.jpg) Katanec in 2015 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1963-07-16)16 July 1963 (age 62) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Ljubljana,SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder, centre-back | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1970–1981 | Ljubljana | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1981–1985 | Olimpija | 81 | (10) | ||||||||||||||
| 1985–1986 | Dinamo Zagreb | 21 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 1986–1988 | Partizan | 58 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 1988–1989 | VfB Stuttgart | 26 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1989–1994 | Sampdoria | 87 | (12) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 273 | (35) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| Yugoslavia U21 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1990 | Yugoslavia | 31 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 1994 | Slovenia | 5 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Gorica | ||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2002 | Slovenia | ||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | Olympiacos | ||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2009 | Macedonia | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2011 | United Arab Emirates | ||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2017 | Slovenia | ||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2021 | Iraq | ||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2025 | Uzbekistan | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Srečko Katanec (pronounced[ˈsretʃkɔkaˈtanɛts]ⓘ; born 16 July 1963) is a Slovenian retiredfootballmanager andplayer. At international level, he was capped for both theYugoslavia andSlovenia national teams.
A formermidfielder, who was also capable of playing as adefender, Katanec is regarded as one of the greatest Slovenian footballers of all time, having represented Yugoslavia at the1984 and1988Summer Olympics,UEFA Euro 1984 and the1990 FIFA World Cup. After Slovenia's independence, Katanec made five appearances for the newly formed Slovenia national team before retiring from professional football.[1]
During his club career, Katanec won aYugoslav League championship withFK Partizan and was a runner-up of the1988–89 UEFA Cup withVfB Stuttgart. In his five-year spell withSampdoria, he won theSerie A championship, theCoppa Italia and theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup, as well as finishing as a runner-up in the1992 European Cup final, losing toBarcelona.[2]
As manager of Slovenia, Katanec led the country to its first major tournament in history after qualifying for the2000 European Championship and the2002 FIFA World Cup.
Katanec began playing football at the age of seven withNK Ljubljana. In 1981, he joinedOlimpija; in 1985, he joinedDinamo Zagreb; while the next year, he signed withPartizan and was aYugoslav champion in 1987.[3]
In 1988, Katanec joinedVfB Stuttgart in the GermanBundesliga. The club reached the1989 UEFA Cup final, but lost toDiego Maradona'sNapoli. Katanec played just one season for Stuttgart. In 1989, he signed for ItalianSerie A sideSampdoria, where he won theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup in his first season. In 1991, Sampdoria won theScudetto as Serie A champions, while thenext year, the club reached the1992 European Cup final, losing toBarcelona. In 1994, he also won theCoppa Italia with Sampdoria under managerSven-Göran Eriksson.
Katanec was a member of theYugoslavia national team for the1984 European Championship in France, but he has fonder memories of the1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where Yugoslavia team won abronze medal. He was playing successfully in thequalifying round for 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy so he became the third Slovenian to play at aWorld Cup, where he appeared in three of Yugoslavia's five matches. These would be his last three caps for Yugoslavia. Altogether, he appeared in 31 matches and scored 5 goals.[4]
Katanec played five more matches (and scored a goal) for the independentSlovenia national team, but appeared in only one official match. That was aqualifying round for the 1996 European Championship, on 7 September 1994 inMaribor againstItaly.[5] Soon after, his contract with Sampdoria expired and he retired from professional football.
Between 1996 and 1997, Katanec was an assistant manager of Drago Kostanjšek at theSlovenia under-21 team.[6] In December 1997, he became a head coach ofGorica, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract.[6] In July 1998, he was announced as theSlovenian national team manager.[7]
With Slovenia, he qualified for the2000 UEFA European Championship after eliminatingUkraine in the qualifying play-offs, which was the country's first-ever appearance at the major tournament.[8] At the tournament, Slovenia earned draws againstFR Yugoslavia andNorway, and lost toSpain.[9] Slovenia also managed to qualify for the2002 FIFA World Cup, where they lost all three matches against Spain,South Africa andParaguay.[10] After the first game, Katanec had a huge argument with the team's star playerZlatko Zahovič, who was sent home.[11] He resigned immediately after the World Cup.[12] On 2 November 2002, he became the new manager ofOlympiacos.[13] Under Katanec's command, Olympiacos played worse than expected, and on 7 February 2003 the club terminated his contract with immediate effect due to poor performances and a bad atmosphere in the team.[14]
In 2004, Katanec was a candidate to become the national team manager ofCroatia; however,Zlatko Kranjčar was chosen instead of him.[15]
On 17 February 2006, Katanec was appointed asMacedonia's head coach for theUEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers.[16] Following a mixed set of results in the qualifying campaign for the2010 FIFA World Cup, including a 1–0 win againstScotland and a 4–0 loss to theNetherlands, Katanec resigned from the position on 6 April 2009.[17] On 23 June 2009, he was presented as a new head coach of theUnited Arab Emirates national team.[18] He was sacked on 6 September 2011 after two successive defeats in thethird round of qualifiers for the2014 FIFA World Cup.[19]
On 31 December 2012, he accepted the offer from theFootball Association of Slovenia to become the manager of Slovenia for the second time, and was officially appointed on 4 January 2013.[20][21] He resigned in October 2017 after failing to qualify for the2018 FIFA World Cup.[22]
On 4 September 2018, Katanec was appointed as head coach of theIraq on a three-year contract.[23] His first major competition was the2019 AFC Asian Cup, where he managed to achieve what he had failed with Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates, by reaching the knockout stages in a major tournament for the first time, as his Iraq reached the round of 16 before losing to the eventual championsQatar 1–0.[24] Under his management, Iraq also achieved a notable 2–1 win over neighbourIran in the2022 World Cup qualifiers,[25] as well as guiding Iraq to the final of theWAFF Championship and to thethird round of World Cup qualifiers, but due to conflict with the federation over unpaid salaries, Katanec departed as coach in July 2021.[26]
On 27 August 2021, Katanec was appointed as head coach ofUzbekistan on a four-year contract.[27] With Uzbekistan, he reached the quarter-finals of the2023 AFC Asian Cup, where the team was eliminated onpenalties by eventual champions Qatar.[28] Katanec resigned as Uzbekistan head coach in January 2025 due to health problems, and announced his retirement from football.[29][30]
Katanec was born inLjubljana to Croat parents fromMeđimurje.[31] He has two sons, Svit Oliver and Ian Oskar.[32]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Olimpija Ljubljana | 1980–81 | Yugoslav First League | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 1981–82 | Yugoslav First League | 17 | 0 | 17 | 0 | |||||||
| 1982–83 | Yugoslav First League | 29 | 4 | 29 | 4 | |||||||
| 1983–84 | Yugoslav First League | 33 | 6 | 33 | 6 | |||||||
| Total | 81 | 10 | 81 | 10 | ||||||||
| Dinamo Zagreb | 1985–86 | Yugoslav First League | 21 | 3 | 21 | 3 | ||||||
| Partizan | 1986–87 | Yugoslav First League | 30 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 33 | 3 | |
| 1987–88 | Yugoslav First League | 28 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 31 | 6 | ||
| Total | 58 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 64 | 9 | |||
| VfB Stuttgart | 1988–89 | Bundesliga | 26 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 0 | — | 41 | 3 | |
| Sampdoria | 1989–90 | Serie A | 27 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 7 |
| 1990–91 | Serie A | 26 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 4 | |
| 1991–92 | Serie A | 26 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 5 | |
| 1992–93 | Serie A | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | |||
| 1993–94 | Serie A | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 1 | |||
| Total | 87 | 12 | 16 | 2 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 129 | 17 | ||
| Career total | 273 | 35 | 22 | 4 | 38 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 336 | 42 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Gorica | 18 December 1997 | 2 July 1998 | 18 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 066.7 | [citation needed] |
| Slovenia | 2 July 1998[34] | 18 June 2002[35] | 47 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 038.3 | [36] |
| Olympiacos | 2 November 2002[37] | 7 February 2003[38] | 14 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 057.1 | [citation needed] |
| Macedonia | 17 February 2006 | 6 April 2009 | 27 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 033.3 | [36] |
| United Arab Emirates | 23 June 2009 | 6 September 2011 | 28 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 039.3 | [39][40][41] |
| Slovenia | 4 January 2013[21] | 24 December 2017 | 42 | 16 | 7 | 19 | 038.1 | [36] |
| Iraq | 4 September 2018[42] | July 2021[43] | 38 | 20 | 13 | 5 | 052.6 | [44][45][46][47] |
| Uzbekistan | 27 August 2021[48] | 22 January 2025[29] | 43 | 27 | 9 | 7 | 062.8 | [49][50][51][52] |
| Total | 257 | 121 | 66 | 70 | 047.1 | — | ||
Partizan
VfB Stuttgart
Sampdoria
