 Kranjčar as Iran U23 manager in 2019 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1956-11-15)15 November 1956 | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Zagreb,PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia | |||||||||||||
| Date of death | 1 March 2021(2021-03-01) (aged 64) | |||||||||||||
| Place of death | Zagreb, Croatia | |||||||||||||
| Position | Striker | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| 1966–1973 | Dinamo Zagreb | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1973–1983 | Dinamo Zagreb | 261 | (98) | |||||||||||
| 1983–1990 | Rapid Wien | 201 | (106) | |||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | VSE St. Pölten | 12 | (2) | |||||||||||
| Total | 474 | (206) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1972–1975 | Yugoslavia U19 | 19 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1977–1983 | Yugoslavia | 11 | (3) | |||||||||||
| 1990 | Croatia | 2 | (1) | |||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Austria Klagenfurt | |||||||||||||
| 1992–1994 | Segesta | |||||||||||||
| 1994–1996 | Croatia Zagreb | |||||||||||||
| 1996 | FC Linz | |||||||||||||
| 1997 | Slaven Belupo | |||||||||||||
| 1997 | Segesta | |||||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Samobor | |||||||||||||
| 1998 | Dinamo Zagreb | |||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | El-Masry | |||||||||||||
| 2000 | Mura | |||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Marsonia | |||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | NK Zagreb | |||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | 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 | |||||||||||||
| 2011–2014 | Sepahan | |||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | Al-Ahli | |||||||||||||
| 2016 | Dinamo Zagreb | |||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Sepahan | |||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Iran U23 | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Zlatko "Cico"Kranjčar (Croatian pronunciation:[zlâtkotsǐːtsokrâɲtʃaːr];[1] 15 November 1956 – 1 March 2021) was a Croatian professionalfootballmanager andplayer.
Kranjčar started his career as a player withDinamo Zagreb where he won theYugoslav First League in1981–82, thenYugoslav Cup twice in1980 and1983. He later became the manager of the club which is now part of independent Croatia and went on to winCroatian First League in1995–96 and1997–98 and theCroatian Cup twice in1996 and1998.
Kranjčar also played forRapid Wien where he had success winning theAustrian Bundesliga twice in1986–87 and1987–88; theAustrian Cup in 1984, 1985 and 1987; and theAustrian Supercup in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
Kranjčar was appointed manager of theCroatia national team and took them to the2006 World Cup. He also had a short spell with theMontenegro national team. In 2009 he went to Iran and managedPersepolis. While there he had two spells withSepahan where he went on to win theIran Pro League in2011–12 and theHazfi Cup in2012–13.
Kranjčar started to play forDinamo Zagreb at the age of 10 in 1966 and stayed at the club until 1983. He debuted for the first team on 3 March 1974, aged 17, in a match againstHajduk Split. He played as a striker and quickly became one of the most popular players of the club.[2] He appeared in a total of 556 matches for Dinamo, including friendlies, and scored a total of 256 goals, of which 98 were in theYugoslav First League. With Dinamo, Kranjčar won the1981–82 Yugoslav First League, the first one for the club in 24 years, and twoYugoslav Cups in1980 and1983.[3] He then transferred to Austrian clubRapid Wien for which he played until 1990.[4] With the club he won theAustrian Championship twice and even made it to theCup Winners’ Cup final in1985.[4] The last club in his playing career wasVSE St. Pölten for which he played for two months in late 1990.[5]
Kranjčar made his debut forYugoslavia in a January 1977friendly match away againstColombia, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute forVladimir Petrović, and earned a total of 11 caps, scoring 3 goals. His final international was a November 1983 friendly againstFrance.[6]
He was also capped twice and scored one goal for theCroatia national team and is notable as the first teamcaptain of the Croatian team in theirfirst international match against theUnited States on 17 October 1990 inZagreb.[7] Both games were unofficial however, since Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia at the time.
Kranjčar started his coaching career in 1991 as an advisor atAustria Klagenfurt. From 1992 until 1994 he coached Croatian clubSegesta and in 1994 he transferred toCroatia Zagreb, where he won theCroatian Championship andCup in his first season.[3] In 1996 he returned to Austria to coachFC Linz.[8] A year later he was back in Croatia where he coached the clubsSlaven Belupo, Segesta (again) andSamobor.[8] 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 theUEFA Champions League.[8] In 1999 he started to coach Egyptian clubAl-Masry and in 2000 he went on to coach Slovenian clubNK Mura, where he also stayed for one season. In 2002, he became the Croatian championship winner withNK Zagreb.[9]
AfterCroatia failed to advance through the group stage at theUEFA Euro 2004, Kranjčar was chosen to replaceOtto Barić as the national team's coach for the next two years.[10] He went on to lead Croatia in a total of 25 international matches between August 2004 and June 2006. Under his guidance, the team finished top of their group in the2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying, staying undefeated by recording seven wins and three draws in their ten qualifying matches. At the2006 FIFA World Cup finals, however, they failed to reach the knock-out stages after losing once and drawing twice in their three group matches. Due to this, theCroatian Football Federation decided not to renew Kranjčar's expiring contract on 14 July 2006.[7][10]
In June 2007, Kranjčar took over a coaching position with the United Arab Emirates teamAl-Shaab,[11] 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 ofDAC 1904 Dunajská Streda.[12]
On 1 July 2009, he was appointed head coach ofIran Pro League sidePersepolis after he signed a two-year contract.[13][12] Despite having good players such asKarim Bagheri,Misagh Memarzadeh,Sepehr Heidari,Shpejtim Arifi andSheys Rezaei, Persepolis was unsuccessful in the first weeks of theseason. He was sacked by the club chairmanHabib Kashani on 25 September 2009 after his loss againstPaykan but he was returned to the club after the support of the technical committee five days later.[14]
His contract was renewed until the end of half season. He was replaced byAli Daei on 28 December 2009 after his contract expired.[15]
In February 2010 he took over theMontenegro national team fromZoran Filipović, having a very poor start with two defeats in two friendly matches againstMacedonia away andAlbania at home and third defeat againstNorway with which Filipović had a stunning 3–1 home victory. He was dismissed on 8 September 2011, following Montenegro's defeat toWales in aUEFA Euro 2012 qualifier six days earlier.[16] The Montenegro Football Federation said he was sacked due to alcohol addiction.[17]
Kranjčar signed a two-year contract withIran Pro League three-time champion,Sepahan on 28 October 2011 replacing his compatriotLuka Bonačić.[18] In his first match as Sepahan head coach, Sepahan had a 0–0 draw with Persepolis which Kranjčar coached in 2009.[19]
On 11 May 2012, Sepahan clinched the title for the fourth time (three in a row) and first under Kranjčar with a draw againstMes Sarcheshmeh.[20] They also defeatedEsteghlal in the Round of 16 of the ACL and reached the Quarter-finals.
Kranjčar's side faced Foolad in the Round of 32 of theHazfi Cup on 13 December 2012 which defeated them 2–1 atIsfahan. They defeatedMes Rafsanjan,Sanat Naft and Esteghlal in next matches to reach the final. Infinal, his side won against Persepolis 4–2 on penalties to crown their 4th domestic cup title in last ten years.[21] In his second season as Sepahan head coach, his side finished in third place, three points behind winner, Esteghlal.
On 8 September 2014, Kranjčar resigned as Sepahan manager for an unannounced reason.[22] He was replaced byHossein Faraki.
On 7 February 2015, Kranjčar was named as the new manager ofDoha-based clubAl-Ahli, signing a two-year contract.[23] He was sacked in February 2016 after a run of poor results.[24]
On 17 March 2017, Kranjčar returned to Iranian clubSepahan signing a two-year contract. However, on 20 January 2018 after a series of bad results, Kranjčar parted ways with them by mutual consent to leave Isfahan.[25]
On 29 April 2018, Kranjčar became the head coach of theIran national under-23 team, signing a contract until 2020.[26]
Kranjčar was married in 1983 and had a son,Niko, who is also a professional footballer.[27] He was fluent inGerman.
On 1 March 2021, Kranjčar died at the age of 64 after a short but severe illness. His health deteriorated inZadar, where he ended up in hospital. He was urgently transferred toZagreb but doctors were unable to save his life.[28][7]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Dinamo Zagreb | 1973–74 | Yugoslav First League | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 12 | 2 | ||
| 1974–75 | 30 | 8 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 33 | 8 | ||||
| 1975–76 | 31 | 6 | 5 | 3 | – | – | 36 | 9 | ||||
| 1976–77 | 32 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 6 | – | 43 | 15 | |||
| 1977–78 | 18 | 9 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 20 | 9 | ||||
| 1978–79 | 26 | 13 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 26 | 13 | ||||
| 1979–80 | 32 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | – | 40 | 19 | |||
| 1980–81 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 21 | 5 | |||
| 1981–82 | 17 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | 20 | 14 | |||
| 1982–83 | 29 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 0 | – | 35 | 22 | |||
| 1983–84 | 17 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | 21 | 9 | |||
| Total | 261 | 98 | 28 | 19 | 18 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 307 | 125 | ||
| Rapid Wien | 1983–84 | Austrian Bundesliga | 13 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | 21 | 9 | |
| 1984–85 | 30 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 1 | – | 46 | 21 | |||
| 1985–86 | 34 | 23 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1 | – | 45 | 26 | |||
| 1986–87 | 28 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1[a] | 1 | 39 | 22 | ||
| 1987–88 | 31 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1[a] | 0 | 38 | 20 | ||
| 1988–89 | 33 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1[a] | 0 | 37 | 21 | ||
| 1989–90 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | – | 37 | 13 | |||
| 1990–91 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | |||
| Total | 201 | 106 | 33 | 14 | 32 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 269 | 132 | ||
| Pölten | 1990–91 | Austrian Bundesliga | 12 | 2 | – | – | – | 12 | 2 | |||
| Career total | 467 | 204 | 62 | 33 | 50 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 582 | 257 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yugoslavia[31] | 1977 | 2 | 0 |
| 1978 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1979 | 1 | 2 | |
| 1980 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1981 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1982 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 11 | 3 | |
| Croatia[32] | 1990 | 2 | 1 |
| Total | 2 | 1 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yugoslavia goals | ||||||||
| 1 | 14 November 1979 | Gradski stadion,Novi Sad, Yugoslavia | 4 |  Cyprus | 1–0 | 5–0 | UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying | |
| 2 | 2–0 | |||||||
| 3 | 15 December 1982 | Gradski stadion,Titograd, Yugoslavia | 6 |  Wales | 3–1 | 4–4 | UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying | |
 Croatia goals | ||||||||
| 1 | 22 December 1990 | Stadion Kantrida,Rijeka, Yugoslavia | 2 |  Romania | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | |
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | Win % | |||
| Segesta | July 1992 | May 1994 | 64 | 22 | 15 | 27 | 79 | 88 | −9 | 034.38 |
| Croatia Zagreb | 27 October 1994 | 5 June 1996 | 70 | 48 | 12 | 10 | 170 | 59 | +111 | 068.57 |
| Samobor | May 1997 | January 1998 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 8 | +18 | 090.00 |
| Croatia Zagreb | 16 February 1998 | 24 October 1998 | 35 | 23 | 7 | 5 | 73 | 31 | +42 | 065.71 |
| El-Masry | February 1999 | August 2000 | 30 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 44 | 10 | +34 | 066.67 |
| Marsonia | November 2000 | March 2001 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 18 | −1 | 033.33 |
| Zagreb | April 2001 | May 2002 | 41 | 21 | 9 | 11 | 83 | 49 | +34 | 051.22 |
| Rijeka | June 2002 | December 2002 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 23 | 33 | −10 | 022.73 |
| Zagreb | June 2003 | February 2004 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 15 | −4 | 025.00 |
| Croatia | July 2004 | August 2006 | 25 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 29 | 15 | +14 | 044.00 |
| Persepolis | July 2009 | December 2009 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 31 | 24 | +7 | 038.10 |
| Montenegro | February 2010 | September 2011 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 11 | +3 | 050.00 |
| Sepahan | October 2011 | September 2014 | 120 | 62 | 34 | 24 | 181 | 108 | +73 | 051.67 |
| Al-Ahli | February 2015 | February 2016 | 36 | 17 | 11 | 8 | 55 | 37 | +18 | 047.22 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | July 2016 | September 2016 | 16 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 18 | +10 | 068.75 |
| Sepahan | March 2017 | January 2018 | 27 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 30 | 29 | +1 | 029.63 |
| Iran U23 | April 2018 | May 2019 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 30 | 18 | +12 | 050.00 |
| Total | 568 | 286 | 135 | 147 | 924 | 571 | +353 | 050.35 | ||
Source:hrnogomet.com
Dinamo Zagreb[3]
Rapid Wien[33]
Individual
Dinamo Zagreb[3]
NK Zagreb[9]
Sepahan[35]
Zlȁtko
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Iran Pro League Winning Manager 2011–12 | Succeeded by |
