Slobodan Komljenović (, born 2 January 1971) is a Serbian football manager and retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as either a

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

right defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned ...

. He played several years in Germany in representation of five teams, namely

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

, also representing

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

in Spain for two and a half seasons. At international level, Komljenović appeared for

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in one

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and one European Championship.

Club career

Born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, Komljenović joined hometown side

in 1990, from amateurs

SG 01 Hoechst The SG 01 Hoechst is a German association football club from the Höchst district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse. The club's greatest success has been to qualify for the German Cup on two occasions, in 1975–76 and 1998–99. At league level it ...

. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

debut on 21 November 1992, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 away draw against

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

, and finished his debut season with 18 first-team appearances, being a very important defensive unit in the following years, and suffering top flight relegation in 1996. Komljenović returned to the top division with

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jers ...

, only missing three games with the ''Zebras'' in his two seasons combined, and helping them to two consecutive eighth-place finishes. In 1999, he moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern, helping the club qualify to 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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

in his first season, but being sparingly used in his second, where he played seven times in the team's quarterfinal run in European competition. Aged 30, Komljenović signed for

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

, appearing 15 times in his first season, which ended in relegation. In January 2004, after having contributed to the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

ese return to the top division but spending the following months without any official appearances, he returned to Germany and joined

SV Wacker Burghausen SV Wacker Burghausen is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Burghausen, Altötting, Burghausen, Bavaria and is part of one of the nation's largest sports clubs with some 6,000 members participating in two dozen different sports. ...

in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. After two seasons in the same category with

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

, Komljenović retired from football at the age of 35, amassing German top flight totals of 210 games and ten goals. In January 2007, after taking a six-month break, he signed for Union Weißkirchen in Austria (third level) and, in June of the following year, he joined another semi-professional side, VfR Jettingen from

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, competing in

Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord The ''Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord'' is currently the seventh tier of the German football league system in the northern half of the Bavarian ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Swabia (German: ''Schwaben''). Until the disbanding of the Bezirksoberliga Schwaben ...

, the eight-tier of

German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for Football in Germany, association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 Season (sports), season consisted of 2,235 Sports_leag ...

. During the 2009–10 season, Komljenović returned to the land of his ancestors and became the

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

n club

FK Laktaši Fudbalski klub Laktaši (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Лакташи) is a football club based in the town of Laktaši, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It competes in the Second League of Republika Srpska. The club was ...

. At the time of his arrival to the post, the club was dead last in the league standings, and finally suffered

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

relegation as second from last.

International career

Komljenović made his debut for

FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup A relationship breakup, breakup, or ...

on 23 December 1994, in a 0–2 friendly defeat with

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Even though he played no part in the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

qualifying campaign, he was selected by manager

Slobodan Santrač Slobodan Santrač (, ; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a Serbian football manager and player. He is the all-time top scorer of the Yugoslav First League with a total of 218 goals, as well as the top scorer in the history of OFK Beograd. A ...

for the finals in France, where he would score twice in only three games, against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the group stage (1–0) and against

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

(1–2 loss). Komljenović also appeared at the

UEFA 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 ...

in Belgium and the Netherlands, making three appearances (270 minutes) and netting – and being booked – in the 3–4 group stage loss against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Personal life

Komljenović married Ivana Stepanović, daughter of his former Eintracht Frankfurt manager

Dragoslav Stepanović Dragoslav Stepanović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгослав Степановић, ; born 30 August 1948) is a Serbian retired football player and coach. Club career Stepanović made his name with OFK Beograd where he was a right back fixture for 11 ye ...

. The couple have two children.

Career statistics

Honours

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: runner-up 1997–98

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Komljenovic, Slobodan 1971 births Living people Footballers from Frankfurt Serbian footballers German footballers Serbia and Montenegro footballers German people of Serbian descent Association football defenders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Eintracht Frankfurt players Eintracht Frankfurt II players MSV Duisburg players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players SV Wacker Burghausen players TSV 1860 Munich players La Liga players Real Zaragoza players Serbia and Montenegro international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Germany German expatriates in Spain