Željko Petrović ( sr-cyr, Жељко Петровић; born 13 November 1965) is a Montenegrin

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player. As a player, he represented the FR Yugoslavia national team at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

Club career

Budućnost

Petrović made his professional debut with Budućnost in 1987 under coach

Stanko Poklepović Stanko "Špaco" Poklepović (19 April 1938 – 24 December 2018) was a Croatian professional football player and manager. Poklepović managed a number of teams over 46 years, including Hajduk Split on four occasions. He was also the first manage ...

. In Petrović's second season at Budućnost, the team included the likes of

Niša Saveljić Niša Saveljić (; born 27 March 1970) is a Montenegrin former footballer who played as a defender. At international level, Saveljić represented FR Yugoslavia in one World Cup (1998) and one European Championship (2000). Club career Born in ...

Anto Drobnjak Anto Drobnjak ( Cyrillic: Анто Дробњак; born 21 September 1968) is a Montenegrin former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was one of two top scorers of the First League of Yugoslavia in 1993 when he played for Red S ...

Dejan Savićević Dejan Savićević ( cyrl, Дејан Савићевић, ; born 15 September 1966) is a Montenegrin former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Since 2004, he has been the president of the Montenegrin Football Association (FSCG), cu ...

, and

Predrag Mijatović Predrag "Peđa" Mijatović ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Мијатовић, ; born 19 January 1969) is a Montenegrin retired professional footballer who played as a striker. At club level, Mijatović played for six clubs: Budućnost, Partizan, Val ...

. During Petrović's time at Budućnost, the team finished in ninth place in the 1987–88 season, fourteenth in the 1988–89 season, and tenth in the 1989–90 season.

Dinamo Zagreb

Petrović moved to

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

in 1990, where he played as a right back. In June 1991, Dinamo changed their name to HAŠK Građanski. In HAŠK Građanski's short 1991–92 UEFA Cup campaign, Petrović scored all three of HAŠK Građanski's goals over two legs played against

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. He scored two

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in the first leg played on 17 September 1991, which HAŠK lost 3–2 to Trabzonspor. He scored another goal in the second leg played on 2 October 1991, which HAŠK tied 1–1. In spite of Petrović's goalscoring form, HAŠK were eliminated from the UEFA Cup losing to Trabzonspor on aggregate.

Sevilla

Petrović joined

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

in November 1991, with his transfer from HAŠK Građanski costing the Spanish team 500,000 DM. HAŠK Građanski had agreed on Petrović's transfer as part of a package with

Davor Šuker Davor Šuker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian football administrator and former Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He served as president of the Croatian Football Federation from 2012 t ...

, who joined Sevilla simultaneously. At the time,

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

teams could field only up to four foreigners on the pitch, and Sevilla already had two foreign starters in

Iván Zamorano Iván Luis Zamorano Zamora (; born 18 January 1967) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of Chile's most recognized footballers, along with Marcelo Salas, Leonel Sánchez and Elias Figueroa ...

and

Pablo Bengoechea Pablo Javier Bengoechea Dutra (born 27 June 1965) is a Uruguayan former professional footballer, who is currently a manager. A midfielder of exquisite technique, he played for several clubs in Uruguay and Spain. He was the captain of the club C. ...

. With the addition of Šuker, Petrović was meant to be Sevilla's fourth foreign starter, although he initially enjoyed little playing time. Gradually, coach

Víctor Espárrago Víctor Rodolfo Espárrago Videla (born 6 October 1944 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan football coach and former midfielder. International career He was capped 67 times for the national team between 1966 and 1974. His playing career highlight ...

began bringing him off the bench, and in a breakthrough performance, Petrović made an assist in Sevilla's 1–0 win against

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

in the 1992 Copa del Rey Round of 16. On 22 March 1992, Petrović scored his only goal in a league match with Real Burgos, with Sevilla winning 3–2. However, after the departure of coach Espárrago, a markedly dry spell followed, especially when Sevilla signed

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

in the summer of 1992. Therefore, he was quick to sign for

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

club

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadium is called 'De Vliert', an 8,500 all-seater. R ...

that summer.

Den Bosch and Waalwijk

Petrović joined

in 1992 while his father was living in nearby

Heusden Heusden () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden, merged with ...

as a

guest worker Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worke ...

. This circumstance seemed to be a deciding factor in his move to Den Bosch, as it was widely regarded that he could have easily played for a more competitive team. Den Bosch director Chris van der Laar commented that Petrović was "too good for Den Bosch". In spite of Petrović's good reception, Den Bosch struggled in the 1992–93 season and ended up relegated back to the second tier at the end of the season. After a 5–0 loss against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

in May 1993, Den Bosch coach

Hans van der Pluijm Hans van der Pluijm (born 3 January 1949) is a Dutch football coach who most recently coached Azam F.C. in Tanzania. A former goalkeeper, he played for FC Den Bosch between 1967 and 1986. After retiring, he was the manager of Den Bosch until 1995 ...

noted that " etrovićis playing three classes better than the rest of the team." He was eager to join RKC Waalwijk in 1994. It was at this club which he excelled as an attacking right-back, and he scored 13 goals in total of 2 seasons before joining Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in 1996.

PSV

Petrović joined

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

in the summer of 1996. He was a regular starter during the 1996–97 season, when PSV won the Eredivisie that season under coach

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

. In his second season at the club, however, he proved a difficult player to manage and he was also involved in a spat with team captain

Arthur Numan Arthur Numan (born 14 December 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He played as a left back and was a regular fixture in Netherlands national football team. He is currently the team manager for the Netherlands B squad and a scout fo ...

. Towards the end of Petrović's time at PSV, coach Advocaat was critical of his

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...

habits. In the fall of 1997, Petrović accepted a lucrative offer from the Urawa Red Diamonds, which estranged him from the rest of the club. He insisted that he did not wish to leave PSV, but that the offer could not be ignored since ten of his relatives were living off of his money in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Petrović played a total of 35 games for PSV. He played his last game for PSV on 5 November 1997, in a Champions League match against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Park ...

Urawa Red Diamonds

In 1997, he moved to Japan to play for

Urawa Red Diamonds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

before returning to RKC Waalwijk in 2000 where he finished his playing career.

International career

Petrović made his debut for the national team of Yugoslavia on 12 September 1990 in a match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Yugoslavia was subsequently banned from the

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

, the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

, and the

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

due to FIFA suspending Yugoslavia following the international sanctions against Yugoslavia. Petrović would play for Yugoslavia again five years after his debut, for the qualification to the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Death threat

Petrović was a regular of the Yugoslav national team throughout the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification. On 28 October 1997, the night before the first leg of the qualifying play-off against Hungary, Petrović received a

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...

by an anonymous phone caller. The caller gave Petrović twelve hours to leave Yugoslavia before being killed. In the time preceding the death threat, Petrović had been subject to a

whispering campaign A whispering campaign or whisper campaign is a method of persuasion in which damaging rumors or innuendo are spread about the target, while the source of the rumors seeks to avoid being detected while they are spread. For example, a political camp ...

that suggested he once played for the Croatian national team during the

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, before Croatia became an official FIFA member. Petrović strongly denied this, and teammate

Savo Milošević Savo Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Саво Милошевић, ; born 2 September 1973) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. A former forward, he signed for English club Aston Villa after making a name for himself at Partizan. ...

accused some journalists of jeopardizing Petrović's life by spreading

fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...

about him. Petrović went on to play for Yugoslavia at the

. After the rumors were spread, Petrović took several opportunities to explain how the media identified him. When a Dutch journalist asked Petrović about his nationality considering the

, Petrović insisted on his identity as a Yugoslav. He explained himself with the following:

Managerial and coaching career

On 21 August 2006, Petrović was appointed as the new head coach of Portuguese team Boavista. In his first match as manager, Boavista won 3–0 against Benfica. However, he resigned in October 2006 after only a month and a half in charge. The following 2007–08 season Petrovic managed

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

to a second place in the Dutch 2nd division and failed to gain promotion to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

. In the 2008–09 season he was

Martin Jol Maarten Cornelis "Martin" Jol (born 16 January 1956) is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder. He played over 400 games during his career which included spells in the Netherlands, Germany, and England, as well as earning three caps wit ...

's assistant at

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

. On 28 July 2010, West Ham United confirmed Petrović as the assistant manager to manager

Avram Grant Avraham "Avram" Grant ( he, אברהם "אברם" גרנט; born Avraham Granat; ) is an Israeli professional football manager. He has spent the majority of his career coaching and managing in Israel, winning a number of national league and cup ...

. On 23 November 2010, West Ham parted company with Petrović after less than four months. Upon his departure he made controversial comments about the Premier League questioning its quality. In February 2010, Petrovic was named assistant to manager

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

. On 17 March 2015, Petrović was named the assistant to manager

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, but was sacked on 4 October later that year. He became assistant to manager Advocaat once more when he joined him at

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

in 2018.

Botev Plovdiv

In the beginning of June 2019,

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv ( bg, „Ботев“ Пловдив, ) or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, that competes ...

introduced Petrović as the new head coach of the club. Following his recommendations the club signed Marko Pervan, Philippe van Arnhem and Rodney Klooster. After a long run of poor results, on 16 October, Petrović was sacked. Shortly after that van Arnhem and Klooster were also released. In 12 games under his guidance Botev Plovdiv won only twice, achieved three draws and lost seven matches, last four of which in a row. The next Botev Plovdiv coach achieved seven wins in a row with the same squad attributing to the competency of Petrović.

Inter Zaprešić

In the beginning of January 2020,

Inter Zaprešić Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

introduced Petrović as the new head coach. On 10 April 2020, following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Petrović terminated the contract with the club. He was appointed assistant to Advocaat again at

in summer 2020.

Iraq

After the resignation of

in November 2021 as manager of the Iraq national team, Petrović took over on a caretaker basis. He would coach Iraq at the

2021 FIFA Arab Cup The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup () was the 10th edition of the Arab Cup, the Arab world's national team football tournament; it was the first edition under FIFA's jurisdiction. It took place between 30 November and 18 December in Qatar, as a p ...

and the

final round A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the World Cup. In the last seconds of his first match as coach against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

, which ended in a 1–1 draw, Petrović entered the field to designate who would kick the penalty. He was sacked on 2 February 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial

Željko Petrović
/ref>

References

External links