Dragan Bajić ( sr-Cyrl, Драган Бајић; born 24 May 1973) is a Bosnian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and former player.

Early life

Bajić was born in

Bludenz Bludenz (; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ''Bludaz'') is a town in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg with around 15,000 inhabitants. It is the administrative seat of the Bludenz District, which encompasses about half of Vorarlberg's territ ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, in a

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби Босне и Херцеговине, Srbi Bosne i Hercegovine), often referred to as Bosnian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, босански Срби, bosanski Srbi) or Herzegovinian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, � ...

family.

Playing career

Basketball

Bajić played for Igokea Aleksandrovac during his playing career. In the 2000–01 season, he won the Bosnian League with them. He was a team member during the

2001–02 FIBA Saporta Cup The 2001–02 FIBA Saporta Cup was the thirty-sixth edition of FIBA's 2nd-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition. It was the last edition of the tournament. It took place between 30 October 2001 and 30 April 2002. The f ...

and the

2002–03 FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup The 2002–03 FIBA Europe Regional Challenge Cup was the one-season international European competition for men's professional basketball clubs, organised by FIBA. Although it was marketed at the time by FIBA as the 2nd-tier level European club bas ...

Football

Bajić played professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Sloga Trn of the Republika Srpska First League.

Coaching career

In 2009, Bajić started his coaching career at Igokea as the first-team head coach. Later he was an assistant coach of Igokea to the head coach Drago Karalić. In 2014, Bajić became the head coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina national under-18 team. He led the team to 12th place at the 2014 Europe U-18 Championship. From January to December 2015, he coached Cherno More Port Varna of the Bulgarian League. At the end of December 2015, he came back to Igokea where he became the head coach. He made interesting results in

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

and Bosnian League. He won three Bosnian League championships with Igokea so far. On 2 April 2018, Igokea fired Bajić after the team posted a 7–15 record at the end of the 2017–18 ABA season. On 30 October 2019, Igokea was hired Bajić as the new head coach. On 9 June 2020, Bajić signed a three-year contract extension for Igokea. He resigned on 14 January 2023, following a 5-in-a-row losses in the

National teams

In April 2021, the Basketball Federation of North Macedonia hired Bajić as the new head coach of the North Macedonia national team. In July 2022, he parted ways with the national team.

Career achievements and awards

;As player * Bosnian League champion: 1 (with Igokea: 2000–01) *

First League of Republika Srpska The First League of the Republika Srpska ( / ) is a football league in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Together with the First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it forms the second level of football in Bosnia and Herz ...

champion: 2 (with Igokea: 1999–00, 2000–01) ;As head coach * Bosnian League champion: 4 (with Igokea:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2021–22) *

Bosnian Cup The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kup Bosne i Hercegovine, Куп Босне и Херцеговине) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner ...

winner: 6 (with Igokea: 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2020–21, 2021–22) *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup () is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament's format is ''single-elimination'', with all matche ...

winner: 1 (with Cherno More:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

) ;Individual * Adriatic League Coach of the Season –

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, 2021

References

External links

Dragan Bajić
at

aba-liga.com The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, ...

Dragan Bajic, coach
at

eurobasket.com Eurobasket.com, also commonly referred to as "Eurobasket News", is a basketball-centered website that provides coverage of every professional and semi-professional club basketball league from around the world, as well as many amateur level lea ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bajic, Dragan 1973 births Living people People from Bludenz Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to Austria Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina men's basketball players Guards (basketball) KK Igokea players Bosnia and Herzegovina basketball coaches KK Igokea coaches Men's association football forwards Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers First League of the Republika Srpska players