Nikola Jurčević

Nikola Jurčević
	Jurčević in training
Personal information
Date of birth	14 September 1966 (age 57)
Place of birth	Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Forward; midfielder;
Youth career
	Dinamo Zagreb
Senior career*
Years	Team
1984–1986	Dinamo Zagreb
1986–1988	Zagreb
1988–1989	Royal Antwerp
1989–1991	Zagreb
1991–1995	Austria Salzburg
1995–1997	SC Freiburg
1997–1999	Austria Salzburg
Total
National team
1990–1991	Croatia (unoff)
1994–1996	Croatia
Teams managed
2002–2003	Zagreb
2003–2004	Dinamo Zagreb
2005	Austria Salzburg
2005	Slaven Belupo
2006–2012	Croatia (assistant)
2012–2013	Lokomotiv Moscow (assistant)
2013–2015	Beşiktaş (assistant)
2015–2017	West Ham United (assistant)
2018	Dinamo Zagreb
2019	Azerbaijan
2023–	Lebanon
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Nikola Jurčević (born 14 September 1966) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is head coach of the Lebanon national team.

Playing career[change | change source]

Club career[change | change source]

He started his career at Dinamo Zagreb. There he played alongside with Robert Prosinečki and Zvonko Boban. After a conflict with Dinamo's youth coach Belji he went to Royal Antwerp as an 18-year-old. After one year in Belgium he returned and played for FC Zagreb.

In the summer of 1991he signed with Austrian Bundesliga club SV Austria Salzburg. He was Austrian champion with Salzburg in 1994 and 1995 . In 1994 he scored 14 goals and was together with Heimo Pfeifenberger Austrian top scorer. With Salzburg he reached the UEFA Cup final in the 1993/94 season. Another success was the entry into the UEFA Champions League in the following season. ^[1]

After his successful years in Austria, he moved to SC Freiburg in the German Bundesliga for two years. There he made 45 appearances and scored 5 goals. After his stay in Germany he went back to Salzburg for a year.

He played 211 matches and scored 51 goals. Most of them he played for SV Austria Salzburg (161 matches-46 goals).

International[change | change source]

He made his debut for Croatia in a December 1990 against Romania. He came as a 66th-minute substitute for Ivan Cvjetković. He played 19 matches for Craoatia (2 unofficial) and scored 2 goals. Because Croatia was still officially part of Yugoslavia at the time, his first two games were unofficial. His final match was in December 1996 against Morocco.^[2]

Managerial career[change | change source]

He started his coaching career in 2003 at his home club Dinamo Zagreb. In 2005 he became coach of his former club SV Austria Salzburg . After the Red Bull take over he was replaced as coach after just two games by Manfred Linzmaier. Then he coached the Croatian first division club NK Slaven Belupo Koprivnica till 2006.

From 2006 to 2017 Jurčević was an assistant to former Croatian national coach Slaven Bilić . (Croatia national team 2006–2012; Lokomotiv Moscow 2012–2013; Beşiktaş Istanbul 2013–2015 ; West Ham United 2015–2017). 2018 he was head coach at Dinamo Zagreb. 2018/19 he was coach of the Azerbaijan national football team. He was dismissed due to Azerbaijan's poor performance during the qualifiers for the 2021 European Championship.^[3]

On 2 October 2023, Jurčević was appointed head coach of the Lebanon national team ahead of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification.^[4]