Ljubiša Tumbaković (, ; born 2 September 1952) is a Serbian 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. He is the most successful coach in the history of Serbian powerhouse

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 ...

which he led to six national championship titles and three national cup wins during his two spells at the club between 1993 and 2001. He was most recently the manager of the Serbia national team.

Playing career

Born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

's urban neighborhood of

Dorćol Dorćol ( sr-cyr, Дорћол; ) is an affluent urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad. Located along the right bank of the Danube, Dorćol is oldest surviving neighborhood ...

, Tumbaković started out in the youth categories of Radnički Beograd in 1962. Two years later, he joined the youth ranks of Partizan Belgrade. In 1970, with Tumbaković turning 18, he joined the senior squad. Although he didn't appear in any domestic league matches for Partizan, he did appear in 45 friendlies, scoring 6 goals.

Managerial career

Partizan

Tumbaković started his management career with

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, link ...

in 1992. Partizan were in the doldrums when Tumbaković took control, however he immediately brought success to Partizan by winning the league with them in his debut season.Tumbakovic resigns from Partizan
/ref> This was a feat that he would repeat five times during his first time with Partizan as well as winning three

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, ...

s. These achievements caught the eye of

AEK Athens F.C. AEK FC ( el, ΠΑΕ A.E.K. ; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; ''Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos'', meaning ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filade ...

who finished third in the league under Tumbaković's management.

Return to Partizan

Tumbaković returned to Partizan at the beginning of the 2000/01 league season after a season away from the club and with the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

attacks on

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

firmly behind the league, Tumbaković would continue establishing Partizan as one of the strongest teams in the league. However, despite more domestic success with Partizan where they won the 2001/02 league title European success was far more difficult to achieve. He would stand down from his position after almost a decade in charge of FK Partizan where he was one of the most successful coaches in Yugoslavian football history.

Shandong Luneng

In 2003, he would coach Saudi football team Al-Nasr for a short period. However, he quickly moved to Chinese football team

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is th ...

at the beginning of their 2004 league season. Tumbaković who was the second Serbian to manage Shandong after

Slobodan Santrač Slobodan Santrač (, ; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a Serbian football manager and player. He is the all-time top scorer of the Yugoslav First League with a total of 218 goals, as well as the top scorer in the history of OFK Beograd. A ...

, was to make a quick impression at the club when he won the

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh titl ...

and took them second in league. Ljubiša would continue to establish Shandong as genuine title contenders throughout the 2005 league season despite them coming third within the league and being unable to retain their FA Cup. It was within the 2006 league season which established Shandong as a significant force within the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

when they won the league by 17 points and FA cup. Their dominance was repeated when they again won the league title in 2008.

Montenegro

Tumbaković was appointed head coach of the Montenegrin national team on 19 January 2016 and was sacked on 7 June 2019 after refusing to take charge of a

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europe ...

game against

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

and abandoning the staff on the match day.

Serbia

He was appointed as the manager of the Serbian national team on 1 July 2019. He left the position in December 2020 after not qualifying for

Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, spectacularly failing against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on penalties.

Managerial statistics

Only league games are counted Ljubisa Tumbakovic
at footballdatabase.eu

Honours

Manager

;Partizan * FR Yugoslavia First League (6): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2001–02 *

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 ...

(3): 1993–94, 1997–98, 2000–01 ;Shandong Luneng *

(2):

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

(2):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

;Individual * Serbian Coach of the Year: 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tumbakovic, Ljubisa 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Belgrade Yugoslav footballers FK Partizan players FK Vardar players FK Radnički Sombor players Association football midfielders Serbian football managers FK Obilić managers FK Partizan managers AEK Athens F.C. managers Al Nassr FC managers Shandong Taishan F.C. managers Montenegro national football team managers Serbian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Greece Expatriate football managers in China Expatriate football managers in Iran Wuhan F.C. managers Chinese Super League managers