 Asanović withZambia in 2021 | |||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1965-12-14)14 December 1965 (age 60) | ||||||||||
| Place of birth | Split,SR Croatia,Yugoslavia | ||||||||||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | ||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||
| –1984 | Hajduk Split | ||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||
| 1984 | Split | ||||||||||
| 1984–1990 | Hajduk Split | 139 | (36) | ||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Metz | 35 | (13) | ||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Cannes | 28 | (7) | ||||||||
| 1992–1994 | Montpellier | 43 | (10) | ||||||||
| 1994–1996 | Hajduk Split | 33 | (8) | ||||||||
| 1995–1996 | →Valladolid (loan) | 8 | (1) | ||||||||
| 1996–1997 | Derby County | 38 | (5) | ||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Napoli | 15 | (0) | ||||||||
| 1998–2000 | Panathinaikos | 44 | (9) | ||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Austria Wien | 0 | (0) | ||||||||
| 2001 | Sydney United | 4 | (1) | ||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Toronto Croatia | ||||||||||
| 2002 | Hajduk Split | 1 | (0) | ||||||||
| Total | 388 | (90) | |||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||
| 1987–1988 | Yugoslavia | 3 | (0) | ||||||||
| 1990–2000 | Croatia | 62 | (3) | ||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||
| 2006–2012 | Croatia (assistant) | ||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | Lokomotiv Moscow (assistant) | ||||||||||
| 2015–2017 | Dunajská Streda (technical director) | ||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Melbourne Knights | ||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Al-Ittihad (assistant) | ||||||||||
| 2019–2021 | Croatia (diaspora instructor) | ||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Zambia (technical director) | ||||||||||
| 2022 | Zambia | ||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||
Aljoša Asanović (born 14 December 1965) is a Croatianfootball coach and former player who played as amidfielder. He was regarded as one of the best players in theYugoslav First League, emerging as one of five top scorers during the1989–90 season with 14 goals.
Asanović is best known for his great performance in the mid-to-late 1990s when he played forDerby County and forCroatia duringEuro 96 as well as the1998 FIFA World Cup. He scored thefirst goal in Croatia's team modern history. He was the coach for theZambia national team for a short period of time in 2022.
Born inSplit,SR Croatia,SFR Yugoslavia, Asanović started his professional career withHajduk Split in 1984. In the 1989 to 1990 season, Asanović emerged as the best player of the Yugoslavia football league. This was first of the three spells he had with Hajduk, as he came back to play for the club in 1994 and 2001 respectively. In his first spell with Hajduk, he played until the 1990, when he was signed by the French clubMetz.
Asanović spent one season with Metz, during which he made total of 35 appearances and scored 13 goals.
In the summer of 1991, he moved to another French club,Cannes, where he also spent only one season.
At the beginning of the 1992/93 season, he was signed by his third club in France:Montpellier. He appeared in total of 43 matches and scored ten goals in the process. He stayed with the club for two seasons, until the summer of 1994.
After four seasons in France, Asanović was summoned by his native club Hajduk Split in 1994. The club signed Asanović and several other important players such asIgor Štimac,Tonči Gabrić andBarcelona youngsterGoran Vučević, as they were eager to qualify for1994–95 UEFA Champions League for the first time since Croatian independence. Asanović scored two goals in second leg of qualifier againstLegia Warsaw and Hajduk Split qualified for1994–95 UEFA Champions League. Asanović added another goal in the group stage match againstSteaua București. Hajduk went on to reach the quarter-finals of1994–95 UEFA Champions League, where they were eliminated by eventual championsAjax. During 1994–95 season with Hajduk, Asanović won Croatian league and Cup, appearing in 33 domestic league matches and scoring 8 goals.
In the summer of 1995, he was loaned to Spanish La Liga teamReal Valladolid.
In July 1996, Asanović was signed by Premier League clubDerby County, where he played alongside his former Hajduk teammateIgor Štimac. He spent one and a half seasons with Derby County and appeared in 38 domestic league matches.
At the start of the 1997–98 season, with the1998 FIFA World Cup looming in the summer, he was not a regular in the Derby side and decided to leave the club in December 1997 in order to find his form for the summer tournament in France.
In the winter of 1997, Asanović changed clubs again. After playing for several clubs in Croatia, France, Spain and England, he moved to his fifth different professional football league. This time he moved to Italy, as he signed withNapoli. He established himself in the team quickly and managed to make appearance in 15 Serie A games during his six month spell with the club, but failed to score a single goal.
After some impressive performances at1998 FIFA World Cup, Asanović signed withPanathinaikos in Greece. In two seasons with Panathinaikos, he appeared in 44 league matches, scoring nine goals.
In 2000, Asanović moved toAustria Wien. In 2001, he moved to Australia to sign withNational Soccer League sideSydney United, a side formed and backed by Croatians in Australia. After a short spell in Australia, he played in theCanadian Professional Soccer League withToronto Croatia, and then he returned to his hometown club Hajduk Split to finish his career.[1]
Asanović was one of the best players for theCroatia national team during their golden age from 1994 to 1998. He was arguably Croatia's most intelligent player in midfield, yet lacked the complete package of skills possessed by his fellow midfielderRobert Prosinečki. He debuted for the national on 17 October 1990, which ended in a2–1 victory against theUnited States. This was Croatia's first international game since the independence fromYugoslavia, and Asanović even scored the first goal.
Asanović participated in theEuro 1996 as well as the1998 FIFA World Cup, in which Croatia won the bronze medal. In semi-final of the FIFA World Cup, Asanović made a spectacular assist toDavor Šuker from the centre of the field with a loop pass, for Croatia to take the lead against the hostFrance.
His last international match was a 28 May 2000 friendly against France. In total he wascapped 62 times, scoring 3 goals, thus ranking among the top five Croatian national players.[2] Asanović ended his active career in 2002 while withHajduk Split, the club in which his career had started almost twenty years earlier.
In 2006, he became assistant manager of theCroatia national team. He held this role from 2006 until 2012, working alongsideSlaven Bilić, who was the head coach. He departed when Bilić was replaced byIgor Štimac.
After his departure from the national team, Asanović took up another assistant role, this time in Russia, followingSlaven Bilić toLokomotiv Moscow. Asanović departed the club at the end of the season.
In 2015, Asanović became the new technical director ofDunajská Streda.
In October 2017, Asanović took up a job in Australia, becoming the head coach ofNational Premier Leagues Victoria sideMelbourne Knights.[3]
In October 2018, Asanović took up an assistant coach role with a Saudi Arabian premier league side Al-Ittihad until 2019.
Asanović was the Director and Diaspora instructor for the Croatian Football Federation from 2019 to June 2021 before being appointed Technical Director for the Zambia national team, a role he held till December 2021.
He was appointed as head coach of the Zambian national team in January 2022.[4] He left in September over alleged non-payment of wages.[5]
Asanović's sonAntonio, who was born in France while he was playing forCannes, is also a footballer.[6]
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 October 1990 | Maksimir,Zagreb |  United States | 1 – 0 | Friendly | |
| 2–3 | 8 June 1997 | Olympic,Tokyo |  Japan | 1 – 3 | 3 – 4 | Friendly |
2 – 3 |
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| Melbourne Knights | 2017 | 2018 | !— | |||||||
| Zambia | 2022 | 2022 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 16 | −2 | 036.36 |
Note: win or lose by penalty shoot-out is counted as the draw in time.
Hajduk Split
Montpellier
Individual
Zambia
 | ||
