.jpg) Jokanović with Dynamo Moscow in 2022 | |||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Slaviša Jokanović[1] | ||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1968-08-16)16 August 1968 (age 57)[1] | ||||||||||
| Place of birth | Novi Sad,SR Serbia,Yugoslavia | ||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||
| Position | Defensive midfielder | ||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||
Current team | Al-Nasr (head coach) | ||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||
| Novi Sad | |||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||
| 1986–1988 | Novi Sad | 34 | (7) | ||||||||
| 1988–1990 | Vojvodina | 54 | (10) | ||||||||
| 1990–1993 | Partizan | 67 | (21) | ||||||||
| 1993–1995 | Oviedo | 62 | (12) | ||||||||
| 1995–1999 | Tenerife | 123 | (17) | ||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Deportivo La Coruña | 23 | (2) | ||||||||
| 2000–2002 | Chelsea | 39 | (0) | ||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Ciudad Murcia | 6 | (0) | ||||||||
| Total | 408 | (69) | |||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||
| 1991–2002 | FR Yugoslavia[note 1] | 64 | (10) | ||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||
| 2007–2009 | Partizan | ||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | Muangthong United | ||||||||||
| 2013 | Levski Sofia | ||||||||||
| 2014 | Hércules | ||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Watford | ||||||||||
| 2015 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | ||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | Fulham | ||||||||||
| 2019–2021 | Al-Gharafa | ||||||||||
| 2021 | Sheffield United | ||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Dynamo Moscow | ||||||||||
| 2025– | Al-Nasr | ||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||
Slaviša Jokanović (Serbian Cyrillic:Славиша Јокановић,pronounced[slǎʋiʃajokȃnoʋitɕ]; born 16 August 1968) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach ofUAE Pro League clubAl-Nasr.
A physical player considered strong in the air, he impressed atPartizan, before spending seven seasons inLa Liga at the service of three clubs, appearing in 208 matches and scoring 31 goals, mainly forTenerife.[3] He also played for two years withChelsea towards the end of his career, and representedYugoslavia at the1998 World Cup andEuro 2000, earning 64caps and scoring ten goals in an eleven-year international career.
Jokanović began his managerial career in 2007, winning two consecutivedoubles with Partizan, the2012 Thai Premier League withMuangthong United, and leadingWatford andFulham to promotion to thePremier League in2015 and2018 respectively.
Born inNovi Sad,Vojvodina, SFR Yugoslavia,[1] Jokanović started playing with his hometown clubNovi Sad, and made his senior debut with neighbouringVojvodina, helping it win its secondnational title in the1988–89 season, with four goals in 24 matches.
In 1990, Jokanović joinedBelgrade'sPartizan. Inhis second year he helped the teamwin thedomestic cup and, inhis third, he scored 13 league goals (a career best), being one of several players to net in double digits – the team scored 103 in 36 matches –en route to the league conquest.[4]
After his displays at Partizan, Jokanović signed forOviedo in Spain. During his two-year spell, he partnered compatriotsJanko Janković,Nikola Jerkan andRobert Prosinečki and, subsequently, he joined fellowLa Liga clubTenerife for the1995-96 season, being instrumental in their domestic andEuropean consolidation.[5]
In the summer 1999, Jokanović signed forDeportivo La Coruña at the insistence of coachJavier Irureta, who deployed him in a partnership with BraziliansDonato andMauro Silva. The trio combined for 85 matches and five goals, as theGalicians wontheir first ever league title.[6]
After only one season with Deportivo, Jokanović signed withChelsea in October 2000, for £1.7 million. Under coachClaudio Ranieri, he appeared 39 times for the Blues over two consecutivePremier League seasons, and played a total of 53 matches. He was released in July 2002, at nearly 34.[7]
He subsequently retired from professional football, after playing just three months in the Spanish second division withCiudad Murcia.[8][9]
Jokanović played six times forSFR Yugoslavia, his debut coming on 27 February 1991 in afriendly withTurkey, when he played the last ten minutes after replacingŽeljko Petrović.[10] He then appeared in someUEFA Euro 1992qualifying matches, helping the national team to top its group; he was selected for the final tournament,[11] but the team would be suspended due to theYugoslav Wars.
During the last official game ever that SFR Yugoslavia played on the 28th of May 1992 againstFiorentina inFlorence, Jokanovic scored the only goal for his team and subsequently became the last man to score a goal forYugoslavia. Fiorentina made a comeback and won the game 2–1. The match was played just two days before the announcement ofUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 757 which forbade Yugoslavia to participate at UEFA Euro 1992.[1][2]
Jokanović representedFR Yugoslavia in a further 58 matches,[12] appearing for the nation at the1998 FIFA World Cup andEuro 2000. In the former competition, he scored his first two international goals in an 8–1 away win over theFaroe Islandsin qualification before playing four complete matches as the national team reached theround-of-16; in the latter he appeared three times, beingsent off againstSpain in a 3–4 loss, with the team reaching the quarter-finals.[13]
Jokanović was living inMadrid when, in September 2007, he joined the technical staff ofTercera División clubPinto. However, three months later, he became the head coach of Partizan, replacingMiroslav Đukić, who left to take the reins of the national team. His family (wife and three children) remained in the Spanish capital.[14]
In May 2008, under Jokanović's management, Partizan wonthe double (league andcup). He was also selected as the year's "Best Coach in Serbia" by theFootball Association of Serbia, but refused to receive this award due to Partizan's poor results inthe group stage of theUEFA Cup.[15]
Jokanović led Partizan to another double inhis first full season, winning the league by a margin of 19 points over former team Vojvodina. Thus, he became the first coach in the club's history to successfully defend the title; on 5 September 2009, however, he left the post by mutual consent, bidding farewell through an open letter.[16]
On 28 February 2012,Muangthong United introduced Jokanović as their new head coach, and he signed a one-year contract, with an option for a further two years.[17] Inhis first and only season, he led the team to the thirdThai Premier League title in their history, going undefeated in the process.[18]
In mid-July 2013, Jokanović replacedNikolay Mitov as manager of Bulgarian teamLevski Sofia.[19] He was relieved of his duties in October, due to poor results, but club supporters claimed that he should have been given time to change things around.[20]
On 5 May 2014,Hércules appointed Jokanović as coach until the end of the season, replacingQuique Hernández, who had been sacked with the team in last place in theSegunda División table.[21] He only managed one win in his five matches in charge, in an eventualrelegation.[22]
On 7 October 2014, Jokanović was appointed on a short-term contract at the helm of EnglishChampionship clubWatford, their fourth coach in five weeks.[23] Under his leadership, the Hornets werepromoted to thePremier League with one match to spare, sealing it with a 2–0 win atBrighton & Hove Albion on 25 April 2015 for their 15th win in twenty matches;[24] the team was also minutes away from winning the league title in the final match, but conceded an injury-time equaliser toSheffield Wednesday that allowedBournemouth to overtake them.[25] On 5 June, after failing to agree to a new deal, Jokanović left and was replaced byQuique Sánchez Flores.[26]
On 14 June 2015, Jokanović was appointed as coach ofMaccabi Tel Aviv.[27] On 25 August, heled the club to the group stage of theUEFA Champions League for the first time in eleven years, after oustingBasel on theaway goals rule.[28]
Jokanović lasted just over six months in the role before he elected to return to the Championship, joiningFulham on 27 December 2015 as head coach.[29] Afteravoiding relegation by eleven points, he achieved his target of a top six position forhis first full season atCraven Cottage.[30] He was theEFL Championship Manager of the Month for April 2018 after taking 16 points from 18, having won the same award for Watford three years earlier; his compatriotforwardAleksandar Mitrović took theplayers' equivalent.[31]
Jokanović led Fulham topromotion by beatingAston Villa 1–0 atWembley Stadium on 26 May 2018 in theplay-off final.[32] On 14 November, however, afterseven consecutive winless results, and with the teamranking last, he was dismissed and replaced byClaudio Ranieri.[33]
On 16 June 2019, Jokanović was appointed at Qatari clubAl-Gharafa, on a two-year deal.[34] He was nominated for Manager of the Season in hisfirst year in theStars League.[35]
On 27 May 2021, Jokanović was appointed by newly relegatedSheffield United on a three-year deal, becoming the club's first manager from overseas.[36] He was sacked on 25 November, having won six of 19 Championship games.Paul Heckingbottom replaced him.[37]
On 17 June 2022, Jokanović signed a contract withRussian Premier League clubDynamo Moscow for theupcoming season, with the option of two further years depending on performance.[38] He was dismissed by Dynamo on 14 May 2023, following a 0–3 home loss toAkhmat Grozny, with Dynamo in seventh place.[39]
On 8 June 2025, Jokanović was appointed as head coach ofUAE Pro League clubAl-Nasr.[40]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFR Yugoslavia[41] | 1991 | 6 | 0 |
| 1992 | 0 | 0 | |
| FR Yugoslavia | 1993 | 0 | 0 |
| 1994 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 7 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 11 | 3 | |
| 1998 | 13 | 3 | |
| 1999 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 9 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 64 | 10 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 October 1996 | Svangaskarð,Toftir, Faroe Islands |  Faroe Islands | 2–0 | 8–1 | 1998 World Cup qualification |
| 2 | 6–1 | |||||
| 3 | 12 June 1997 | Olympic Stadium,Seoul, South Korea |  Ghana | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1997 Korea Cup |
| 4 | 16 June 1997 | Olympic Stadium, Seoul, South Korea |  South Korea | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1997 Korea Cup |
| 5 | 20 August 1997 | Petrovsky,Saint Petersburg, Russia |  Russia | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 6 | 28 January 1998 | El Menzah,Tunis, Tunisia |  Tunisia | 2–0 | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 7 | 3–0 | |||||
| 8 | 22 April 1998 | Red Star Stadium,Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia | South Korea | 3–1 | 3–1 | Friendly |
| 9 | 3 September 2000 | Josy Barthel,Luxembourg City, Luxembourg |  Luxembourg | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2002 World Cup qualification |
| 10 | 6 October 2001 | Partizan Stadium, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia | Luxembourg | 1–0 | 6–2 | 2002 World Cup qualification |
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Partizan | 26 December 2007 | 5 September 2009 | 76 | 54 | 12 | 10 | 071.05 | [42] |
| Muangthong United | 27 February 2012 | 4 June 2013 | 54 | 34 | 12 | 8 | 062.96 | [42] |
| Levski Sofia | 15 July 2013 | 8 October 2013 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 050.00 | [42] |
| Hércules | 5 May 2014 | 11 June 2014 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 020.00 | [21][42] |
| Watford | 7 October 2014 | 5 June 2015 | 36 | 21 | 5 | 10 | 058.33 | [43][26] |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1 July 2015 | 26 December 2015 | 29 | 13 | 4 | 12 | 044.83 | [44][27][43] |
| Fulham | 27 December 2015 | 14 November 2018 | 145 | 64 | 36 | 45 | 044.14 | [43][29] |
| Al-Gharafa | 1 July 2019 | 27 May 2021 | 54 | 25 | 10 | 19 | 046.30 | [45] |
| Sheffield United | 27 May 2021 | 25 November 2021 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 036.36 | [43] |
| Dynamo Moscow | 1 July 2022 | 14 May 2023 | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 039.47 | |
| Al-Nasr | 8 June 2025 | Present | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 033.33 | |
| Total | 480 | 244 | 104 | 132 | 050.83 | |||
Vojvodina
Partizan
Deportivo
Partizan
Muangthong United
Fulham
Yugoslavia squads | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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