Zoran Mirković
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Zoran "Bata" Mirković ( sr-cyrl, Зоран Бата Мирковић, ; born 21 September 1971) is a retired Serbian
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 ...
and current manager.


Playing career


Club career

Mirković made his first appearance for FK Rad during the 1990–91 season. But even before that he and his teammates won the Yugoslav title in the under-21 category, the biggest success Rad ever had. Mirković spent three seasons in Rad as a professional player, and all together played 62 matches, scoring one goal. His talent didn't go unnoticed by
Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...
officials and they invited him to sign for Partizan. Mirković signed for Partizan and replaced the injured
Blažo Pešikan Blažo Pešikan ( Cyrillic: Блажо Пешикан; born 15 February 1971) is a Montenegrin former footballer who played mostly as a midfielder. Club career Pešikan played with FK Sutjeska Nikšić before becoming part of the famous Partizan ...
. In the first three years Mirković was with Partizan, he established himself as a player, became a first-choice player in the
national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...
and won three titles (the
double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...
in 1993–94 followed by the
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 ...
title in 1994–95. He wore the number 2
shirt A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. I ...
and became a favourite of the Partizan fans because of his fighting spirit especially in derby matches against
Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...
. He was also a favourite because, in those difficult times (
war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
and sanctions), he upheld his obligations towards Partizan and stayed for all three years stipulated in his contract. He played 82 matches for Partizan (26 in the 1993–94 season, 29 in the 1994–95 season and 27 in the 1995–96 season), scoring one goal. Mirković spent two seasons with
Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...
. He got injured in the first match in
Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
league and had to take a three-month break. He played a role of midfielder/defender and his performance was so good that the then
Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
coach
Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional football player and manager, who led the Italian national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appointed as Italy head coach in the summer of 2004 and 2 ...
invited him to sign for Juventus. He was very popular among the Atalanta fans who were instrumental in convincing the club not to sell him to
Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...
when that option seemed inevitable. Mirković's career in Juventus can be divided in two different periods. Under coach Lippi, Bata played 19 Serie A matches, scoring one goal. He also played
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 ...
matches. When
Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...
took over in the spring of 1999, Mirković was no longer a first-choice Juve player, playing mostly
Italian Cup Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
matches. In summer 2000, Mirković signed a three-year contract with Fenerbahçe. In his first season in
Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
he won a
Turkish League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...
title and was a finalist in
Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...
. In his second season in Turkey he played Champions League and came second in Turkish League. His third season in Fenerbahçe was not so successful. Three coaches and problems in the club caused Fenerbahçe to end the season in the sixth place. Then in January 2004, following a 6-month break from football, Mirković became a Partizan player once again, signing a contract for two and a half years. On 6 March 2006, Mirković announced his retirement due to a recurring back injury at the age of 34.


International career

Mirković was a first choice player for the
national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...
of FR Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro where he usually played in the right-back position and wore the number 2 shirt. He played 59 matches with the senior national team. He was a participant 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 ...
in France but missed
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 ...
because of a three-match ban following an incident in the last qualifying match, played against
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
Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
, where he grabbed
Robert Jarni Robert Jarni (born 26 October 1968) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a left winger or wingback and current manager. Jarni started his professional career with Hajduk Split in 1986, and went on to spend 10 years playin ...
by the testicles and therefore was sent off.


Post-playing career


Administrative career

On 24 April 2007,
Football Association of Serbia The Football Association of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски савез Србије, ФСС / ) is the governing body of football in Serbia, based in Belgrade. It organizes Serbian football leagues, namely the Serbian Superliga, the Serbia n ...
(FSS) appointed Mirković as sporting director of the national team, responsible for the A-squad and the under-21 squad. However, he quit by early December 2007, citing poor professional cooperation with the FSS leadership headed at the time by
Zvezdan Terzić Zvezdan Terzić (Serbian Cyrillic: Звездан Терзић; born 21 May 1966) is a Serbian football administrator and former player. He currently serves as the general director for Red Star Belgrade of the Serbian SuperLiga. Immediately after ...
. FSS president Terzić (who would soon afterwards be indicted on embezzlement charges) commented on Mirković's resignation as follows: "Mirković is my mistake since I didn't know him well enough as a person before I brought him into the FSS. He's a wonderful person, but couldn't manage to be a part of the system and even said so on several occasions to both myself and general secretary Zoran Laković". Mirković was chosen as the vice-president of FK Partizan on 18 August 2008. He was vice-president for about a year when he resigned after Partizan's early exit in the
2009–10 UEFA Champions League The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010, at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...
qualifying rounds.


Managerial career

Mirković began his managerial career as assistant coach of Sinđelić Belgrade in 2015 eventually being promoted to head coach in July 2015. He remained in that position until December 2015. In February 2016, he became the assistant coach of the Montenegrin national team where he worked directly with his former coach
Ljubiša Tumbaković Ljubiša Tumbaković (, ; born 2 September 1952) is a Serbian professional football manager. He is the most successful coach in the history of Serbian powerhouse Partizan which he led to six national championship titles and three national cup wi ...
. He remained in that position until 4 August 2018 when he replaced
Miroslav Đukić Miroslav Đukić ( sr-cyr, Мирослав Ђукић, ; born 19 February 1966) is a Serbian former footballer who played as a sweeper, and a manager. He spent 14 years of his professional career in Spain, notably at the service of Deportivo ...
as head coach of Partizan. He was head coach of Partizan until abruptly resigning after a 1–0 loss to
Voždovac Voždovac ( sr-cyr, Вождовац, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 158,213 inhabitants. The municipality is located in the south-central part of the urban ...
on 10 March 2019.


Personal life

In May 2013, Mirković married Sanela Šaulić, daughter of singer
Šaban Šaulić Šaban Šaulić ( sr-cyr, Шабан Шаулић; 6 September 1951 – 17 February 2019) was a Serbian folk singer. Renowned for his refined baritone vocals and performances characterised by emotional intensity and crowd interaction, his career ...
making Mirković the
stepfather A stepfather or stepdad is a non-biological male parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepfather-in-law is a stepfather of one's spouse. Children from his spouse's previous unions are known as his stepchildren. Culture Though less com ...
of Luka Adžić.


Career statistics


Club


International


Managerial


Honours

;Partizan *
First League of FR Yugoslavia The First League of Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Прва савезна лига / Prva savezna liga) was the top football league of Serbia and Montenegro, before the country's dissolution in 2006. The league was formed following the breakup of Yu ...
: 1993–94, 1995–96, 2004–05 *
FR Yugoslavia Cup The Serbia and Montenegro Cup was an association football knockout cup tournament of Serbia and Montenegro played between 1992 and 2006, after which Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. The competition was the continuation of the old M ...
: 1993–94 ;Juventus *
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 ...
:
1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
;Fenerbahçe *
Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...
: 2000–01


Notes


References


External links


Zoran Mirković
at reprezentacija.rs
Player Details
at TFF {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirkovic, Zoran 1971 births Living people Footballers from Belgrade Yugoslav footballers Serbia and Montenegro footballers Serbian footballers Association football defenders Serbia and Montenegro international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players FK Rad players FK Partizan players Atalanta B.C. players Juventus F.C. players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Yugoslav First League players Serie A players Süper Lig players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Turkey Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Serbian football managers FK Partizan managers Serbian SuperLiga managers