Mato Neretljak (born 3 June 1979) 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 professional

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 ...

who played as a defender. He was most recently the manager of Croatian club

NK Rudeš Nogometni Klub Rudeš ( en, Football Club Rudeš), commonly referred to as NK Rudeš or simply Rudeš, is a Croatian football club founded in 1957 in Zagreb's neighbourhood of Rudeš. The club competes in Croatia's second division. History Be ...

Club career

He started his professional career in 1999 with

HNK Orašje HNK Orašje is a professional association football club from the town of Orašje that is situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club was founded in 1996, being one of the newest to play in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Orašje pl ...

. In 2000, he transferred to

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 ...

for which he played until 2002. Then he transferred to

HNK 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 ...

and spent three seasons with the club before leaving it for

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n club

Suwon Samsung Bluewings ''(The Blue, White and Reds)''Tricolor'' , short name = SSB , image = , caption = , founded = , ground = Suwon World Cup Stadium , capacity = 44,031 , owner = Cheil Worldwide(Samsung's subsidiary) , chairma ...

in 2005. In 2009, he moved to Japanese club

Omiya Ardija is a professional association football club based in Ōmiya in Saitama, Japan. Its "hometown" as designated by the league is the whole of Saitama city, which is shared with neighbours Urawa Red Diamonds. Omiya competed in the J1 League follow ...

. On 23 May 2012, he signed for

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football, football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top ...

on a two-year-long contract deal. In 2014, he announced his retirement. In his career, he won many titles with Hajduk Split, Suwon Bluewings and even one Herzeg-Bosnia Cup with Orašje.

International career

Neretljak won 8 international caps for the Croatian national under-21 football team in 2000 and 2001. While still playing for the under-21 national team, he also made his full international debut for

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_caption = , capit ...

in a friendly match against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

on 25 April 2001 in

Varaždin ) , image_photo = , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size = , image_shield = Grb_Grad ...

, where he came on as a substitute for

Boris Živković Boris Živković (; born 15 November 1975) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a full-back and centre-back. At one point of his career he even played as defensive midfielder. Živković began his professional career with ...

in the 88th minute. His competitive international debut for Croatia came on 15 November 2003 in the

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

qualifying play-offs against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, where he played the entire 90 minutes in the first leg in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, which ended in a 1-1 draw. On 18 February 2004, he scored his only international goal for Croatia in their 2-1 defeat against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

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 ...

. He was also part of the Croatian squad at the UEFA Euro 2004 finals in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, but did not appear in any of the team's three group matches before they were knocked out of the tournament. After the UEFA Euro 2004 finals, he only appeared in 4 international friendlies for Croatia, including both of their matches at the 2006 Carlsberg Cup in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. He won a total of 10 international caps for the national team, 9 of which were in friendly matches. His final international was a February 2006 Carlsberg Cup match against hosts

Managerial career

Neretljak started off his managerial career after being appointed as manager of

in 2015. He managed Orašje until the end of the 2015–16 First League of FBiH season, where Orašje made a fantastic result coming in the third place. On 14 November 2016, Neretljak was named the new manager of

NK Metalleghe-BSI Nogometni klub Metalleghe-BSI ( en, Football Club Metalleghe-BSI), formerly known as Nogometni klub Maestral-BSI ( en, Football Club Maestral-BSI) is a professional association football club from the city of Jajce that is situated in Bosnia and He ...

. He left Metalleghe on 1 June 2017, after failing not to get relegated in the 2016–17 Premier League season. 19 days after leaving Metalleghe, Neretljak came back to and became the new manager of Orašje once again. In that First League FBiH

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, Orašje finished in the 5th place. After the last game of the season in which Orašje beat

NK Travnik NK Travnik ( bs, Nogometni Klub Travnik), commonly known as Travnik is a professional association football club from the city of Travnik that is situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently, Travnik plays in the First League of the Federation of ...

3–2, Neretljak stuck to his word and left the club after the end of the season. On 28 September 2018, after

Feđa Dudić Feđa Dudić (born 1 February 1983) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Serbian SuperLiga club Radnički 1923. Born in Sarajevo, Dudić played for both hometown clubs FK Sarajevo and Željezniča ...

got sacked, Neretljak was named the new manager of

Bosnian Premier League The m:tel Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, m:tel Premijer liga Bosne i Hercegovine / м:тел Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), also known as Liga 12, is the top tier football league in Bosnia and He ...

club GOŠK Gabela. In his first game as club's manager, on 30 September, the club unexpectedly beat Željezničar Sarajevo on

Grbavica Stadium Grbavica Stadium (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian: ''Stadion Grbavica'' / Стадион Грбавица) is located in Grbavica (Sarajevo), Grbavica, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This football (soccer), football stadium has terrace ...

1–2, with a 90+5th-minute penalty goal that won the game for GOŠK, with Mirsad Ramić scoring the goal from the penalty spot. On 12 March 2019, Neretljak left GOŠK after making a series of bad results with the club. In July 2019, it was announced that Neretljak became the new manager of Orašje for the third time in his career. A few days later, he also accepted a job offer from the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation ( hr, Hrvatski nogometni savez, HNS) is the governing body of association football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIF ...

as an assistant manager for the Croatia national under-20 team under manager

Ognjen Vukojević Ognjen Vukojević (born 20 December 1983) is a Croatian football manager and former professional player. He is currently the manager of the Croatia national under-20 team, an assistant manager of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv, and a ...

. He left Orašje only a few months after coming back to the club because of losing five out of six matches in the league and getting to last place. On 4 October 2020, Neretljak was named new manager of Zvijezda Gradačac. In his first game as Zvijezda manager, Neretljak led his team to a league win over

Čapljina Čapljina ( sr-cyrl, Чапљина, ) is a city located in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located on the border with Croatia a mere from the Adriatic Sea. The ...

. His first loss as Zvijezda manager was against Radnik Hadžići also in a league match on 18 October 2020. Neretljak left the club in October 2021. In July 2022, Neretljak was appointed as manager of

Croatian Second League 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 Secon ...

club

, ahead of the 2022–23 season. In mid September 2022, five fixtures into the season, when Rudeš were second in the table behind

HNK Vukovar 1991 HNK Vukovar 1991 is a professional Croatian football club based in Vukovar, a city in Slavonia region. They were re-founded in 2012, and they currently play in the Croatian First Football League, the second level of Croatian football. Histor ...

only on goal difference, Neretljak was sacked due to unsatisfactory early performance.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Results list Croatia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Player

Orašje * Herzeg-Bosnia Cup: 1999–2000 Hajduk Split *

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 ...

: 2003–04 * Croatian Cup: 2002–03 *

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 ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Suwon Bluewings *

K League Classic The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1 ...

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; ...

Korean League Cup The Korean League Cup was a professional football competition in South Korean football. It was held by the K League Federation from 1986 to 2012. Sponsorship Champions List of finals Titles by club K League's principle of official stati ...

Korean Super Cup The Korean Super Cup was the annual curtain-raiser to the South Korean football season from 1999 to 2006, and was contested between the champions of K League and Korean FA Cup. It was dropped from the South Korean football calendar in 2007. Afte ...

: 2005

Individual

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

K-League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National S ...

Best 11 *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Best 11 *

Best 11

References

External links

* *
Mato Neretljak
at guardian.co.uk * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neretljak, Mato 1979 births Living people People from Orašje Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to Croatia Association football defenders Croatian footballers Croatia under-21 international footballers Croatia international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players HNK Orašje players NK Osijek players HNK Hajduk Split players Suwon Samsung Bluewings players Omiya Ardija players HNK Rijeka players NK Zadar players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Croatian Football League players K League 1 players J1 League players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate footballers in South Korea Croatian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate footballers in Japan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Croatian football managers HNK Orašje managers NK GOŠK Gabela managers NK Zvijezda Gradačac managers NK Rudeš managers Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Bosnia and Herzegovina