Velimir Zajec (born 12 February 1956) 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 ...

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and former

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 last managed

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 ...

Club career

Zajec began his career at

in 1974, aged 18. During 10 years at the club, he helped them to two domestic cup wins, as well as the league title, their first title honour in 24 years. In 1979 and 1984, he was named the

Yugoslav Footballer of the Year The Croatian Footballer of the Year ( hr, Nogometaš godine) is the most prestigious annual association football award in Croatia. It is awarded by the newspaper ''Večernji list'' to the best Croatian football player in the preceding year, regardle ...

. He then transferred to

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

club

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, for whom he was tremendously successful, playing over 100 games. He was also one of the best players at the time.

International career

Zajec won 36 international caps for

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

, and captained them at both the 1982 World Cup and the 1984 European Championship.

Coaching career

Following retirement, he spent two years (1989–1991) as Director of Football at former club Dinamo Zagreb before returning to Panathinaikos to run their academy. Before long, he was promoted to head coach of the club. After a period he again, he returned to Zagreb, this time as head coach, before moving once more back to Panathinaikos in 2002 to become Director of Football. In late October 1998, Zajec replaced

Zlatko Kranjčar Zlatko "Cico" Kranjčar (; 15 November 1956 – 1 March 2021) was a Croatian professional football manager and player. Kranjčar started his career as a player with Dinamo Zagreb where he won the Yugoslav First League in 1981–82, then Yugosl ...

as manager at

(then known as Croatia Zagreb), following Kranjčar's poor record 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 competit ...

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, where the team only managed to grab a single point in three matches (drawing with

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

at home, before losing to both

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

and

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

on the road). The team's performance in the UEFA Champions League improved under Zajec, as they managed to stay undefeated in the remaining three group matches, beating Porto and Ajax and drawing with Olympiacos. Dinamo nevertheless did not manage to go through to the quarter-finals after finishing second in their group, behind Olympiacos (at the time, only the first-place finishers and the two best second-place finishers went through). In 2004, he moved to English club

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

to take up a position as executive director. He took over as temporary team manager following the resignation of

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

in November 2004 and was confirmed as the new manager on 21 December 2004 making him the first Croatian to manage in the Premier league. Five months later, he reverted to his intended director's role, following the arrival of

Alain Perrin Alain André Christian Perrin (born 7 October 1956) is a French professional football manager and former player. Perrin made his managerial breakthrough at Troyes, whom he took from the fourth tier to Ligue 1 and UEFA Cup qualification by winni ...

. He resigned from his position at

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

on 10 October 2005 due to personal reasons. On 25 May 2010, Zajec was appointed new coach at

, returning to the club as coach after 11 years.Zajec: Želim Ligu prvaka, ali ne obećavam ništa
tportal.hr, 25 May 2010 However, Zajec was sacked on 9 August 2010, after leading Dinamo in just 8 competitive matches, winning the 2010

Croatian Supercup 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 tw ...

, exiting the 2010–11 Champions League in the third qualifying round, and picking up four points in the first three matches in the 2010–11 Prva HNL.

Honours

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 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

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, ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, 1983 *

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 1986 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

: 1986, 1988

References

External links

* *
Velimir Zajec profile
at the

Serbia national football team The Serbia national football team ( sr, Фудбалска репрезентација Србије, Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in men's international football competition. It is controlled by the Football Association of ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Zajec, Velimir 1956 births Living people Croatian footballers Croatian expatriate footballers Yugoslav First League players Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players Panathinaikos F.C. managers Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff Croatian football managers Croatian expatriate football managers Premier League managers Portsmouth F.C. managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players 1982 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1984 players Footballers from Zagreb Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb managers Expatriate footballers in Greece Association football midfielders Association football defenders