Goran Meštrović (born June 13, 1966) is a Croatian retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as 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 ...

and also served as a

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 ...

Playing career

Meštrović played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

in 1990 with

Toronto Croatia Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

. In 1992, he played in the

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

with

HNK Cibalia Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia, commonly known as Cibalia Vinkovci or simply Cibalia, is a Croatian football club from the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. Cibalia currently play in the Prva NL, Croatia's second tier league. Their stadium ...

. In 1996, he played with

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek ( en, Osijek Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Osijek or simply Osijek (), is a Croatian professional football club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav F ...

, and returned to Cibalia the following season. He featured in the

1999 Croatian Football Cup final The 1998–99 Croatian Football Cup, 1999 Croatian Cup Final was a one-legged affair played between the Slavonian derby, Slavonian rivals HNK Cibalia, Cibalia and NK Osijek, Osijek. The leg was played in Zagreb on 30 May 1999. NK Osijek, Osijek ...

against

. On June 17, 2001, he announced his retirement from professional football.

Managerial career

Meštrović served as an assistant coach under

Davor Mladina Davor Mladina (born 26 November 1959) is a Croatian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager. He is the current manager of First Football League (Croatia), First League (II) NK Dugopolje, Dugopolje Man ...

for former club

in 2005. He served as a head coach for Cibalia for one match in 2006. In 2015, he was named the head coach for

HNK Vukovar '91 HNK Vukovar '91 was a Croatian football club based in the river port of Vukovar. Under the name NK Vukovar '91, club was founded in Zagreb by Vukovar refugees during the Croatian War of Independence. In 1992, newly founded Vukovar '91 merged w ...

in the

Croatian Third Football League The Treća nogometna liga ( eng, Third football league), commonly Treća NL or 3. NL) is the fourth tier of the Croatian football league system, football league system. The league was reestablished in 2022 following the reconstruction of league s ...

. On November 17, 2017, he was named the head coach for Cibalia's football academy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meštrović, Goran 1966 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Croatian men's footballers Toronto Croatia players HNK Cibalia players NK Osijek players Canadian National Soccer League players Croatian Football League players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Canada Croatian football managers HNK Cibalia managers Croatian Football League managers