Zdravko Logarušić (born 21 October 1965) 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, who was the manager of the Zimbabwe national team from January 2020 to September 2021. Overall, he has coached in four continents:

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

and

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and has more than 20 years of coaching experience. From 1999 to 2001, Logarušić studied did coaching courses and programs in order to get a

UEFA Pro License UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are is ...

Managerial career

Gor Mahia

Chosen as

Gor Mahia Gor Mahia Football Club (), commonly also known as ''K'Ogalo'' (), is a football club based in Nairobi, Kenya. They have won the Kenyan Premier League a record 19 times, and have also won the FKF President's Cup a record 11 times. They are the o ...

boss in 2012, he vowed to end the clubs 18-year wait to win the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

trophy. For winter 2012, Logarušić went to his native Croatia for a holiday and was expected to be back for the pre-season training before the new season. However, in another holiday in the summer, he went to Croatia again but stayed there much longer than expected (he was supposed to have been back by 18 June) without informing the Gor Mahia board about the situation; he was relieved of his duties in June 2013 after he returned. In his defense, Logarušić demurred that he did not have a work permit and lived in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

on a tourist visa. Secondly, he raised issue about his evident lack of formal contract with the Nairobi-based team. Female fans criticized the board for his dismissal shortly after as well.

Simba

After leaving

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, Logarušić was offered a relatively high salary from

Simba SC Simba Sports Club is a football (soccer), football club based in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam Tanzania, Founded in 1936, the club, which broke away from another Tanzania Giants, Dar Young Africans was named Queens, in honor of her Maj ...

to coach them and took the offer. When he got Simba SC good results, the Tanzanian outfit bought him a house overlooking the beachfront. Unfortunately, he could not speak Swahili which hindered him from communicating fluently with the Tanzanian press. Half a year later, his contract was cancelled. Logarušić demanded TSh 3.6 million from Simba SC as requital for the club unprocedurally cancelling his contract. Still, the club refused to pay him as they said the amount charged was too exorbitant and that he had made a wrongful claim.

AFC Leopards and Asante Kotoko

Back in 2015, the well-traveled coach was selected as coach for AFC Leopards of the Kenyan Premier League. Afterward, he parted ways with them when he sent a text message to them stating that he quit the club as 'he was forced to go back to Croatia because no one was taking care of his rent' and that he was evicted from his apartment. A year later, ahead of the

2017 Ghanaian Premier League The 2017 Ghanaian Premier League is the 61st season of top professional association football in Ghana. The season began on 12 February. Wa All Stars are the defending champions coming off their first league title. The eventual winners Aduana Stars ...

, he was appointed boss of

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

which was the third time he managed in Ghana. To incentivize him, the Ghanaian side bestowed a new car on him a month into the new season. As Asante Kotoko's manager, he invariably used the

3-5-2 In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a Association football pitch, pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the excepti ...

formation which exasperated the fans. Using that formation, he got them ten points in four games and temporarily placed them second in the table. Fired by Asante Kotoko in April 2017 after winning five out of eleven games, Logarušić labelled the Asante Kotoko management as 'liars'.

Sudan

Logarušić became manager of the Sudan national team in December 2017. He was removed from the position on 30 November 2019.

Zimbabwe

On 29 January 2020, Logarušić was appointed coach of the Zimbabwe national team. In March 2021, Logarušić guided the Warriors to their fifth

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

qualification. On 12 September 2021 Logarušić was dismissed by the Zimbabwean FA following a poor string of results. A loss to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and a goalless draw against South Africa in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers saw pressure mounting on the local football body to take action after getting just one win out of his 14 games with the national team.

References