Adnan Čustović (born 16 April 1978) is a Bosnian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

Club career

Čustović started his career at local side Velež Mostar in 1991, before joining

Slovenian Second League The Slovenian Second Football League (), also known by the abbreviation 2. SNL, is the second highest Association football, football league in Slovenia. The league was formed in 1991 and is operated by the Football Association of Slovenia. Format ...

team Triglav Kranj in 1996. He later moved to France, where he played for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

and

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

teams

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, Laval and

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

. On 21 December 2005, after three years, he left

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...

and moved to Gent. In 2010, Čustović joined Germinal Beerschot, who loaned him out to the successor of his previous club Mouscron, namely Mouscron-Péruwelz in 2012. After the loan, he left for

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

team

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

. Čustović finished his playing career at Tournai in 2014, retiring at the age of 36.

International career

Čustović made his debut for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

on 24 March 2007. On 2 June 2007, he experienced his first notable moment for the national team by scoring his first international goal when he headed the winner over

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

from a corner kick taken by

Mirko Hrgović Mirko Hrgović (born 5 February 1979) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player currently working as an assistant coach for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Club career Široki Brijeg Hrgović has played for Posušj ...

. He has earned a total of 5 caps, scoring 1 goal. His final international was a September 2007 European Championship qualification match against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

International goals

Managerial career

Early career

Right after finishing his playing career, Čustović started his managerial career. From 2014 to 2015, he was the assistant manager at

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

and then from 2015 to 2017, Čustović was assistant at Oostende.

Oostende

In September 2017, Yves Vanderhaeghe, Oostende manager at the time, was sacked after a poor start to the season when the club collected only one point in seven games and were bottom of the league. Čustović was named interim manager of Oostende, but after two wins and one draw in three games, thus collecting seven points in those three games, he was given a full contract, which was to last until the end of the season. At the end of the season, the club avoided relegation and Čustović was praised by fans as a result. He left the club after the end of the season.

Waasland-Beveren

On 17 November 2018, Čustović was appointed as the new manager of

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren (SK Beveren) is a Belgian professional association football club based in Beveren, East Flanders. The club is affiliated with the founded number 4068 and has yellow and blue as its colours. The team was founded in 1936 in H ...

. His first match in charge was a league game at home to Royal Excel Mouscron on 24 November 2018, which ended in a 1–2 loss. Čustović's most memorable moment at the club was a 2–1 victory over league champions

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

on 7 December 2018. Following a bad start to the 2019–20 season, he was relieved of his duties on 26 August 2019.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

On 25 January 2020, Čustović was named as an assistant of Bosnia and Herzegovina national team head coach

Dušan Bajević Dušan "Duško" Bajević ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Бајевић, ; , ''Doúsan Báyevits''; born 10 December 1948) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football manager ...

Return to Oostende

On 4 March 2020, Čustović was once again appointed as the manager of Oostende. After only one game as Oostende's manager, he was released by the club on 7 June 2020.

Kortrijk

Čustović was hired as the manager of

on 1 September 2022. He was fired on 14 November 2022 after a seven-game winless streak.

Hajduk Split

On 5 January 2023, Čustović was hired by

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

as an assistant manager to Ivan Leko.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Triglav Kranj *

: 1997–98 Gent *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 2009–10 Mouscron-Péruwelz * Belgian Third Division A: 2011–12

References

External links