Darko Nestorović (; born 4 April 1965) is a Bosnian professional football manager 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 is ...

Playing career

Born in

Kakanj Kakanj ( sr-cyrl, Какањ) is a town and municipality located in Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, the town has a population of 11,796 inhabitants, with 38,937 inh ...

, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nestorović played for Čelik Zenica,

Rad RAD or Rad may refer to: People * Robert Anthony Rad Dougall (born 1951), South African former racing driver * Rad Hourani, Canadian fashion designer and artist * Nickname of Leonardus Rad Kortenhorst (1886–1963), Dutch politician * Radley R ...

and

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

in the former

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. After Rijeka and the breakup of Yugoslavia, he played abroad for

Panserraikos Panserraikos Football Club ( el, Πανσερραϊκός 1964), the ''All-Serres Football Club'', is a Greece, Greek Association football, football club based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and ...

in the Greek First Division, HamKam in the first league of Norway, Hong Kong Golden in the first league of China, FC Umea in the first league of Sweden. In the first league of Serbia and Montenegro, he played for

FK Spartak Subotica Fudbalski klub Spartak Ždrepčeva Krv () is a professional football club from Subotica, Serbia, that plays in the Serbian SuperLiga. The club was founded in 1945 and was named after Jovan Mikić Spartak, the leader of the Partisans in Subotic ...

and FK Mogren. In his playing career, he was a representative of all national teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a youth representative of Yugoslavia in the generation of Darko Pančev, Dragan Stojković, Mitar Mrkela, Aleksandar Stojanović, and with that generation he qualified for the European Championship. He also remained as Celik's all-time top scorer. He played in the UEFA Cup with FK Rad and was the scorer in a 2-1 victory over Olympiacos in Belgrade. Abroad, he was a member of the Hong Kong national team.

Managerial career

After ending his playing career, Nestorović stayed in football as an professional manager, starting off at

Radnik Bijeljina Fudbalski klub Radnik Bijeljina ( sr-cyr, Фудбалски клуб Радник Бијељина) is a professional association football club based in the city of Bijeljina that is situated in northeast Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club plays ...

. After Radnik, he managed Drina Zvornik then Rudar Prijedor. With Rudar Prijedor, Nestorović achieved the greatest success in the history of the club. In three seasons, he introduced a team from the second league to the first league, and the following year to the premier league of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With the same players, he was in the middle of the Premier League table. He was twice chosen as the best coach of the year in the selection of

Sportski žurnal ''Sportski žurnal'' (Serbian Cyrillic: Спортски журнал) is a Serbian sports daily newspaper. About half of the pages are devoted to football, whereas the rest deals with athletics, auto racing, basketball, boxing, cycling, judo, k ...

, as well as by his fellow coaches. Then he managed Sloboda Mrkonjić Grad,

, who he promoted to the

Bosnian Premier League The m:tel Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, m:tel Premijer liga Bosne i Hercegovine / м:тел Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), also known as Liga 12, is the top tier football league in Bosnia and He ...

by winning the 2011–12 First League of RS. While at Radnik Bijeljina, Nestorović was coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U23 Olympic national team, Sutjeska Foča and Rudar, before becoming head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 national team on 27 December 2014. Nestorović stayed as head coach until 10 mart 2017. He then became manager of

Kuwait Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as STC Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Al-Arabi, Qadsia and Kuwait both hold the best record in the competition, having won ...

club

Al-Arabi Al-Arabi may refer to: Companies *Al-Arabi Group, a holding company in the Kuwait Stock Exchange#Services *Al Arabi Investment Group (AB Invest), a subsidiary of Arab Bank *Al Arabi Investment Group Company, a subsidiary of Arab Bank Media *'' A ...

on 13 August 2017, working alongside Kuwaiti manager

Mohammed Ebrahim Hajeyah Mohammed Ebrahim Hajeyah is a retired Kuwaiti football player. Ibrahem played for Kuwaiti football club Al Qadisiya (Qadsia Sporting Club) in the Gulf Club Champions Cup, Kuwaiti Premier League, Crown Prince Cup and the Kharafi Cup, and for the ...

. On 5 September 2018, he became the new manager of newly promoted Bosnian Premier League club Zvijzeda 09. Nestorović took over the team that was last in the standings with only three points and that everyone had already seen in the second league. In a very short period, he stabilized the team and with five consecutive victories in the championship led the team to the sixth place in the table and saved relegation.Even after making decent results with the club, Nestorović decided to leave Zvijezda on 11 March 2019. On 6 September 2019, he returned to Al-Arabi. Nestorović took over Al Arabi, who were also last in the Kuwait First League table and were in a very difficult situation. He eventually managed to lead the team to third place and also played with Al Arabi in the final of the Prince Cup and was first in the League Cup. Al Arabi played the most beautiful football in Kuwait during that period. Nestorović once again became manager of Radnik Bijeljina on 24 November 2020. On 16 April 2021, he decided to resign as manager of Radnik for private reasons. On 14 June 2021, Nestorović became the coach of

Kazma Kazma () is an ancient city in Kuwait. It is located in Al Jahra Governorate, north of Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait. It is an ancient city with a long history, known to Persians and Arabs since the Sassanid, Jahiliyyah and the early Isla ...

, another club in the

. With Kazma, Nestorović was the autumn champion of the Kuwait First League and played in the semi-finals of the Emir Cup. After twenty years, Kazma was at the top of Kuwaiti football.During that period of his stay in Kazma, Nestorović was a candidate for the selector of the National Team of Kuwait.

Honours

Manager

Rudar Prijedor * Second League of RS: 2007-08 * First League of RS: 2008–09 Radnik Bijeljina * First League of RS: 2011–12

References

External links