Ilija Lončarević (born 8 October 1944) 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

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who was most recently the manager of

Croatian Second Football League The Druga nogometna liga ( eng, Second football league), commonly Druga NL or 2. NL) is the third tier of the football league system. The league was established in 1991 following the dissolution of the Yugoslav League. It is operated by the Cro ...

club Kustošija.

Managerial career

Lončarević led Inker Zaprešić to the Croatian Cup title in 1992, but his arguably biggest success in management came when he won the Croatian League with Croatia Zagreb in 1999. In the 1990s, Lončarević was also in charge of several other Croatian teams including

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian amateur football club based in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of ...

, Marsonia,

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo ( en, Slaven Belupo Football Club), often referred to as NK Slaven Belupo, Slaven Belupo or simply Slaven, and known internationally as NK Slaven Koprivnica, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city ...

and

Hrvatski Dragovoljac Nogometni klub Hrvatski dragovoljac ( en, Football Club Hrvatski dragovoljac), commonly referred to as NK Hrvatski dragovoljac or simply Hrvatski dragovoljac, is a Croatian football club based in the Novi Zagreb neighbourhood of the country's c ...

. In the summer of 2000, after a short spell with Marsonia, Lončarević was appointed head coach at

Čakovec Čakovec (; hu, Csáktornya; la, Aquama; german: Tschakathurn) is a city in northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmost, sm ...

, who just won their first promotion to the Croatian first division at the time, and led the club through the first part of the 2000–01 season. Under his management, Čakovec surprisingly came in position to fight for the fifth place in the Croatian league for some time during the autumn of 2000; they finished the season in 8th place. Lončarević left Čakovec in the winter break of the 2000–01 season and returned to Dinamo Zagreb for the 2001–02 season. In 2003, Lončarević was appointed head coach of the

Libya national football team The Libya national football team ( ar, منتخب ليبيا لكرة القدم) represents Libya in men's international association football and it is controlled by the Libyan Football Federation. The team has never qualified for FIFA World Cup ...

and led the team through their qualifying campaign for the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. He was surprisingly sacked from the post in July 2004, although the team only lost one qualifying match until that time. After this first spell with the Libya national team, Lončarević went on to take charge of Dinamo Zagreb in November 2004 and stayed there until the end of the season. In April 2005, however, Lončarević was appointed head coach of the Libya national team for a second time, after their previous coach, Mohamed El Khemisy, resigned from the post following a 4–1 defeat to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in the World Cup qualifiers. Lončarević then led the Libyan team through their remaining four World Cup qualifiers, but did not have much of success as the team managed two goalless draws and suffered two 1–0 defeats. Libya finished fourth in their group, 10 points behind the group winners

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. Despite the unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign, Lončarević remained in charge of the Libyan team for the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt won ...

. However, after Libya lost to Egypt and Ivory Coast in their first two group matches at the tournament, chairman of the

Libyan Football Federation The Libyan Football Federation ( ar, الاتحاد الليبي لكرة القدم; abbreviated as LFF) is the governing body of football in Libya. It was founded in 1962, affiliated to FIFA in 1964 and to CAF in 1965. It organizes the national ...

, Gamal Al Gaafari, announced that the coach will be relieved of his duties after the last group match against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, which ended in a goalless draw. Since November 2006, Lončarević had been in charge of Croatian first division team

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

. The team finished sixth in the league during his first season there and in May 2007 he signed a contract to end with the finish of the 2008–09. In his second season with Osijek, in 2007–08, the team finished third in the league and qualified for the

2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup was the last UEFA Intertoto Cup football tournament, the 14th to be organised by UEFA and the third since the competition's format was given a major overhaul. Fifty teams were invited, with the eleven winners after the ...

. In summer 2009 Lončarević was put on charge of

KF Tirana Klubi i Futbollit Tirana (KF Tirana) is an Albanian football club based in the country's capital city, Tirana. The men's football club is part of the multi-disciplinary sports club SK Tirana, and is the most successful in Albania, having won 54 ...

champions of

Albanian Superliga The Kategoria Superiore, officially known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Albanian football league system, it is the country's primary football compet ...

. However, on 6 October 2009, barely 5 weeks after the start of the Albanian Superliga, Lončarević gave his resignations without citing any reasons why he did that. On 8 March 2021, he was appointed head coach again at Inter Zaprešić, today a Croatian second division team. He resigned at Kustošija in October 2022.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Inter Zaprešić * Croatian Cup:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Marsonia * Druga HNL – North: 1993–94 *

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga ( en, First football league), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Second ...

: 1999–2000 Slaven Belupo *Druga HNL – North: 1995–96 Dinamo Zagreb *

Prva HNL 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 league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

: 1998–99 *Croatian Cup:

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Tirana * Albanian Super Cup:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

References

External links

*
BBC article on Ilija Lončarević
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loncarevic, Ilija 1944 births Living people Yugoslav football managers Croatian football managers NK Zagreb managers NK Inter Zaprešić managers NK Marsonia managers NK Slaven Belupo managers HNK Orijent managers NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb managers Libya national football team managers 2006 Africa Cup of Nations managers NK Osijek managers NK Lokomotiva Zagreb managers KF Tirana managers HNK Gorica managers HAŠK managers Croatian Football League managers Kategoria Superiore managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Libya Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Libya Expatriate football managers in Albania Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Albania