Jerko Leko (born 9 April 1980) 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 ...

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and former

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, who is the current manager of the second-tier

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 ...

club

Jarun Jarun (local pronunciation: ) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of Zagreb, Croatia. It was named after Lake Jarun, formed by the Sava River, now located on the southern edge of the neighborhood. Lake The lake is the location of the Jar ...

. He primarily played as a

central 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 ...

, but could also operate as a

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

one, or more defensively, as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Leko's career began with

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

in 2000 in his native Croatia, although he was not an immediate success. After spending some time on loan at

Croatia Sesvete NK Croatia Sesvete was a Croatian football club based in the Sesvete district of the City of Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the souther ...

, he became a regular starter in 2001–02 season, helping Dinamo win the Croatian Cup, scoring in the final against Varteks Varaždin and being named

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

. Leko eventually moved to

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

in 2002 for €5.5 million (then a club record). In his first season in Ukraine, Dynamo won the

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

, with Leko playing 18 times. In February 2006, it was announced that Leko would be leaving Dynamo Kyiv, having turned down a new contract offer. He subsequently signed for French side

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

on a free transfer on 4 June 2006. In July 2009, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' reported that he had turned down a move to English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

as they would not meet his wage demands of £30,000 per week (approx. $49,000) net. On 18 June 2010,

Bucaspor Bucaspor was a professional Turkish football club based in Buca, Izmir. Formed in 1928, Bucaspor were nicknamed Fırtına (Storm). The club colours were yellow and navy. It was dissolved in 2020. History Bucaspor was the fifth football club to ...

signed Leko to a two-year deal on a free transfer from Monaco. On 25 May, it was confirmed that Leko signed a two-year deal with Dinamo Zagreb. In August 2014 he moved to

NK Lokomotiva Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb ( en, Lokomotiva Zagreb Football Club), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional association football, football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First ...

on loan. In 2015, he permanently joined Lokomotiva for the last season of his professional career.

International career

Leko made his Croatia national team debut in 2002 against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, but was not included in the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

squad. He scored a goal in a 4–0 victory against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in a Euro 2004 qualifier, and was included in the final stage's squad, but only played 22 minutes during the tournament. Selected to represent the nation in 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 ...

, Leko made two substitute appearances, against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He was also part of the final squad for

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

. At the tournament quarter-final clash between Croatia and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, Leko was supposed to make his first appearance in the competition as a late substitute as

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown c ...

wanted to put him on to hold on for a Croatian victory. However, officiating referee

Roberto Rosetti Roberto Rosetti (born 18 September 1967) is an Italian former football referee. He is fluent in Italian (native), English and French. He started refereeing in 1983, and took charge of his first match in the Italian Serie A in 1996. He received hi ...

disallowed the substitution from occurring as he also allowed Turkey an extra two minutes to find a late equalizer to send the game to a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

which Turkey eventually won. Leko's last international appearance came a year after

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

in 2009 against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

International goals

Managerial career

Leko started his managerial career by succeeding Besnik Prenga on the bench of Lokomotiva's U19s in the summer of 2017, leading them through 2017–18 UEFA Youth League. They were, however, eliminated by Željezničar in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...

. On 5 January 2021, he succeeded Boris Perković on the bench of

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 ...

, who held first place on the

table at the time of his hiring. However, on 9 January 2021, just four days after the appointment at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Leko left the club and succeeded

Goran Tomić Goran Tomić (; born 18 March 1977) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of UAE Pro League club Al Nasr SC. He started his managerial career with his hometown club HNK Šibenik in the Prva ...

as the head coach of Lokomotiva in the

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 ...

. He had his managerial debut on 22 January in a home 3–0 defeat to

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 ...

. He achieved his first career victory on 30 January, beating

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

1–0 away. He was sacked on 13 March, after a 1–0 defeat to Istra 1961. In July, 2021, Leko was named the manager of

in their debut season in the second-tier

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Dinamo Zagreb *

Croatian First 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 league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva ...

: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 * Croatian Cup: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2011–12 *

Croatian Super Cup The Croatian Football Super Cup is a football match between the winners of the Croatian national top league and football cup. The Super Cup is always held at the beginning of a new football season, and is only held when different clubs win the t ...

: 2002,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Dynamo Kyiv *

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'') ...

: 2002–03, 2003–04 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leko, Jerko 1980 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Croatia Sesvete players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players AS Monaco FC players Bucaspor footballers NK Lokomotiva Zagreb players Croatian Football League players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Ligue 1 players Süper Lig players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Croatian expatriate sportspeople in France Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Croatian football managers NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac managers NK Lokomotiva Zagreb managers