 Talajić in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dragan Talaanjinc | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1965-08-25)25 August 1965 (age 60) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Sarajevo,SFR Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Bahrain (head coach) | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1984-1987 | FK Sarajevo | 24 | |||||||||||||||
| 1988-1992 | Istra | 16 | |||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Izola | 13 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1993–1996 | Zeytinburnuspor | 26 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–1997 | Orijent | 32 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–2001 | Tanjong Pagar United | 67 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Al Ittihad (assistant) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Al Ittihad | ||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Riffa | ||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2007 | East Riffa | ||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2009 | Al Nahda | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | Shabab Al Ordon | ||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Al-Wehdat | ||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Kuwait SC | ||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Ittihad Kalba | ||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Dhofar | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2016 | Muangthong United | ||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Al-Faisaly | ||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Henan Jianye | ||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Al Tai | ||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Al Khaldiya | ||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Bahrain (Technical Director) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Bahrain | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Dragan Talajić (born 25 August 1965) is aCroatian formerfootballer who is the head coach ofBahrain national football team. Talajić played as agoalkeeper and is a football manager who has managed many clubs in theMiddle East,Thailand, andChina.
He is the winning coach of the2004 AFC Champions League withAl-Ittihad. For the 2010–11 season Talajić was declared Best Coach of Asia and Best Coach of Arabic football world by Al Jazeera Sport TV, Best Coach of Arabic football world by MBC Sport TV and Best Coach of Jordan by votes of fans and press. InCroatia Football Federation-HNS, Talajić is regarded as the prodigy of one of the most successful Croatian managers in history, Tomislav Ivić.
Talajić had a spell withZeytinburnuspor in the TurkishSüper Lig during the 1994–95 season.[1] Dragan started inFK Sarajevo and was one of the brightest young talents of Yugoslav football. As a junior player for FK Sarajevo, Dragan Talajić broke the record of the great Yugoslav goalkeeperSlobodan Janjuš by having received only one goal in the whole season. During the 1992–93 season Talajić was a part of a historic Slovenian football story having played aUEFA Cup match againstBenfica for Slovenian sideBelvedur Izola. His performance in UEFA Cup, despite having conceded 8 goals in the UEFA competition, led to a transfer to TurkishSüper Lig. He played in Turkey for two seasons. After a short spell withNK Orijent in Croatia'sPrva HNL, from 1997 to the end of his career Talajić played forTanjong Pagar United FC in Singapore'sS-League. Talajić left a big mark in Singaporean football since he was twice selected as the player of the year.
Talajić won the2004 AFC Champions League as manager of Saudi clubAl-Ittihad.[2][3] He won 0–5 in Korea which is the biggest win in Asian Champions League final in the history of Asian football.[4] It was Al Ittihad first Asian Champions League trophy in their history. It is till this day the biggest score in anyAFC Champions League final, making Dragan Talajic the only coach in Asian history to win a final with five goals. He left the club within 6 months.
He led Al Riffa from Bahrain to the finals stage of the Gulf Cup in 2005–2006. Talajić led Saudi club Al Nahda to the final of the Prince Faisal Cup 2007/2008 entering in the history of Saudi football as the first team from the second league to play the finals of Prince Faisal Cup.
In the 2009–10 season, Talajić was the coach of Shabab Al-Ordon (Jordan Youth Club) from Amman, Jordan. He led his team to a victory in AFC Cup in Yemen against Al-Ahli Sana'a', drew both home and away against Al-Karmah from Syria, then drew in Oman against Saham and won against Saham in Jordan and qualified to the next round of the AFC Cup, thanks to a win in Jordan against Al-Ahli Sana'a by 6–1.
For the season 2010–2011, Talajić is the head coach of the biggest Jordanian side Al-Wahdat from Amman. His remarkable trophy run began on 6 August 2010 when Talajić won his first trophy of the season with Al-Wahdat winning 2–0 in the finals of the Jordan Shield Cup.
On 13 August 2010, Talajić won the Jordan Super Cup against Al-Wahdat's bitter rival Al-Faisaly. The title win was 10th Super Cup trophy that Al-Wahdat has won in the club's history.
At the end of the season, 2010-2011 Talajic's Al-Wahdat finished first winning the Jordan League with 17 point difference between them and Al-Faisaly who finished second. Talajić's Al-Wahdat finished end of the season with 16 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Including their fixtures in the AFC Cup, where they are through to the quarter-finals, they have won 32 of their 39 games, drawn six and lost just one. In the process, they have racked up 82 goals and conceded just 23. Talajić made a remarkable run with 46 games without defeat.
On 21 May, Talajić won the Jordan League Cup as his fourth trophy of the season becoming the first coach in history to win all 4 trophies in one season.
In July 2011, Talajić signed a one-year contract with Kuwait SC club from Kuwait. Talajić was brought to Kuwait SC after his remarkable run with Al Wahdat in the season 2010–2011. Talajić led his club to victory at home againstMuangthong United winning by 1–0. In Thailand the score was 0-0 and Kuwait SC qualified to the semi-finals of the AFC Cup. Talajić was dismissed in the 65' minute in Thailand after entering the pitch to protest to the referee for his disgraceful performance after the Thai players injured 4 Kuwaiti players without receiving any cards for their dirty way of playing. Talajić was later suspended by the Asian Football Federation for one game due to his actions. In the semi-finals of AFC Cup Talajić's Kuwait SC played against Iraqi'sArbil FC. Kuwait won in Iraq with the result 2-0 and played in Kuwait 3–3 to qualify to the AFC Cup Finals. Their opponent in the finals wasFC Nasaf Qarshi from Uzbekistan. The finals were played atQarshi Stadium located inQarshi,Uzbekistan.FC Nasaf Qarshi had to their advantage the home stadium and fans which led to a hell of an atmosphere for Talajić's team. The game ended with 2-1 forFC Nasaf Qarshi.On 18 December, Dragan Talajić won theKuwait Federation Cup beating in the finalsKazma with the result 4–3, in the 50th minute the score was 0–3 in favor of Kazma SC, but Talajić brought in two substitutes and changed the course of the game making the Kuwait Federation Cup finals 2011 more than spectacular. On 8 March 12, Dragan parted ways with the club.
He was the coach ofIttihad Kalba for a very short period of time. During his time with Ittihad Kalba he had to face many big defeats from the giants ofUAE Arabian Gulf League. He managed the club for 6 matches, with bad results and Talajic just couldn't find the same language and vision with the club boss, Dragan Talajic left the club with a mutual agreement with the club.
In June 2013, theOmani clubDhofar appointed him as their coach. Dragan was in charge of Omani giantDhofar who wonOman Professional League record 9 times. He continued the tradition of Dhofar being the biggest club in Sultanate of Oman.
On 2 July 2014,Muangthong United have announced that they have signed Talajić as their head coach on a 3-year contract. On 30 July Talajić led Muangthong United to a 1–1 draw againstLa Liga sideUD Almeria of Spain. Talajić led the club to the 2nd place in Thai Premier League, 2nd place in Thai FA Cup and the qualification for the Asian Champions League 2016. On 19 January 2016 the agreement was reached between Coach Dragan and the board to end the contract with the club. Dragan Talajic left the club with 60% wins on a period of two seasons.[5][unreliable source?]
On 19 September 2017, Talajić took helm of the most successful Jordanian football club, 2 timesAFC Cup Champion, 19 timesJordan FA Cup Champion, 16 timesJordan Super Cup Champion, 7 timesJordan FA Shield Champion and 33 timesJordan League ChampionAl-Faisaly.
On 18 December 2017, Talajić was appointed as the head coach of Henan Jianye of theChinese Super League. On 11 March 2018, Talajić led Henan Jianye to a 1–0 victory against a favored side of coachUli Stielike,Tianjin Teda, which is a jubilee 300th victory of Henan Jianye inChinese Super League history. On 21 April 2018 after seven matches.[6] Dragan Talajic parted company with Henan due to the club not being able to follow his attacking philosophy. He was a part of the coaching elite of Chinese Super League 2018 among coaches as:Fabio Capello,Bernd Schuster,Manuel Pellegrini,Paulo Sousa,Dragan Stojkovic,Vitor Pereira andFabio Cannavaro.
On 10 December 2021, Talajić was appointed as the head coach ofAl-Khaldiya of theBahraini Premier League. Al Khaldiya is a football club established in Bahrain by the Bahrain Royal Family in 2020. It is the newest Bahrain club but the most ambitious and financially the strongest Bahrain football team. With huge ambitions of the football club, Talajić was appointed as the head coach and more than nine Bahrain National Team players were brought to the club. Talajić started on the best way, beatingAl Muharraq the 35 times Bahrain Football Champion and two times AFC Asian Cup Champions in Bahrain Federation Cup. On 10 February 2022, Talajić took Al Khaldiya's side to the King of Bahrain Cup 2022 Final for the first time in the club's history. On 5 March 2022, he achieved theBahraini King's Cup for the first time ever, by winning againstEast Riffa on penalties.[7]
In 2022, Talajić was appointed as theBahraini national team technical director. In February 2024, he became the head coach of the national team, and secured his first title in the26th Arabian Gulf Cup.[8] Talajić, however, also led Bahrain to have their worst-ever final round performance at the2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, with the team consigned at the bottom place of the table for the first time in the history, in part due to shock defeats toChina andIndonesia, despite a memorable shock 1–0 away win overAustralia at the first matchday of the round.[9]
| Nat. | Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
 | Al Ittihad | 12 December 2004 | 1 February 2005 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | +9 | 100.00 |
 | Bahrain Riffa | 9 August 2005 | 1 June 2006 | 27 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 53 | 21 | +32 | 062.96 |
| East Riffa | 13 July 2006 | 11 June 2007 | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 48 | 47 | +1 | 041.18 |
| Al Nahda | 4 August 2007 | 19 May 2009 | 58 | 29 | 11 | 18 | 76 | 51 | +25 | 050.00 |
 | Shabab Al Ordon | 1 September 2009 | 1 June 2010 | 29 | 17 | 8 | 4 | 48 | 27 | +21 | 058.62 |
| Al-Wehdat | 6 August 2010 | 21 May 2011 | 46 | 37 | 8 | 1 | 96 | 23 | +73 | 080.43 |
 | Kuwait SC | 5 July 2011 | 8 March 2012 | 27 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 39 | 26 | +13 | 051.85 |
 | Ittihad Kalba' | 17 September 2012 | 29 October 2012 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 012.50 |
 | Dhofar | 17 June 2013 | 27 May 2014 | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 48 | 23 | +25 | 050.00 |
 | Muangthong United | 2 July 2014 | 19 January 2016 | 61 | 36 | 12 | 13 | 123 | 62 | +61 | 059.02 |
| Al-Faisaly | 19 September 2017 | 10 December 2017 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 050.00 |
 | Henan Jianye | 18 December 2017 | 20 April 2018 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 13 | −10 | 014.29 |
| Al Khaldiya | 12 December 2020 | 1 June 2022 | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 9 | +11 | 075.00 |
| Bahrain | 20 February 2024 | Current | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 26 | 32 | −6 | 029.17 |
| Career totals | 377 | 212 | 88 | 77 | 618 | 349 | +269 | 056.23 | |||
1 A win or loss by the penalty shoot-out is counted as the draw in time.
Al-Ittihad
Al-Riffa SC
Al-Nahda
Al-Wehdat SC
Kuwait SC
Muangthong United
Al Khaldiya
Bahrain
Individual