Joško Španjić (born 2 March 1966) is a Croatian

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 and former player.

Playing career

Španjić made his debut for

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 ...

in 1984 and was a regular player under coach

Stanko Poklepović Stanko "Špaco" Poklepović (19 April 1938 – 24 December 2018) was a Croatian professional football player and manager. Poklepović managed a number of teams over 46 years, including Hajduk Split on four occasions. He was also the first manage ...

. He gained fame at the time after his goal against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

in 1985. In 1986, he joined the military and when he returned to Hajduk in 1987, he was dropped from the squad by the new coach from Bulgaria,

Ivan Vutsov Ivan Kolev Vutsov ( bg, Иван Кoлeв Вуцов; 14 December 1939 – 18 January 2019) was a Bulgarian football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the Bulgarian national team. He played in three mat ...

. After a six-month loan spell at

NK Neretva Nogometni klub Neretva Metković ( en, Neretva Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Neretva or simply Neretva, is a Croatian professional Association football, football club based in the town of Metković, in the region of Dubrovnik-Neretv ...

, Španjić moved abroad and went to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in order to play for

Balestier Khalsa FC Balestier Khalsa Football Club is a Singaporean professional association football, football club that competes in the Singapore Premier League. Founded in 1898, the club is considered as the oldest Football in Singapore, football club in Singap ...

. In 1989, he and Boris Lučić became the first foreigners to play for the

Singapore national football team The Singapore national football team (, zh, 新加坡國家足球隊, ta, சிங்கப்பூர் தேசிய கால்பந்து அணி ) represents the Republic of Singapore in the senior men's international footb ...

. Later, he went to play for

FC Kärnten FC Kärnten was an Austrian association football club based in Klagenfurt, Carinthia. It was founded in 1920 under the name of KSK Klagenfurt. History Austria Klagenfurt Austria Klagenfurt played successfully in the ''Kärntner Liga'' and in ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

where his countrymen Marin Kovačić was the manager. In 1990, he returned to his native

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

for family reasons. He was for six months without a club. In 1991, Stanko Poklepović returned to Hajduk and called Španjić to join the club. During his time at Hajduk, he won 3 titles and 2 cups. In 1996, he went to

NK Zadar Nogometni klub Zadar ( en, Football Club Zadar), commonly referred to as NK Zadar or simply Zadar, was a Croatian football club based in Zadar, a city on the Adriatic coast, best known for playing in the top flight of Croatian football for almo ...

komerc where he became the club captain and was part of their biggest triumph in 1998 when they finished 6th in the league. After Zadarkomerce, he played a few games for minor league clubs such as

NK Mosor NK Mosor, also known as HBDNK "Mosor – Sveti Jure", is a Croatian football club from Žrnovnica, settlement which is part of the city of Split on the Croatian coast. The club was founded in 1928. It existed until World War II when most of its ...

and

NK Drinovci Hrvatski Nogometni Klub Drinovci ( en, Croatian Football Club Drinovci), commonly referred to as HNK Drinovci or simply Drinovci, is a football club from Drinovci, Bosnia and Herzegovina. History Until 2003 the club was known as ''NK Boljava''. T ...

after finally retiring.

Managerial career

After coaching minor league clubs, in the beginning, he was called by

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 ...

in 2002 to join the Hajduk Split youth system as a coach. He managed the U-16 Hajduk squad and won two Croatian U-16 championships during that time. In 2009, he became the caretaker of the Hajduk Split first team for two games after manager

Ivica Kalinić Ivica Kalinić (born 26 March 1956) is a Croatian former professional football manager and player. He is currently the sporting director of the club NK Prugovo. He has played for Hajduk Split, Maribor, Osijek, Tirol Innsbruck and Grazer ...

resigned due to health problems. Later, he became the assistant coach to

Edoardo Reja Edoardo Reja (born 10 October 1945) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who last manages the Albania national football team. After a career as a midfielder spent mostly with SPAL and Palermo, he began working as a manage ...

and later to

. In 2011, he took over

NK Primorac 1929 Nogometni Klub Primorac 1929 ( en, Football Club Primorac 1929), commonly referred to as Primorac Stobreč, is a Croatian football club based in the small coastal town of Stobreč near the city of Split in central Dalmatia. They are members of t ...

which at the time was the Hajduk B team. In his first season, he managed to qualify for the

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 ...

but in his second season, they were relegated. He took over

NK Dugopolje NK Dugopolje is a professional Croatian association football, football club based in the town of Dugopolje on the outskirts of Split (city), Split, a city on the Adriatic coast. They were founded in 1952, and they currently play in the Prva nogom ...

in 2013 but resigned in March 2014. In 2015, he was called by the new Hajduk Split manager Damir Burić to join him as assistant manager on which he agreed. He lost the job on 2 June 2016 after Damir Burić was sacked. On 9 July 2016, he joined

Al Ain FC Al Ain Football Club ( ar, نادي العين لكرة القدم; transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) or Al Ain FC or simply Al Ain is a professional football club, based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many spo ...

as a youth coach. In January 2017, he became caretaker manager of Al Ain, after

Zlatko Dalić Zlatko Dalić (; born 26 October 1966) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of the Croatia national team since 2017 and led them to a runners-up finish at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and third place at the ...

was sacked. In his first match, Spanjic take late away win against fierce rival Al Ahli 2-1.

Zoran Mamić Zoran Mamić (; born 30 September 1971) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player, and convicted fraudster. He was most recently the manager of Croatian First Football League club Dinamo Zagreb. He is a wanted criminal in C ...

took place of Al Ain manager and Spanjic became Al Ain Reserve Team manager. He stayed on that position until April 2019. He took place of assistant manager of Damir Buric in Hajduk Split, after his call in June 2019.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spanjic, Josko 1966 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Association football defenders Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia under-21 international footballers Croatian footballers Singaporean footballers Singapore international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players Balestier Khalsa FC players FC Kärnten players NK Zadar players NK Mosor players Yugoslav First League players Singapore Premier League players Croatian Football League players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Singapore Expatriate footballers in Austria Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Austria Croatian football managers HNK Hajduk Split managers NK Dugopolje managers Al Ain FC managers UAE Pro League managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates HNK Hajduk Split non-playing staff