Romeo Jozak (born 11 October 1972) 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 who most recently managed the Kuwait national team.

Early career

Jozak grew up in a family of mathematics and physics teachers. He ended his football career early due to a serious injury at the age of twenty-two while playing at the club NK Orijent Rijeka. During the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

, he stayed 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 ...

. Soon after he was awarded a scholarship to the United States, where he also worked as an instructor at youth summer camps. After returning, he started training with

Ilija Lončarević Ilija Lončarević (born 8 October 1944) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Croatian Second Football League club Kustošija. Managerial career Lončarević led Inker Zaprešić to t ...

, assisting him as an assistant at

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 ...

(2001–2002 and 2004–2005), the Libya team (2003–2004 and 2005–2006) and NK Osijek (2006–2008). At the same time, he completed his doctorate education at the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Zagreb.

Coaching career

Early steps

He parted ways with 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 ...

in March 2017. Then returning to

as a sports director, but he only staying there for four months. After the dismissal of Dinamo Zagreb's head coach,

Ivaylo Petev Ivaylo Bogdanov Petev ( bg, Ивайло Богданов Петев; born 9 July 1975) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. He spent his whole caree ...

, Jozak hinted at taking over for the vacant head coach position. The board replaced Petev with Mario Cvitanović and Jozak soon after decided to resign.

Legia Warsaw

On 13 September 2017, Jozak was hired as the manager of Polish club

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

. On 14 April 2018, after his team lost 0–1 to

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ''Yo ...

, he was fired and replaced by his assistant

Dean Klafurić Dean Klafurić (born 26 July 1972) is a Croatian professional football manager, currently serving as head coach for Budapest Honvéd FC of the Hungarian first division. Manager career Klafuric started to work as a coach in NK Udarnik in 20 ...

Kuwait national team

On 27 July 2018, Romeo Jozak was hired as Kuwait national team head coach. On 12 September 2019, Romeo Jozak was fired following a home defeat to

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 ...

. Columbus Blast FC Soccer Academy Romeo Jozak made a significant investment and became the majority owner of Columbus�
Blast FC Soccer Academy
in Columbus, Ohio, which is the longest running youth soccer program in Central Ohio.

Saudi Arabia

On 22 July 2021, Romeo Jozak was hired as

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Technical Director.

Managerial statistics

''As of 30 June 2021''

References

External links

Romeo Jozak
Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jozak, Romeo 1972 births Living people Footballers from Rijeka Association footballers not categorized by position Croatian footballers HNK Orijent players Croatian football managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb non-playing staff Legia Warsaw managers Kuwait national football team managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Poland Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia