1989–90 season. He quickly moved toOsijek and spent almost four seasons there, before moving abroad to Spain.
Bjelica played forAlbacete for four years, during which the team reached theCopa del Rey semi-final in the1994–95 season. In 1996, he moved toReal Betis and was in the team that was therunner-up in the1996–97 campaign. The next season, Bjelica spent atLas Palmas, but returned to Real Betis a year later. Due to injuries, he played very few games in this period, and would again spend a season at Las Palmas until the end of 1999.
Bjelica then returned home to Osijek for two seasons and recovered his form, playing with the team in three stages of theUEFA Cup. He then moved toKaiserslautern in 2000, where he spent four seasons, until semi-retiring top-tier football in 2004. During the2004–05 season, Bjelica played forAdmira Wacker. After that, he played for the Austrian clubKärnten in theSecond League before retiring on 30 June 2008.
Bjelica made his debut forCroatia in a February 2001friendly match againstAustria and earned a total of nine caps.[1] His final international was a June 2004European Championship match againstFrance in Portugal.[2] He retired from the team in that year, at the same time the managerOtto Barić was replaced.
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Bjelica began his coaching career on 15 September 2007 atKärnten,[3] as player-caretaker manager. On 1 July 2008, he signed a full managing contract, just a day after ending his playing career.
Bjelica was the head coach ofLustenau 07 from March to December 2009,[4] as well as ofWAC St. Andrä from May 2010 to June 2013.[4] Bjelica moved toAustria Wien on 17 June 2013 as their new head coach,[5] and qualified for the2013–14 UEFA Champions League group stage, defeating the Croatian championDinamo Zagreb in the last round of qualification, with the club.[6] Bjelica was sacked on 16 February 2014.[7] As Austria Wien failed to qualify for theUEFA Europa League at the end of the season, his contract expired.
In June 2014, he was hired bySerie B sideSpezia.[8] On 30 August 2016, he was appointed head coach at Polish sideLech Poznań.[9] On 10 May 2018, he was released from his contract at Lech.[10]
On 15 May 2018, Bjelica signed a two-year contract with the Croatian champion Dinamo Zagreb, being appointed as their head coach.[11] Four days later, he celebrated winning theleague title, while on 23 May he won theCroatian Cup. On 8 November, Dinamo managed to qualify for the2018–19 UEFA Europa League knockout phase, defeatingSpartak Trnava.[12] On 18 September 2019, Bjelica led Dinamo in the club's inaugural match in theUEFA Champions League after two seasons, with a 4–0 home win againstAtalanta.[13] On 16 April 2020, following the sacking of the entire coaching staff by the club, it was announced that Dinamo terminated the contract with Bjelica.[14]
In September 2020, after failing to win three opening games oftheir season, Croatian clubOsijek sacked their head coachIvica Kulešević and appointed Bjelica instead.[15]
He was named the new head coach ofUnion Berlin on 26 November 2023.[16] In May 2024, he was sacked.[17]
On 26 September 2024 Bjelica signed a multi-year contract withDinamo Zagreb and became the head coach of the club again after four years.[18]
Bjelica is of paternalMontenegrin and maternalCroatian descent.[19][20] In 1997, he married his wife Senka. The couple have two sons: Luka and Luan.[21] Beides his nativeCroatian, Bjelica speaksEnglish,German,Italian,Polish andSpanish fluently and also he is learningFrench.
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Kärnten | 15 September 2007[3] | 29 January 2009[3] | 41 | 17 | 11 | 13 | 041.46 | [22][23] |
| Lustenau 07 | 19 March 2009[24] | 11 December 2009[24] | 31 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 038.71 | [25][26] |
| WAC St. Andrä | 10 May 2010[27] | 17 June 2013[5] | 124 | 56 | 29 | 39 | 045.16 | [28][29][30][31] |
| Austria Wien | 17 June 2013[5] | 16 February 2014[7] | 35 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 034.29 | [32] |
| Spezia | 22 June 2014[8] | 21 November 2015 | 61 | 25 | 18 | 18 | 040.98 | |
| Lech Poznań | 30 August 2016[9] | 10 May 2018[10] | 78 | 41 | 21 | 16 | 052.56 | [33][34] |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 15 May 2018 | 16 April 2020 | 101 | 73 | 15 | 13 | 072.28 | |
| Osijek | 5 September 2020 | 29 August 2022 | 87 | 49 | 23 | 15 | 056.32 | |
| Trabzonspor | 18 April 2023 | 12 October 2023 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 050.00 | |
| Union Berlin | 26 November 2023 | 6 May 2024 | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 027.27 | |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 26 September 2024 | 29 December 2024 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 033.33 | |
| Total | 611 | 304 | 147 | 160 | 049.75 | — | ||
Individual
WAC St. Andrä
Dinamo Zagreb
Individual
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
