Slobodan Komljenović (, born 2 January 1971) is a Serbian football manager and retired footballer who played as either a central or right defender. He played several years in Germany in representation of five teams, namely Eintracht Frankfurt, also representing

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

in Spain for two and a half seasons. At international level, Komljenović appeared for

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

in one

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and one European Championship.

Club career

Born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, Komljenović joined hometown side Eintracht Frankfurt in 1990, from amateurs SG 01 Hoechst. He 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 21 November 1992, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 away draw against FC Schalke 04, and finished his debut season with 18 first-team appearances, being a very important defensive unit in the following years, and suffering top flight relegation in 1996. Komljenović returned to the top division with MSV Duisburg, only missing three games with the ''Zebras'' in his two seasons combined, and helping them to two consecutive eighth-place finishes. In 1999, he moved to

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

, helping the club qualify to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

in his first season, but being sparingly used in his second, where he played seven times in the team's quarterfinal run in European competition. Aged 30, Komljenović signed for

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

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' ...

, appearing 15 times in his first season, which ended in relegation. In January 2004, after having contributed to the Aragonese return to the top division but spending the following months without any official appearances, he returned to Germany and joined SV Wacker Burghausen in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. After two seasons in the same category with

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

, Komljenović retired from football at the age of 35, amassing German top flight totals of 210 games and ten goals. In January 2007, after taking a six-month break, he signed for Union Weißkirchen in Austria (third level) and, in June of the following year, he joined another semi-professional side, VfR Jettingen from

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, competing in Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord, the eight-tier of German football league system. During the 2009–10 season, Komljenović returned to the land of his ancestors and became the

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

at Bosnian club FK Laktaši. At the time of his arrival to the post, the club was dead last in the league standings, and finally suffered top flight relegation as second from last.

International career

Komljenović made his debut for

FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yug ...

on 23 December 1994, in a 0–2 friendly defeat with

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 ...

. Even though he played no part in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, he was selected by manager Slobodan Santrač for the finals in France, where he would score twice in only three games, 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 territori ...

in the group stage (1–0) and against

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

(1–2 loss). Komljenović also appeared at the

UEFA 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 wa ...

in Belgium and the Netherlands, making three appearances (270 minutes) and netting – and being booked – in the 3–4 group stage loss against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Personal life

Komljenović married Ivana Stepanović, daughter of his former Eintracht Frankfurt manager

Dragoslav Stepanović Dragoslav Stepanović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгослав Степановић, ; born 30 August 1948) is a Serbian retired football player and coach. Club career Stepanović made his name with OFK Beograd where he was a right back fixture for 11 y ...

. The couple have two children.

Career statistics

Honours

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 considered ...

: runner-up 1997–98

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Komljenovic, Slobodan 1971 births Living people Footballers from Frankfurt Serbian footballers German footballers Serbia and Montenegro footballers German people of Serbian descent Association football defenders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Eintracht Frankfurt players Eintracht Frankfurt II players MSV Duisburg players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players SV Wacker Burghausen players TSV 1860 Munich players La Liga players Real Zaragoza players Serbia and Montenegro international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Germany German expatriates in Spain