| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1968-10-26)26 October 1968 (age 57) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Čakovec,SR Croatia,Yugoslavia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Wing-back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MTČ Čakovec | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hajduk Split | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1991 | Hajduk Split | 128 | (17) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1993 | Bari | 52 | (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993–1994 | Torino | 23 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Juventus | 15 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1998 | Real Betis | 98 | (19) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Coventry City | 0 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Real Madrid | 27 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2001 | Las Palmas | 43 | (6) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Panathinaikos | 5 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 391 | (47) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1987 | Yugoslavia U20 | 6 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Yugoslavia | 7 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–2002 | Croatia | 81 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Croatia (futsal) | 2 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Hajduk Split | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010-2011 | Istra 1961 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | Hajduk Split U19 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Sarajevo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Pécs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | Puskás Akadémia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2019 | Croatia U19 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | NorthEast United | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2024 | Croatia U17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Robert Jarni (born 26 October 1968) is a Croatian former professionalfootballer who played as aleft winger orwing-back.
Jarni started his professional career withHajduk Split in 1986, and went on to spend 10 years playing for various clubs in Italy and Spain before finishing his career as a player in Greece withPanathinaikos in 2002.
He was a regular in theCroatia national team between 1990 and 2002, winning a total of 80 internationalcaps for Croatia and being the national team's record cap holder until June 2006, when his record was beaten byDario Šimić. Prior to Croatia's independence, he also won seven international caps for theYugoslavia.
Jarni participated in threeFIFA World Cups, in1990 with Yugoslavia and in1998 and2002 with Croatia, making a total of eleven appearances in the competition. The crowning moment of his career was the 1998 World Cup in France, where he appeared in all of Croatia's seven matches at the tournament and helped them win the bronze medals in their first World Cup appearance. He also scored his only international goal for Croatia during the tournament, netting the opening goal in their 3–0 win overGermany in the quarter-finals. During the last qualifying match ofEuro 2000 where Croatia playedYugoslavia, Jarni collided with defenderZoran Mirković and insulted Mirković after he went down, only for Mirković to grab and twist Jarni's testicles, in which the referee sent him off and banned him for three matches, which made him miss Yugoslavia's Euro 2000 campaign.
After his retirement from professional football as a player, he spent several seasons playingfutsal, even winning two international caps forCroatia in the sport, and also started hismanagerial career withHajduk Split in 2007.
Born inČakovec, Jarni started his career in his hometown withMTČ Čakovec. In June 1985, he was spotted byHajduk Split while playing for MTČ in a cup match inSplit and started his professional career by joining the club in February 1986. He stayed with Hajduk until 1991, when he moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing with Italian sideBari.
After spending two seasons with Bari, he moved toTorino in 1993, and spent one season with the club before moving to local rivalsJuventus in 1994. He also spent just one season with Juventus, and went on to move to Spanish sideReal Betis in 1995. He had a fairly successful spell with theSeville club, appearing in 98Primera División matches for the club over the following three seasons, also scoring a total of 19 goals in the league.
In the summer of 1998, Jarni initially moved to English sideCoventry City, signing for £2.6 million from Real Betis. However, whenReal Madrid decided they wanted the player, they successfully bought him from Coventry for £3.4 million, with Jarni having made no appearances whatsoever. Some believe this was a joint Coventry City and Real Madrid tactic, as Betis refused to sell him to theMadrid club.[1]
At Real Madrid, Jarni struggled to get his place in the starting line-up and often found himself receiving little playing time as a substitute, although he did manage to finish the season with a total of 27 Primera División appearances on his tally. His only league goal for Real Madrid came in their 5–1 win atExtremadura on 31 October 1998, when he netted the opening goal of the match in the first minute. One of the highlights of his spell with Real Madrid came ten days earlier in their thirdUEFA Champions League group match that season, when he netted a brace in their 6–1 win at home toSturm Graz.
In the summer of 1999, Jarni left Real Madrid forSegunda División sideLas Palmas, going on to help the club gain promotion to the Primera División for the 2000–01 season, which saw him making another 26 appearances in the Spanish top flight, scoring two goals. After losing his place as a regular at Las Palmas and making no appearances for the club in the first half of the 2001–02 season, Jarni went on to move to Greek sidePanathinaikos on 30 January 2002, signing a short-term contract until the end of the season.[2]
Jarni only appeared in five matches for Panathinaikos in theGreek league, although he also made three appearances for the club in the UEFA Champions League in February and March 2002. Despite his remarkable performances, he was ruled out due to a serious head injury due to excessive zeal in a match against Porto. His contract was not renewed at the end of the season, and he subsequently retired from professional football as a player, aged 33.
As a youngster, Jarni played for theYugoslav national under-21 football team. He was part of the Yugoslav squad that won the1987 FIFA World Youth Championship inChile, alongside his futureCroatia team-matesDavor Šuker,Zvonimir Boban,Robert Prosinečki andIgor Štimac.
In 1990, Jarni became a full international withYugoslavia. He won seven international caps with the team in 1990 and 1991, scoring one goal. He was also part of the Yugoslav squad for the1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy, where he made his World Cup debut as a half-time substitute forSrečko Katanec in the team's second group match, a 1–0 win againstColombia.
Jarni's international debut for Croatia came on 22 December 1990 in a friendly match againstRomania. He quickly established himself as a regular with the team and was also part of the Croatian squad for the country's first appearance in the finals of a major tournament, at theUEFA Euro 1996 in England. He appeared in all of Croatia's four matches at the tournament before they were knocked out in the quarter-finals after losing 2–1 toGermany, who went on to win the tournament.
Two years later, Jarni was named in the Croatian squad for the country's first World Cup appearance, at the1998 finals in France, and was an important member of the team that went on to win the bronze medals at the tournament. He appeared in all of Croatia's seven matches during the tournament, with his highlight being the opening goal in Croatia's 3–0 win over Germany in the quarter-finals. It was his only international goal for Croatia, although he set up a number of other goals for the national team with numerousassists resulting from his fast runs through the left flank and precisecrosses or passes into the box. One of those assists came later during 1998 World Cup, when he set up Robert Prosinečki's opening goal in Croatia's 2–1 win against theNetherlands in the third-place match.
Jarni continued to play regularly for Croatia until 2002, when he retired from football as a player. His final international was a June 2002 World Cup finals match againstEcuador.[3] He also appeared in all of their three group matches at the2002 FIFA World Cup finals in Japan, where Croatia were eliminated following the group stage. The three appearances made Jarni the only player to feature in all of Croatia's 10 matches in their first two World Cup appearances. Having been a Croatian international for11+1⁄2 years, Jarni won a total of 81 international caps for the team and was their record cap holder beforeDario Šimić beat his record on 18 June 2006 in Croatia's 0–0 draw againstJapan during the2006 FIFA World Cup finals.
Jarni started his managerial career in professional football as assistant manager toSergije Krešić atHajduk Split in late August 2007. After Krešić's resignation on 26 October 2007, Jarni was appointed head coach at the club and was initially presented ascaretaker manager until the end of the first part of theCroatian league season in December. His first match as head coach at Hajduk Split was a 1–0 away victory atInter Zaprešić on 27 October 2007. He went on to sign a one-year contract with the club after the match.[4] The season proved to be a disappointment for Hajduk as they only managed to finish fifth in the league, 30 points behind the champions and arch-rivalsDinamo Zagreb. Jarni was eventually replaced byGoran Vučević on 20 May 2008, ten days after the club's final league game of the season.
On 4 August 2010, Jarni was appointed new manager atIstra 1961, where he replacedAnte Miše, who had been sacked after the club lost their first two matches of the2010–11 season in the Croatian first division.[5] On 7 August 2010, he had his first match in charge of the club, suffering a 1–0 defeat in an away fixture atLokomotiva Zagreb in the Croatian top flight. He resigned from the managerial post on 19 September 2010, after recording two draws and four defeats in six league matches in charge of the club.
In 2012, he took charge of Hajduk's U-19 team. In July 2013 his contract with Hajduk was mutually terminated.[6]
Sarajevo on 1 December 2013, after suffering a total of seven defeats in the league and getting knocked out of the UEFA Europa League second qualification round, sackedHusref Musemić and appointed Jarni as the head coach;[7] Jarni lost just one game after taking over as the head coach and finished in fourth position in the table. On 9 April, toward the end of the2013–2014 season, he was asked to leave, following internal tension of the club's inability to win the league.[8]Sarajevo finished third in the league this season, trailing one point behindŠiroki Brijeg, and were also winners of theBosnia Football Cup.
On 24 November 2014, Jarni was announced as the new manager of Hungarian sidePécs.[9] When Jarni took over the club, it was in second last position in the league table, and he successfully finished the season in eleventh place. Despite finishing eleventh in the2014–15 season, the club lost its professional licence due to financial difficulties and gained admittance to the fourth tier of the Hungarian league system in time for the start of the following season. The relegation saw owner Dezső Matyi leaving the club after eight years,[10] when he sold his share to the city of Pécs[11] and this forced Jarni also to quit the club, ending his stint withPécs.
On 16 April 2016, on the 30th matchday and three matches before the end of2015–16 season,Puskás Akadémia lost to relegation rivalsBékéscsaba at thePancho Arena, falling to last position and a relegation spot for the first time in the season. As a result, Jarni was dismissed as head coach.[12]
From June 2017 to 2019, Jarni was the head coach of theCroatia U19 national football team.[13]
From August 2019, Jarni was appointed as the head coach of Indian clubNorthEast United, a club based inGuwahati,Assam. It competes in theIndian Super League.[14] His former World Cup teammateIgor Stimac is the head coach ofIndia national football team.
On 10 February 2020, he was dismissed as head coach, in what was called a mutual agreement, after a poor streak of eleven winless matches left the team ninth out of ten teams in the table.[15]
Following his retirement from professional football, Jarni went on to playfutsal for Croatian clubMNK Split. He had his first spell with the club between 2002 and 2007, before leaving due to his managerial duties with Hajduk Split during the 2007–08 season. After being replaced as Hajduk's manager, he returned to MNK Split and continued his career as a futsal player in the summer of 2008.
He also won two international caps and scored two goals for theCroatia national futsal team in November 2003 during their qualifying campaign for theFIFA Futsal World Cup. As of 2016[update], he is the only Croatian footballer with international caps in both football and futsal.[16]
In association withAstrea, asportswear brand based near Čakovec, Jarni's hometown, he started his own line of sportswear under the brand nameJarni. The line includes various pieces of sportswear such asfootball kits,polo shirts andtracksuits, and became quite popular among football andhandball clubs in the north Croatian region ofMeđimurje. For some seasons,Jarni was also the kit supplier ofNK Međimurje, a Čakovec-based football club that spent several seasons competing in theCroatian First League.
Jarni also made several appearances as apundit on Croatiancommercial TV stationRTL Televizija during theirlive broadcasts of various international football matches, mostly the away matches of the Croatia national team that were regularly broadcast by the station between 2004 and 2007. Since 2008, however, all of the national team's matches are again broadcast by Croatia'spublic broadcasterHRT.
| Season | Club | League | National cup[a] | League cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Hajduk Split | 1986–87 | Yugoslav First League | 21 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | – | 31 | 0 | ||
| 1987–88 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | – | 18 | 0 | ||||
| 1988–89 | 31 | 6 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 31 | 6 | |||||
| 1989–90 | 31 | 2 | 7 | 0 | – | – | – | 38 | 2 | |||||
| 1990–91 | 29 | 8 | 8 | 4 | – | – | – | 37 | 12 | |||||
| 1991–92 | – | – | – | 2 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 127 | 16 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 159 | 20 | ||
| Bari | 1991–92 | Serie A | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 25 | 0 | |||
| 1992–93 | 28 | 3 | 5 | 1 | – | – | – | 33 | 4 | |||||
| Total | 52 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 4 | ||
| Torino | 1993–94 | Serie A | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 3 | 1 | 1[b] | 0 | 30 | 1 | |
| Juventus | 1994–95 | Serie A | 15 | 1 | 6 | 0 | – | 9 | 0 | – | 30 | 1 | ||
| Real Betis | 1995–96[17] | La Liga | 34 | 8 | 1 | 0 | – | 5 | 1 | – | 40 | 9 | ||
| 1996–97[17] | 36 | 5 | 6 | 0 | – | – | – | 42 | 5 | |||||
| 1997–98[17] | 28 | 6 | 3 | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | – | 37 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 98 | 19 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 119 | 20 | ||
| Real Madrid | 1998–99[17] | La Liga | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | 5 | 2 | 1[c] | 0 | 35 | 3 | |
| Las Palmas | 1999–2000[17] | Segunda División | 17 | 4 | – | – | – | – | 17 | 4 | ||||
| 2000–01[17] | La Liga | 26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 27 | 2 | ||||
| Total | 43 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 6 | ||
| Panathinaikos | 2001–02 | Alpha Ethniki | 5 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 0 | – | 8 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 390 | 46 | 51 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 482 | 54 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yugoslavia | 1990 | 4 | 1 |
| 1991 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 7 | 1 | |
| Croatia | 1992 | 1 | 0 |
| 1993 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1994 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 12 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 14 | 1 | |
| 1999 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 7 | 0 | |
| Total | 80 | 1 | |
Hajduk Split[19]
Juventus[19]
Real Madrid[19]
Las Palmas[19]
Yugoslavia Youth[19]
Croatia[19]
Robert Jarni international tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
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