Slaviša Jokanović ( sr-Cyrl, Славиша Јокановић, ; born 16 August 1968) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of UAE Pro League club Al-Nasr. A physical player considered strong in the air, he impressed at Partizan, before spending seven seasons in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

at the service of three clubs, appearing in 208 matches and scoring 31 goals, mainly for

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

. He also played for two years with Chelsea towards the end of his career, and represented

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

at the 1998 World Cup and

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, earning 64

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and scoring ten goals in an eleven-year international career. Jokanović began his managerial career in 2007, winning two consecutive doubles with Partizan, the 2012 Thai Premier League with Muangthong United, and leading

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

to promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

respectively.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

, SFR Yugoslavia, Jokanović started playing with his hometown club

, and made his senior debut with neighbouring

, helping it win its second national title in the 1988–89 season, with four goals in 24 matches. In 1990, Jokanović joined

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

's Partizan. In his second year he helped the team win the domestic cup and, in his third, he scored 13 league goals (a career best), being one of several players to net in double digits – the team scored 103 in 36 matches – '' en route'' to the league conquest. After his displays at Partizan, Jokanović signed for

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

in Spain. During his two-year spell, he partnered compatriots Janko Janković,

Nikola Jerkan Nikola Jerkan (born 8 December 1964) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a defender. He started playing football professionally for NK Zagreb. Playing career Club Jerkan was born in Split. He started his career in youth ...

and Robert Prosinečki and, subsequently, he joined fellow

club

for the 1995-96 season, being instrumental in their domestic and European consolidation.

Deportivo de La Coruña

In the summer 1999, Jokanović signed for

Deportivo La Coruña ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is an aerial lift line in Ecatepec de ...

at the insistence of coach Javier Irureta, who deployed him in a partnership with Brazilians Donato and

Mauro Silva Mauro da Silva Gomes (; born 12 January 1968), known as Mauro Silva, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. A hard-working player with great stamina, as well as tackling and leadership skills, he ...

. The trio combined for 85 matches and five goals, as the

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

won their first ever league title.

Chelsea

After only one season with Deportivo, Jokanović signed with Chelsea in October 2000, for £1.7 million. Under coach

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Serie A club AS Roma, Roma but will leave on 30 June 2025, followin ...

, he appeared 39 times for the Blues over two consecutive

seasons, and played a total of 53 matches. He was released in July 2002, at nearly 34. He subsequently retired from professional football, after playing just three months in the Spanish second division with Ciudad Murcia.

International career

Jokanović played six times for

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, his debut coming on 27 February 1991 in a friendly with

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, when he played the last ten minutes after replacing

Željko Petrović Željko Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Жељко Петровић; born 13 November 1965) is a Montenegrin professional football manager and former player. As a player, he represented the FR Yugoslavia national team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Club car ...

. He then appeared in some

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

qualifying matches, helping the national team to top its group; he was selected for the final tournament, but the team would be suspended due to the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. During the last official game ever that SFR Yugoslavia played on the 28th of May 1992 against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Jokanovic scored the only goal for his team and subsequently became the last man to score a goal for

. Fiorentina made a comeback and won the game 2–1. The match was played just two days before the announcement of

United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 United Nations Security Council resolution 757 was adopted on 30 May 1992. After reaffirming resolutions 713 (1991), 721 (1991), 724 (1991), 727 (1992), 740 (1992) 743 (1992), 749 (1992) and 752 (1992), the Council condemned the failure of ...

which forbade Yugoslavia to participate at UEFA Euro 1992

Jokanović represented Serbia and Montenegro national football team, FR Yugoslavia in a further 58 matches, appearing for the nation at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

and

. In the former competition, he scored his first two international goals in an 8–1 away win over the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

in qualification before playing four complete matches as the national team reached the round-of-16; in the latter he appeared three times, being sent off against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in a 3–4 loss, with the team reaching the quarter-finals.

Coaching career

Partizan

Jokanović was living in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

when, in September 2007, he joined the technical staff of

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

club Pinto. However, three months later, he became the head coach of Partizan, replacing Miroslav Đukić, who left to take the reins of the national team. His family (wife and three children) remained in the Spanish capital. In May 2008, under Jokanović's management, Partizan won the double ( league and

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

). He was also selected as the year's "Best Coach in Serbia" by the

Football Association of Serbia The Football Association of Serbia () is the governing body of football in Serbia, based in Belgrade. It organizes Serbian football leagues, namely the Serbian Superliga, the Serbia national football team, as well as the Second Leagues. FSS was ...

, but refused to receive this award due to Partizan's poor results in the group stage of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. Jokanović led Partizan to another double in his first full season, winning the league by a margin of 19 points over former team Vojvodina. Thus, he became the first coach in the club's history to successfully defend the title; on 5 September 2009, however, he left the post by mutual consent, bidding farewell through an open letter.

Thailand, Bulgaria and Spain

On 28 February 2012, Muangthong United introduced Jokanović as their new head coach, and he signed a one-year contract, with an option for a further two years. In his first and only season, he led the team to the third

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

title in their history, going undefeated in the process.Jokanović osvojio titulu na Tajlandu (Jokanović wins title in Thailand)
; Srpskifudbal, 15 October 2012 (in Serbian) In mid-July 2013, Jokanović replaced Nikolay Mitov as manager of Bulgarian team

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

. He was relieved of his duties in October, due to poor results, but club supporters claimed that he should have been given time to change things around. On 5 May 2014, Hércules appointed Jokanović as coach until the end of the season, replacing Quique Hernández, who had been sacked with the team in last place in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

table. He only managed one win in his five matches in charge, in an eventual

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

Watford

On 7 October 2014, Jokanović was appointed on a short-term contract at the helm of English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

, their fourth coach in five weeks. Under his leadership, the Hornets were promoted to the

with one match to spare, sealing it with a 2–0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion on 25 April 2015 for their 15th win in twenty matches; the team was also minutes away from winning the league title in the final match, but conceded an injury-time equaliser to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

that allowed

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

to overtake them. On 5 June, after failing to agree to a new deal, Jokanović left and was replaced by Quique Sánchez Flores.

Maccabi Tel Aviv

On 14 June 2015, Jokanović was appointed as coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv. On 25 August, he

led A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

the club to the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

for the first time in eleven years, after ousting

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

Fulham

Jokanović lasted just over six months in the role before he elected to return to the Championship, joining

on 27 December 2015 as head coach. After avoiding relegation by eleven points, he achieved his target of a top six position for his first full season at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

. He was the EFL Championship Manager of the Month for April 2018 after taking 16 points from 18, having won the same award for Watford three years earlier; his compatriot forward Aleksandar Mitrović took the players' equivalent. Jokanović led Fulham to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

by beating

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

1–0 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

on 26 May 2018 in the play-off final. On 14 November, however, after seven consecutive winless results, and with the team ranking last, he was dismissed and replaced by

Al-Gharafa

On 16 June 2019, Jokanović was appointed at Qatari club Al-Gharafa, on a two-year deal. He was nominated for Manager of the Season in his first year in the Stars League.

Sheffield United

On 27 May 2021, Jokanović was appointed by newly relegated Sheffield United on a three-year deal, becoming the club's first manager from overseas. He was sacked on 25 November, having won six of 19 Championship games.

Paul Heckingbottom Paul Heckingbottom (born 17 July 1977) is an English football coach and former player who is the manager of EFL Championship club Preston North End. After retiring as a player, Heckingbottom trained as a coach. He obtained a position with Barn ...

replaced him.

Dynamo Moscow

On 17 June 2022, Jokanović signed a contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

for the upcoming season, with the option of two further years depending on performance. He was dismissed by Dynamo on 14 May 2023, following a 0–3 home loss to Akhmat Grozny, with Dynamo in seventh place.

Al-Nasr

On 8 June 2025, Jokanović was appointed as head coach of UAE Pro League club Al-Nasr.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list FR Yugoslavia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jokanović goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Vojvodina *

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

: 1988–89 Partizan *

First League of FR Yugoslavia The First League of Serbia and Montenegro () was the top football league of Serbia and Montenegro, before the country's dissolution in 2006. The league was formed as the First League of FR Yugoslavia following the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, ef ...

: 1992–93 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

: 1991–92 Deportivo *

: 1999–2000 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Manager

Partizan *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

: 2007–08, 2008–09 *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

: 2007–08, 2008–09 Muangthong United *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Fulham *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

Individual

* EFL Championship Manager of the Month: April 2015, April 2018 * Thailand Premier League Coach of the Year:

Notes

References

External links