Dragan Skočić (born 3 September 1968) is a Croatian professional

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

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 ...

. Prior to his coaching career, Skočić started his playing career with the local club

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 ...

and then abroad when he signed for

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...

in Spain.

Playing career

Skočić, a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, played professional club football in Croatia for

and

NK Novalja NK Novalja is a Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_cap ...

, in Spain for

and Compostela, and in the UAE for

Al-Ittihad Kalba Ittihad Kalba Football Club ( ar, نادي إتحاد كلباء لكرة القدم‎) is a Association football, football club in Kalba, United Arab Emirates. History Ittihad Kalba was established in 1972 when two clubs ''(Al Shabab)'' and '' ...

. He was the first player from the Croatian football league who went abroad to play professionally.

Coaching career

Early career

After his playing career, Skočić went on to complete the Football Academy at the Croatian Football Academy and the Coach Education and Training Department at the Zagreb Faculty of Kinesiology, receiving an UEFA-PRO Coach diploma and a Professional Bachelor of the Coaching Profession.

Rijeka

He became manager of his hometown club,

, in 2005. Skočić secured one trophy for the club, winning the Croatian Cup for the 2005–06 season.

Interblock Ljubljana

In 2007, he became the head coach of the Slovenian club

Interblock Ljubljana Nogometni klub IB 1975 Ljubljana or simply NK IB 1975 Ljubljana is a Slovenian football club which plays in the city of Ljubljana. They won the Slovenian Cup twice and the Slovenian Supercup once. History The club was founded in 1975 as NK Je� ...

, while the club was in a difficult situation on the league scale. Only two years after the club was founded and under the management of Skočić, the club achieved outstanding results in the

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football league system. ...

. Not only did they manage to stay in the first league, but they also won two trophies in the 2007–08 season, the

Slovenian Cup Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

and a Super Cup.

Al Arabi

Skočić took a year long sabbatical from coaching following his time at Interblock, and in the 2009–10 season, he took over the management of the Al-Arabi club in Kuwait. Under his leadership as head coach, the club played in two finals, the

Crown Prince Cup The Saudi Crown Prince's Cup ( ar, كأس ولي العهد) was the Saudi Arabian annual cup competition. It was the oldest domestic football competition in Saudi Arabia, its first edition was held in 1956–57, but was not crowned from 1975 unti ...

and the

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

. Also under Skočić, Al-Arabi played in the

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

quarter-finals.

Al Nassr

Following Kuwait, in the 2010–11 season, Skočić was engaged by the

Al Nassr Al Nassr Football Club ( ar, نادي النصر السعودي; '' Naṣr'' meaning ''Victory'') is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Riyadh. Formed in 1955, the club plays its home games at the Mrsool Park. Their home colours are yello ...

football club from

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, one of the most prominent football clubs in the Arab world. Under Skočić, Al Nassr qualified for the third round of the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

, after having played a successful season of competitions within the group. On 25 May 2011, he was sacked after a disappointing 4–1 loss to

2010 AFC Champions League The 2010 AFC Champions League was the 29th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 8th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National ...

finalists Zob Ahan, and was replaced by Portuguese boss

Eurico Gomes Eurico Monteiro Gomes (born 29 September 1955), known simply as Eurico in his playing days, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central defender, and is a manager. He started out at Benfica and later played for Sp ...

Return to Rijeka

In March 2012 Skočić returned to take over the management of his hometown club Rijeka by replacing Ivo Ištuk as head coach, and became the third coach to take charge of the club in the 2011–12 Prva HNL season. Skočić inherited a defensively frail side that was 2 points off the relegation zone and was tasked with saving the team from relegation. Upon a 2-0 defeat to Cibalia, the club fell to the 12th place in the league. After just 43 days in charge, Skočić was relieved of his position, following a series of poor results, and was replaced by his assistant,

Mladen Ivančić Mladen Ivančić (born 8 February 1970) is a Croatian former professional football defender. As a player, he spent seven seasons with HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK ...

Malavan

On 26 May 2013, Skočić was announced as head coach of

Malavan Malavan Bandar Anzali Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال ملوان بندر انزلى, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Milâvan Bendâr Anzeli'') is an Iranian football club based in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran. It currently won Iran's second foot ...

for the upcoming season. He signed a two year contract with the club. He led the club to the seventh place, their best league finish since 2005.

Foolad

On 23 May 2014, Skočić was named as new head coach of

Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League ( fa, لیگ برتر خلیج فارس, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Pro League ( fa, links=no, لیگ برتر ایران, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is the highest division of profe ...

title-holders

Foolad Foolad Khuzestan Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال فولاد خوزستان, ''Bāshgāh-e Futbāl-e Fulād-e Khuzestān'') is an Iranian football club, based in Ahwaz, Khuzestan that plays in Persian Gulf Pro League. Foolad F.C. ...

, on a one-year contract, replacing

Hossein Faraki Hossein Faraki ( fa, حسین فرکی, born 22 March 1957) is a retired Iranian football player and a coach. Personal life He was born on 22 March 1957 in Tehran, Iran. He began playing football with PAS Tehran in 1976. Faraki has a son named ...

who resigned on the following day. In May 2015, Skočić received the award for coach of the month and signed a two-year contract extension to keep him at the club until July 2017. In November 2015 after poor scores with the club, Skočić was linked with the vacant head coach position at

Sepahan F.C. Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan Sport Club ( fa, باشگاه فرهنگی ورزشی فولاد مبارکه سپاهان اصفهان, ''Bâšgâh-è Varzeši-ye Fulâd-è Mobârake-ye Sepâhân''), commonly known as Sepahan S.C., are an Iranian spor ...

but the job went to his compatriot,

Igor Štimac Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre back. He is the current head coach of the Indian national team. In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and ...

. After an unsuccessful transfer to Sepahan, he remained as Foolad's head coach according to his contract. He left the club on 1 June 2016.

Khooneh be Khooneh Babol

On 16 January 2018 he became manager of F.C. Khooneh be Khooneh (Rayka Babol) replacing formerly resigned

Javad Nekounam Javad Nekounam ( fa, جواد نکونام; born 7 September 1980) is an Iranian retired professional association football, footballer who played as a central midfielder and is the current manager (association football), manager of Foolad F.C., F ...

. He soon went on a streak by getting 13 points out of his first 5 games and also leading the second tier team into

Hazfi Cup Hazfi Cup (Jām-e Hazfi; ) is the Iranian football knockout cup competition, run by the Iranian Football Federation. The Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, hence the winner of Hazfi Cup represented Iran in the Asian Club Cha ...

's final.

Sanat Naft

In July 2019 he became manager of Sanat Naft. Esteghlal FC vs Sanat Naft Abadan FC, 5 November 2019 - 006

Iran national team

On 6 February 2020, Skočić was named head coach of the

Iran national team Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He managed to take Iran to the 2022 World Cup as the winner of Group A by scoring 25 points out of 10 matches in the third round of the

World Cup qualifiers The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

and set the best performance of the

Iran national football team ) ''(the national team)' other nicknames'' , Badge = Flag_of_Iran.svg , Badge_size = 190px , Association = Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran , FIFA Trigramme = IRN , FIFA Rank ...

in the World Cup qualifiers. He was replaced as the Iranian national team manager on 7 September 2022.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Las Palmas *

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

: 1992–93 ;Compostela *

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

: 1993–94

Manager

;Rijeka * Croatian Cup: 2005–06 ;Interblock Ljubljana *

: 2007–08 *

Slovenian Supercup The Slovenian Supercup ( sl, Superpokal Slovenije) was a Association football, football match played between the Slovenian PrvaLiga champions and the Slovenian Football Cup, Slovenian Cup winners. Prior 2007, the match was held only twice, in 1995 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

;Khoone be Khoone *

Runner-up: 2017–18

References

External links