 Štimac asSepahan manager in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1967-09-06)6 September 1967 (age 58) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Metković,SR Croatia,SFR Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre-back | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Zrinjski Mostar (manager) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Neretva Metković | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1985 | Hajduk Split | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1992 | Hajduk Split | 64 | (3) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1987 | →Dinamo Vinkovci (loan) | 31 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992–1994 | Cádiz | 62 | (4) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Hajduk Split | 27 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1999 | Derby County | 84 | (3) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2001 | West Ham United | 43 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Hajduk Split | 11 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 322 | (17) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1987 | Yugoslavia U20 | 14 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990–2002 | Croatia | 53 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Hajduk Split | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Cibalia | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | NK Zagreb | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | Croatia | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Zadar | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | Sepahan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Al-Shahania | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2019–2024 | India | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2024 | India U23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Zrinjski Mostar | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Igor Štimac (pronounced[îgorʃtǐːmats];[1][2] born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian professionalfootball manager and formerplayer who is the manager ofBosnian Premier League clubZrinjski Mostar.
In his playing career, Štimac had three spells withHajduk Split and also played forCádiz in Spain, and forDerby County andWest Ham United in England. He represented theCroatia national team 53 times, playing atEuro 1996 and at the1998 World Cup, when Croatia finished third. He also representedYugoslavia when they won the1987 FIFA World Youth Championship.
As a manager, Štimac was in charge of the Croatia national team from 2012 to 2013. In club football, he has had brief spells in charge of Hajduk Split,Cibalia,NK Zagreb,Zadar, Iranian clubSepahan and Qatari clubAl-Shahania. On 15 May 2019, he was appointed as the head coach of theIndia national football team on a two-year contract,[3] where he served as the head coach until 2024.[4] Štimac then became manager of Bosnian Premier League side Zrinjski in 2025.
At the club level Štimac played for his local Croatian clubHajduk Split and, most notably, the English clubDerby County.[5][6][7] Štimac arrived at theBaseball Ground on 31 October 1995 for a fee of £1.5 million from Hajduk Split.[8] He scored a goal on his debut forthe Rams away atTranmere, but the Rams fell to a heavy 5–1 defeat. The rest of the season was more successful, as Derby gained promotion and remained unbeaten in 20 consecutive matches. During this time he formed a strong partnership withDean Yates in the centre of Derby's defence.
Štimac played nearly four years with the Rams,[9][10] and made 84 league appearances for the Rams, in addition to sevenFA Cup appearances and two League Cup appearances. He was sold on 29 August 1999 toWest Ham United for £600,000, where he scored once, against Newcastle United.[11]
Štimac played for theCroatia national team, winning 53caps and scoring two goals,[12] and formed part of a Croatia squad that won the bronze medal at the1998 FIFA World Cup. His final international was a February 2002friendly match againstBulgaria.[13]
Previously, Štimac was a member of the highly talentedYugoslavia under-20 team that won the1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, playing four games and scoring two goals in the tournament.[14]
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 September 1995 | Maksimir,Zagreb, Croatia |  Estonia | 6 – 1 | 7 – 1 | Euro 1996 Qualifying |
| 2 | 26 March 1996 | Stadion Varteks,Varaždin, Croatia |  Israel | 1 – 0 | 2 – 0 | Friendly |
Štimac started his managerial career in 2001, taking charge of theHajduk Split football academy and also acting as the club's sport director. Hajduk won two championships during this time (2003–04 and 2004–05). In 2004–05 season he took managerial position for the last 10 games after replacingBlaž Slišković. With many difficulties he managed to win championship but lost the cup final toHNK Rijeka. In the spring of 2006, he also spent a few months coaching Croatian first division sideCibalia, saving them from relegation. On 14 September 2009, he was appointed as the newNK Zagreb manager after they lost the first seven games of the season, replacing Luka Pavlović.[15] However Štimac managed to save NK Zagreb from relegation and left the club at the end of the season.
On 5 July 2012, Štimac was appointed as the newCroatia national football team manager, after the departure of his former national team teammateSlaven Bilić. His first match as Croatia manager came in a friendly game againstSwitzerland atPoljud Stadium, which ended in a disappointing 2–4 loss.[16] Despite that loss, Croatia entered the2014 World Cup qualifies in decent fashion, taking 16 points from first six games. However, the results were not representative of Croatia's form on the pitch, as the team only had a goal difference of +7 from those six matches and scored the majority of their goals from set pieces, counterattacks, and defensive errors by their opponents.[17] Then started a period of very poor results starting with a 0–1 loss toScotland atMaksimir on 7 June 2013.[18] Following this Croatia lost 0–1 in a friendly match toPortugal on 10 June 2013 and then barely beat 148th rankedLiechtenstein 3–2 in a friendly match thanks to an 86th-minute goal byEduardo on 14 August 2013.[19][20]
In their next world cup qualifying match, Croatia drew 1–1 against rivalsSerbia in Belgrade, despite only having one shot on target and two shots overall.[21] This was followed by another loss at home at Maksimir, this time to eventual group winnersBelgium with a result of 1–2.[22] With only one World Cup qualifying match to go, Štimac had become widely unpopular in Croatia with one poll conducted by popular domestic newspaper24sata resulting in 98% of voters in favor of sacking Štimac.[23] On 15 October 2013, Croatia lost their final World Cup qualifying match 0–2 against Scotland.[24] After the 0–2 loss to Scotland, Štimac tendered his resignation to theHNS president, former star footballer and national team teammate of Štimac,Davor Šuker. The following day, Šuker accepted his resignation.[25] Croatia ending qualifying as the second to last ranked second place team, having only one more point than last placedDenmark, thus taking the final play-off round spot.
Despite some criticism Štimac managed to take theFIFA Ranking of Croatia to 4th position just behindSpain,Germany andArgentina, respectively.[26] Players likeMateo Kovačić[27] andAlen Halilović[28] also made their debuts for the Croatia national team during Štimac's stint.
In the beginning of 2015, Štimac was named as new manager atPrva HNL clubZadar.[29] Štimac quit after only six months in charge, as club was administratively relegated to second division by the licensing board of the HNS due to financial irregularities 3 games before the league ended.[30] Following Štimac's resignation, Zadar club president Josip Bajlo said, "I would like to thank Mr. Štimac for the five months that he has worked in Zadar, and he has still done the best in such situation".[31]
On 12 November 2015, Štimac became manager ofSepahan, replacingHossein Faraki. He resigned as Sepahan head coach on 20 April 2016, after a run of unsuccessful results which led Sepahan in the 11th place and out of both season's cups,Hazfi Cup andAFC Champions League.[32]
On 15 May 2019, theAll India Football Federation announced Štimac as the country's head coach after the departure ofStephen Constantine.[3] His first campaign with India was2019 King's Cup where his first match as head coach was againstCuraçao, which ended up as a 3−1 loss[33] where he gave six players their international debut[34] but in the next match against the hostThailand he managed the team to a 1−0 victory earning third place in the tournament and his first win as head coach.[35]
For2022 World Cup qualification, Štimac's campaign with India started with a 1–2 home loss toOman,[36] but he steered the team to a respectable draw against the2019 Asian Champion and2022 FIFA World Cup hostsQatar.[37] Despite this, India only managed draws against much lower ranked teams,Bangladesh at home andAfghanistan away.[38][39] India were beaten by Oman[40] and Qatar,[41] gained only a draw with Afghanistan, and their only win in qualification came with a 2–0 victory over neighbour Bangladesh.[42] A third place finish with only six points meant India did not qualify for the2022 FIFA World Cup. However, it was India's highest position since the2002 qualification and guaranteed India a place in the upcoming2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification.[43]
Under Štimac, India reached the2023 AFC Asian Cup finals in Qatar after a 2–0 victory overCambodia, a 2–1 victory over Afghanistan and a 4–0 victory overHong Kong, on 8, 11 and 14 June 2022 respectively, at theVivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan stadium inKolkata. This was the first time India qualified twice in a row for the AFC Asian Cup.
As coach of the India national team, Štimac achieved 12 victories (up to 9 June 2023) when India overcameMongolia 2–0 at theKalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. This surpassed his previous best of 11 wins as coach for NK Zagreb.
On 22 and 28 March 2023 respectively, Štimac led India to a 1–0 victory overMyanmar and a 2–0 victory overKyrgyzstan at theKhuman Lampak in Imphal. These were the first internationals to be played in northeast India and culminated in India winning the 2023 Tri-Nations Series Trophy, under Štimac's guidance.
On 18 June 2023, under Štimac's leadership, India won a secondIntercontinental Cup after overcomingLebanon 2–0 in the final at the Kalinga Stadium.
Under Štimac, on 24 June 2023 at theSree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, India achieved eight consecutive clean sheets with a 2–0 victory overNepal, breaking the previous record of seven between 3 June 1948 and 23 March 1952. It was also India's ninth consecutive clean sheet at home (stretching back to the 4–0 victory over Hong Kong on 14 June 2022), the 11th of an undefeated run (from the 22 March 2023 victory over Myanmar), and the 15th undefeated at home (since a 15 October 2019 draw with Bangladesh). The latter run includes 10 wins, three draws and two draws that ended as penalty shoot-out wins - the last being an extended penalty shoot-out victory at home againstKuwait on 4 July 2023 in the2023 SAFF Championship Final.
Štimac became the first foreign head coach to win back-to-back SAFF Championship titles. The 2023 SAFF Championship was the first time India had defeated two West Asian countries in back-to-back matches, after winning the semi-final against Lebanon, also on penalties.[44]
India lost all matches in the group stage, againstAustralia (0–2),Uzbekistan (0–3), andSyria (0-1). India was the worst-ranked according to points table and goal difference in the competition. Following the poor run of results during the AFC Asian cup and India's second round exit during the2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, Štimac was sacked by the AIFF on 24 June 2024.[45]
On 1 August 2025, Štimac was appointed as the new manager ofBosnian Premier League clubZrinjski Mostar.[46] He debuted as manager on 7 August in theUEFA Europa League third qualifying round first leg against Icelandic sideBreiðablik, drawing 1–1.[47] In October 2025, he courted controversy by using the acronym of theWorld War II fascist saluteZa dom spremni in a social media post.[48]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Hajduk Split |  | 10 April 2005 | 1 July 2005 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 033.3 |
| NK Zagreb | | 14 September 2009 | 14 May 2010 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 039.1 |
| Croatia | | 5 July 2012 | 16 October 2013 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 053.3 |
| Zadar | | 8 January 2015 | 16 July 2015 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 026.3 |
| Sepahan |  | 11 November 2015 | 21 April 2016 | 21 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 014.3 |
| Al-Shahania |  | 28 December 2016 | 23 May 2017 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 007.1 |
| India |  | 15 May 2019 | 11 June 2024 | 53 | 19 | 14 | 20 | 035.8 |
| India U23 | | 1 October 2021 | 11 June 2024 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 066.7 |
| Zrinjski Mostar |  | 1 August 2025 | Present | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 059.1 |
| Total | 182 | 64 | 52 | 66 | 035.2 | |||
Hajduk Split
Derby County
Yugoslavia U-20
Hajduk Split
India
Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar – 1995[50]
Order of the Croatian Trefoil – 1998[51]Ȉgor
Štímac
International tournaments | |||||||||||||
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