 Skočić in 2020 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1968-09-03)3 September 1968 (age 57) | ||
| Place of birth | Rijeka,SR Croatia,Yugoslavia | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Tractor (manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1987–1991 | Rijeka | 20 | (2) |
| 1991–1993 | Las Palmas | 41 | (6) |
| 1993–1996 | Compostela | 12 | (0) |
| 1996 | Rijeka | 2 | (0) |
| 2001–2004 | Novalja | ||
| 2004 | Al-Ittihad Kalba | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 2005–2006 | Rijeka | ||
| 2007–2008 | Interblock | ||
| 2009–2010 | Al-Arabi | ||
| 2011 | Al Nassr | ||
| 2012 | Rijeka | ||
| 2013–2014 | Malavan | ||
| 2014–2016 | Foolad | ||
| 2018 | Khooneh be Khooneh | ||
| 2019–2020 | Sanat Naft | ||
| 2020–2022 | Iran | ||
| 2023–2024 | Croatia U21 | ||
| 2024– | Tractor | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Dragan Skočić (born 3 September 1968) is a Croatian professionalfootball coach and former player, who is the manager of Iranian clubTractor.
Skočić played as amidfielder in Croatia, Spain and the UAE forRijeka,Las Palmas,Compostela,Novalja andAl-Ittihad Kalba.
Skočić, amidfielder, played professional club football in Croatia forRijeka andNK Novalja,[citation needed] in Spain forLas Palmas andCompostela,[1][2][3] and in the UAE forAl-Ittihad Kalba.[4] He was the first player from the Croatian football league who went abroad to play professionally.[5]
After his playing career, Skočić went on to complete the Football Academy at theCroatian Football Academy and the Coach Education and Training Department at theZagreb Faculty of Kinesiology, receiving an UEFA-PRO Coach diploma and a Professional Bachelor of the Coaching Profession.[6][non-primary source needed]
He became manager of his hometown club,Rijeka, in 2005. Skočić secured one trophy for the club, winning theCroatian Cup for the2005–06 season.[7]
In 2007, he became the head coach of the Slovenian clubInterblock Ljubljana, while the club was in a difficult situation on the league scale. Only two years after the club was founded and under the management of Skočić, the club achieved outstanding results in theSlovenian PrvaLiga. Not only did they manage to stay in the first league, but they also won two trophies in the2007–08 season, theSlovenian Cup[8] and aSuper Cup.[9]
Skočić took a year long sabbatical from coaching following his time at Interblock,[10] and in the2009–10 season, he took over the management of theAl-Arabi club in Kuwait. Under his leadership as head coach, the club played in two finals, theCrown Prince Cup and theFederation Cup. Also under Skočić, Al-Arabi played in theAFC Cup quarter-finals.[11]
Following Kuwait, in the2010–11 season, Skočić was engaged by theAl Nassr football club fromRiyadh,Saudi Arabia, one of the most prominent football clubs in the Arab world. Under Skočić, Al Nassr qualified for the third round of theAFC Champions League, after having played a successful season of competitions within the group. On 25 May 2011, he was sacked after a disappointing 4–1 loss to2010 AFC Champions League finalistsZob Ahan, and was replaced by Portuguese bossEurico Gomes.[12]
In March 2012 Skočić returned to take over the management of his hometown club Rijeka by replacing Ivo Ištuk as head coach, and became the third coach to take charge of the club in the2011–12 Prva HNL season.[13] Skočić inherited a defensively frail side that was 2 points off the relegation zone and was tasked with saving the team from relegation.[14] Upon a 2–0 defeat toCibalia, the club fell to the 12th place in the league.[15] After just 43 days in charge,[16] Skočić was relieved of his position, following a series of poor results, and was replaced by his assistant,Mladen Ivančić.[17][18][19]
On 26 May 2013, Skočić was announced as head coach ofMalavan for theupcoming season. He signed a two-year contract with the club.[20] He led the club to the seventh place, their best league finish since 2005.[21]
On 23 May 2014, Skočić was named as new head coach ofIran Pro League title-holdersFoolad,[22] on a one-year contract, replacingHossein Faraki who resigned on the following day.[23] In May 2015, Skočić received the award for coach of the month and signed a two-year contract extension to keep him at the club until July 2017.[24] In November 2015 after poor scores with the club, Skočić was linked with the vacant head coach position atSepahan F.C. but the job went to his compatriot,Igor Štimac.[25] After an unsuccessful transfer to Sepahan, he remained as Foolad's head coach according to his contract.[26][27] He left the club on 1 June 2016.[28]
On 16 January 2018 he became manager ofF.C. Khooneh be Khooneh (Rayka Babol) replacing formerly resignedJavad Nekounam.[29] He soon went on a streak by getting 13 points out of his first 5 games and also leading the second-tier team intoHazfi Cup's final.[30][31]
In July 2019 he became manager ofSanat Naft.[32]
On 6 February 2020, Skočić was named head coach of theIran national team.[33] He managed to take Iran to the 2022 World Cup as the winner of Group A by scoring 25 points out of 10 matches in the third round of theWorld Cup qualifiers and set the best performance of theIran national football team in the World Cup qualifiers.[34][35]
He was replaced as the Iranian national team manager on 7 September 2022.[36]
On 14 April 2023, Dragan Skočić was appointed as the manager of theCroatia national under-21 team.[37][38]
In July 2024 he became manager of Iranian clubTractor.[39][40]
In his first season with Tractor, he won the Iranian league for the first time in Tractor's history,[41] as well as theIranian Super Cup.[42]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Rijeka | 1987–88 | Yugoslav First League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |
| 1988–89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1989–90 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| 1990–91 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 0 | – | 23 | 2 | |||
| Las Palmas | 1991–92 | Segunda División | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | |
| 1992–93 | Segunda División B | 34 | 6 | – | – | 34 | 6 | |||
| SD Compostela | 1993–94 | Segunda División | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 9 | 0 | |
| 1994–95 | La Liga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1995–96 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | |||
| Rijeka | 1995–96 | Prva HNL | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | |
| Career total | 75 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 83 | 8 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| HNK Rijeka | 1 October 2005 | 30 September 2006 | 36 | 20 | 5 | 11 | 055.56 |
| NK Interblock | 3 March 2007 | 1 June 2008 | 49 | 20 | 11 | 18 | 040.82 |
| Al-Arabi SC | 1 August 2009 | 30 June 2010 | 36 | 23 | 9 | 4 | 063.89 |
| Al-Nassr FC | 11 January 2011 | 26 May 2011 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 044.44 |
| HNK Rijeka | 19 March 2012 | 30 April 2012 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 014.29 |
| Malavan | 28 May 2013 | 19 April 2014 | 29 | 13 | 6 | 10 | 044.83 |
| Foolad | 23 May 2014 | 30 June 2016 | 69 | 27 | 18 | 24 | 039.13 |
| Khooneh be Khooneh | 17 January 2018 | 12 October 2018 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 047.83 |
| Sanat Naft | 2 July 2019 | 3 February 2020 | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 052.63 |
| Iran | 6 February 2020 | 7 September 2022 | 18 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 083.33 |
| Total | 304 | 148 | 68 | 88 | 048.68 | ||
Tractor
