Zoran Vulić (; born 4 October 1961) 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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player who played as a defender. He is most notable for having managed

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

five separate times between 1998 and 2018, which is a record among all Hajduk managers.

Playing career

Club

Vulić was born in Split. He is the son of Ante, a famous goalkeeper for

in the 1950s. Zoran Vulić joined Hajduk Split as a stopper with a powerful shot, and played for the club for nine seasons. He played a total of 167

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

games and scored 25 goals. He successfully continued his career abroad, with stints at

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

and

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, a ...

in the following five years. He was instrumental in Mallorca's return to the

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 ...

during his debut season. He played 35 matches and scored five times. Vulić returned to Hajduk in 1993 and retired after two years with the club, at age 34. In his first stint with the club, he conquered two Yugoslav Cups in 1984 and 1987, and in his second stint two Croatian Leagues in 1994 and 1995, and one cup in 1995.

International

Vulić won 25 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 ...

, scoring once, and participated at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...

in Italy, where he played four of the team's five matches. His national team debut was on 30 April 1986, when Yugoslavia lost 4–2 to

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 ...

in a friendly match. He also played in three friendly matches for

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

: in October 1990 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 ...

and in June 1991 against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, both unofficial since Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia at the time, as well as against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in June 1993.

International goals

:''Results list Yugoslavia's and Croatia's goal tallies first.''

Managerial career

In 1998, Vulić continued his career as manager, with his first four spells all at

. His biggest success as Hajduk manager was winning the 2000–01 Croatian First League and the

2002–03 Croatian Cup The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

. In 2004, he was sacked three rounds before the end of the 2003–04 Croatian First League season even though the team was sitting at the top of the table, and he was replaced by the new manager,

Petar Nadoveza Petar Nadoveza (9 April 1942 – 19 March 2023) was a Croatian professional football player and manager. During his playing spell at Hajduk he was nicknamed "Pere, splitski Pele" which meant "Pete, the Pelé from Split". Playing career Šibe ...

, who ended up winning that championship with Hajduk. In January 2008, Vulić moved to Russian Premier League club

FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok FC Luch Vladivostok (russian: Футбольный клуб "Луч" Владивосток) was an association football club based in Vladivostok, Russia. In 2005, Luch won the Russian First Division and played in the Premier League from 2006 t ...

. He returned to Croatia in 2009, taking over

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football, football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top ...

. In February 2010, he took charge of Istra 1961. Vulić also managed

RNK Split Radnički nogometni klub Split, commonly known as RNK Split, is a Croatian football club based in the city of Split. History The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard. The club was founded on 16 April 1912 as Anarch, but has had se ...

on two occasions. His biggest success with that team was reaching the final of the 2014–15 Croatian Cup where they were beaten on penalties by

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 ...

. In 2015, he took over

Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff (russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnist ...

and managed to win the

2015–16 Moldovan National Division The 2015–16 Moldovan National Division ( ro, Divizia Națională) is the 25th season of top-tier football in Moldova. The competition began in July 2015 and will end in May 2016. Milsami Orhei are the defending champions. Teams FC Petrocub H ...

. He left the club in June 2016. On 14 December 2016, Vulić was appointed as manager of FC Atyrau. On 11 April 2017, the club announced a mutually agreed contract termination, as Vulić wanted to return to Croatia. He was then manager of

Apollon Smyrni Apollon Smyrnis Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Απόλλων Σμύρνης), or in its full name Gymnasticos Syllogos Apollon Smyrnis ( el, links=no, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Απόλλων Σμύρνης, ''Gymnastics Club Apollon o ...

from September to December 2017, when he was sacked after a poor run of results. His final stint with Hajduk was from 9 September to 27 November 2018, when he was sacked after having won only 3 of the 9 league matches. In February 2022 he was named manager of Greek second-tier side

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi (regional unit), Xanthi regional unit of the modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace. A ...

, but was relieved of his duties after only a month. Additionally, Vulić also served as an assistant coach of the Croatia national team.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Hajduk Split * Croatian First League: 1993–94, 1994–95 *

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

: 1994–95 *

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, ...

: 1983–84, 1986–87

Manager

Hajduk Split *Croatian First League: 2000–01 *Croatian Cup: 2002–03 Sheriff Tiraspol * Moldovan National Division: 2015–16

References

External links

* * *
Croatian football federation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vulic, Zoran 1961 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football defenders Men's association football utility players Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers Dual men's international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players RCD Mallorca players FC Nantes players Yugoslav First League players Croatian Football League players La Liga players Segunda División players Ligue 1 players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Spain Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Croatian expatriate sportspeople in France Croatian football managers HNK Hajduk Split managers FC Luch Vladivostok managers HNK Rijeka managers NK Istra 1961 managers RNK Split managers Croatia national under-19 football team managers FC Sheriff Tiraspol managers FC Atyrau managers Apollon Smyrnis F.C. managers Xanthi F.C. managers Croatian Football League managers Russian Premier League managers Moldovan Super Liga managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Russia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate football managers in Moldova Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Expatriate football managers in Kazakhstan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate football managers in Greece