Zvonimir Soldo (born 2 November 1967) 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 and a former player. During his playing career, he mostly played as

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Early career

After studying law for six semesters at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

, Soldo's parents convinced him to pursue a career as professional football player. Soldo's professional career began with

NK 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 ...

which he left for

NK Zadar Nogometni klub Zadar ( en, Football Club Zadar), commonly referred to as NK Zadar or simply Zadar, was a Croatian football club based in Zadar, a city on the Adriatic coast, best known for playing in the top flight of Croatian football for alm ...

after two years. 1991 through 1994, he played for

NK Inter Zaprešić Nogometni klub Inter Zaprešić was a Croatian professional football club based in Zaprešić, a town northwest of the capital Zagreb. The team are nicknamed ''Keramičari'' (The ceramics makers), because they were sponsored by a ceramics facto ...

before returning to his former club, now named NK Croatia Zagreb. Runner-up in both Croatian league and cup in his first season back at Zagreb, the next campaign saw Soldo's side complete a domestic double in 1995/96. After achieving all he could in domestic football, Soldo headed for German side

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

VfB Stuttgart

Soldo 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 17 August 1996 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 ...

. This was the beginning of his time in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

which would last for ten years and during which he would lead VfB Stuttgart on the pitch as captain nearly 200 times. During this period, Soldo played another 300 times in the Bundesliga and 47 times in European competitions, won the German cup in 1997 and reached the European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1998, as well as finishing as runner-up in the 2002–03 campaign. After being an exemplary sportsman and role model for younger players all these years, Soldo played his last Bundesliga match for Stuttgart on 6 May 2006. In recognition of his merits, Soldo received the Staufer medal, a decoration awarded by the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

International career

Soldo was also a long-time member of the national team and made his debut 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 an April 1994

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

away against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for

Slavko Ištvanić Slavko Ištvanić (born 12 July 1966 in Zagreb) is a retired Croatian professional footballer who played over 200 league matches for NK Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian Prva HNL. International career Ištvanić made his debut for Croatia in a Ju ...

. He earned a total of 61 caps, scoring 3 goals and was an important member of the squad that finished third in the 1998 World Cup and also made notable appearances at the

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

and

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

s. His final international was a June

match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and Soldo retired from international football after that tournament.

Coaching career

Dinamo Zagreb

On 14 January 2008 Zvonimir was appointed as a new manager of

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 ...

after

Branko Ivanković Branko Ivanković (; born 28 February 1954) is a Croatian former footballer who played as a midfielder, and the current manager of the Oman national team. After a 12-year playing career at Varteks, Ivanković started his coaching career at the ...

's resignation. Prior to that he was managing Dinamo's youth team. He became

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

Champion and Croatian Cup Winner. He offered his resignation in the night after the cup final to make space to old/new manager

1. FC Köln

From June 2009 to October 2010, Soldo was the manager of German Bundesliga club, 1. FC Köln (Cologne) after the club's former coach Christoph Daum surprisingly left to sign for Fenerbahçe.

Admira Wacker

On 13 September 2020, he resigned as manager of Admira Wacker, following a 1–4 loss to

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

Tractor S.C.

On 14 November 2021, he was appointed as coach of

Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Soldo goal.''

Honours

Player

Inker Zaprešić * Croatian Cup:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Dinamo Zagreb *

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva ...

: 1995–96 * Croatian Cup: 1995–96 VfB Stuttgart *

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 ...

: 1996–97 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

Runner-up: 1997–98 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Runner-up: 2002–03 Croatia *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

third place:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

Manager

Dinamo Zagreb *

: 2007–08 * Croatian Cup: 2007–08

Orders

Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar – 1995 * Ribbon of an Order of the Croatian Trefoil

Order of the Croatian Trefoil The Order of the Croatian Trefoil ( hr, Red hrvatskog trolista) is the sixteenth most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on 1 April 1995. The medal is awarded for excellence in war, direct war danger or in ext ...

– 1998

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soldo, Zvonimir 1967 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Association football midfielders Association football central defenders Yugoslav footballers Croatian footballers Croatia international footballers UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players NK Zadar players NK Inter Zaprešić players VfB Stuttgart players Yugoslav First League players Croatian Football League players Bundesliga players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian football managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb managers 1. FC Köln managers FC Admira Wacker Mödling managers Tractor S.C. managers Croatian Football League managers Bundesliga managers Austrian Football Bundesliga managers Persian Gulf Pro League managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Germany Expatriate football managers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate football managers in Iran Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Iran