Miodrag Ješić ( sr-Cyrl, Миодраг Јешић, ; 30 November 1958 – 8 December 2022) was a Serbian

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 bega ...

and

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 ...

Playing career

Born in Osečenica, Ješić played for

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

between 1974 and 1985, taking part in 342 matches and scoring 81 goals in all competitions. Between 1985 and 1989 he represented

Altay SK Altay Spor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in the city of İzmir. Formed in 1914, Altay are nicknamed ''Büyük Altay'' (Great Altay). The club colors are black and white, and they currently play their home matches at the ...

, where he recorded 136 matches and 29 goals, and finished his career at

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

in 1989–90 with 37 matches and 9 goals in total. Ješić was immensely disliked amongst the Fenerbahçe supporters because they viewed him as responsible for an injury suffered by Rıdvan Dilmen in 1990 during a league match between Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor. Dilmen never fully recovered despite undergoing sixteen operations, and eventually had to retire in 1995 at Fenerbahçe after painful years of injuries. Ješić had also accumulated a record number of bookings in his tenure in

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

. Opponents claimed that he also injured many players in Turkey and gave him the nickname of "Kasap Yeşiç", which means "Ješić the Butcher." For the Yugoslavia national team, he played in eight games and scored twice.

Coaching career

As a manager, Ješić began his career at FK Obilić in 1993, reaching a

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

final, and then managed several other Serbian teams, including

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburm ...

and his native Partizan, that, during his period at the helm, scored 111 goals in a single season, a club record. He also recorded wins over Flora (6–0, 4–1) and Rijeka (3–1, 3–0) in UEFA Champions League qualifiers. After coaching Tunisian side

CS Sfaxien Club Sportif Sfaxien ( ar, النادي الرياضي الصفاقسي) is a Tunisian professional association football club founded in 1928. History The club was founded in 1928 as ''Club Tunisien'', playing in green and red stripes. The tea ...

in 2000–01 and winning the

Arab Champions League The Arab Club Champions Cup ( ar, كأس العرب للأندية الأبطال, french: Ligue des Champions Arabe) is an annual regional club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by el ...

, he was at the helm of Turkish club Altay in 2002 and moved to Bulgaria in 2002 to manage

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home groun ...

and then Iranian

Pegah Gilan Pegah Gilan Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال پگاه گیلان) was an Iranian football club based in Rasht, Iran that participated in the Iran Pro League and Azadegan League from 2002 to 2008. Club history The club began its life ...

, after which he became the manager of

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

. During this period he became a Champion of Bulgaria and recorded a win over

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

qualifying phase, also eliminating

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. Voted coach no. 1 for season 2004–05 by Bulgarian sport newspaper. In May 2006 he became the coach of Partizan for the second time in his coaching career. However, following a disappointing first half of the season, he left the club in January 2007. Since November 2007 he was coaching Litex Lovech. With him Litex won the Bulgarian Cup. In June 2008, he signed with Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

newcomers CS Otopeni and following a series of defeats his agreement was terminated early on 18 August 2008. In September 2008, he signed a one-year contract with

Montenegrin First League The First League of Montenegro ( Montenegrin: ''Prva crnogorska fudbalska liga'' — ''Prva CFL'' — ''1. CFL''; ) is the top football league in Montenegro. Founded in 2006, competition is headed by the Football Association of Montenegro. 10 te ...

team FK Budućnost Podgorica. In July 2009, he signed a one-year contract with Libyan First League team Al-Ittihad Tripoli. On 22 September 2009, Al Ittihad won the Libyan Super Cup, beating Tarsana 3–2. On 16 June 2010, Ješić was appointed to the manager of Changsha Ginde replacing Hao Wei. On 19 June 2011, he was named as

Shahrdari Tabriz F.C. Shahrdari Tabriz Cultural and Athletic Club ( fa, باشگاه فرهنگی ورزشی شهرداري تبريز, ''Bashgah-e Futbal-e Vârzeshi-ye Shiherdari Tebriz'') was an Iranian sports club most widely known for its professional football te ...

's new head coach replacing Hamid Derakhshan but he was sacked by the club on 24 December 2011. On 24 June 2012, he was named as

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

side Najran's new head coach. On 7 January 2013, Ješić was reappointed

manager, replacing

Stoycho Mladenov Stoycho Dimitrov Mladenov ( bg, Стойчо Димитpoв Младенов; born 12 April 1957 in Ploski, Blagoevgrad Province) is a Bulgarian former football player and manager. Career Mladenov started from small teams like Dimitrovgrad an ...

, but was surprisingly released from his duties on 11 March 2013, after just two games in charge of the team, one of which was won. In late 2013, he was close to becoming the new

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

head coach. On 31 March 2014 Ješić was appointed head coach of

Litex Lovech Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club. The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion ...

and was assisted by Darko Obradović. On 14 June 2017, he was named as

side Al-Ettifaq's coach. He was fired on 10 December 2017. On 31 August 2019, the Egyptian club

Ismaily SC Ismaily Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الإسماعيلي الرياضي) is an Egyptian professional football club, established on 20 March 1921 as El Nahda Sporting Club ( ar, جمعية نهضة الشباب المصري ) ( Egyptian pronunci ...

appointed Ješić as the team's new head coach, succeeding Mahmoud Gaber. On 7 July 2022, Saudi First Division League side Al-Shoulla appointed Ješić as the team's new manager. On 29 September 2022, he was sacked after five matches.

Personal life and death

Ješić was married to Irena, with whom he had a daughter named Tara. In 2001, while coaching

, his daughter Jelena died in a traffic collision at the age of nineteen. Ješić, aged 64, died on 8 December 2022 in a car accident near the town of

Ruma Ruma (; hu, Árpatarló) is a town and municipality in the Srem District of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2011, the town has a population of 30,076, while the municipality has a population of 54,339. History Traces of org ...

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honors

Player

Partizan *

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

: 1982–83

Manager

CS Sfaxien *

: 2000 CSKA Sofia * Bulgarian First League: 2004–05 *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournamen ...

: 2006 Litex Lovech *

: 2008 *

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup ( bg, Суперкупа на България) is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match an ...

: 2007, 2008 Al-Ittihad Tripoli *

Libyan Premier League The Libyan Premier League ( ar, الدوري الليبي الممتاز) is the men's top professional football division of the Libyan football league system. Administered by the Competition Organizing Committee in the Libyan Football Federati ...

: 2009, 2010 *

Libyan Cup The Libyan Cup is the main knock-out competition for football clubs in Libya. History *The Libyan Cup competition started in 1976. *From the year 1978 to the year 1995 the Libyan Cup was played only 3 times, The LPL's runner-up was named (''non ...

: 2009 *

Libyan Super Cup The Libyan Super Cup is a Libyan football championship contested between the winners of the Libyan Premier League and the Alfatih Cup. The game is played at the beginning of the following season, and signals the beginning of the domestic year. The ...

: 2009, 2010 Yangon United *

Myanmar National League The MPT Myanmar National League ( my, မြန်မာ နေရှင်နယ် လိဂ်; abbreviated MNL) is the premier national professional football league of Myanmar. In 2009, the league replaced the Myanmar Premier League, which co ...

: 2015

References

External links