Željko Babić (born 19 May 1972) is a Croatian retired

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player and current coach of

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

Playing career

Babić had played for the following clubs: RK PIK Neretva Opuzen,

Badel 1862 Zagreb Rukometni klub Zagreb (, ) is a men's professional handball Sports club, club from Zagreb, Croatia. It competes in the Croatian Premier Handball League, Croatian Premier League and the EHF Champions League. RK Zagreb has won 38 national champ ...

, Razvitak Metković,

Secchia The Secchia (; ; called by Pliny )''Naturalis Historia'', Book 3, chap. xvi. is an Italian river. One of the main right bank tributaries of the Po, it flows through the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is long, and has a drainage b ...

and Pallamano Prato, and RK Jelsa. He retired from playing professional handball in 2006.

Coaching career

Babić worked as an assistant coach under the coaching staff of

Slavko Goluža Slavko Goluža (born 17 September 1971) is a retired Croatian handball player and most recently coach of RK Zagreb. Club career Goluža was born in the village of Pješivac-Kula near Stolac. He began his career with RK Mehanika Metković. A ...

in the Croatian national team, winning bronze medals at the 2012 European Championship,

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and at the 2013 World Championship, and the silver medal at the

2013 Mediterranean Games The 2013 Mediterranean Games (), officially known as the XVII Mediterranean Games () and commonly known as Mersin 2013, was an international multi-sport event held from 20 to 30 June 2013 in Mersin, Turkey. Mersin was announced as the host cit ...

. On 27 February 2015, he was appointed as the head coach of the Croatian national team, leading the team at the 2016 European Championship,

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and at the 2017 World Championship. On 30 January 2017, it was reported that Babić was sacked as the head coach of the national team of Croatia due to a poor run of results and finishing fourth in the World Championship finals held in January in France. Following the 2017–18 season, Babić was named the head coach of Slovenian club

RK Gorenje Velenje Rokometni klub Gorenje Velenje (), commonly referred to as RK Gorenje Velenje, is a Slovenian handball club from Velenje that competes in the Slovenian First League, the top tier of Slovenian handball. They play their games at the Red Hall ('). ...

. He parted ways with the club in May 2018. On 9 January 2020, he was appointed as the head coach of

RK Eurofarm Pelister RK Eurofarm Pelister () is a Macedonian handball club from Bitola. They currently compete in the Macedonian Handball Super League, Macedonian Super League and EHF Champions League. History The original team was the first handball club in Macedon ...

in North Macedonia.

Personal life

Babić was born in

Metković Metković () is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the river Neretva and on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Climate Since records began in 1997, the highest temper ...

in the family of mother Nedjeljka and father Ante Babić. He has brother Ivica who is a priest, and a sister. He married his wife Katarina Vukoja, with whom he has three children: twins Greta and Ivan, and a daughter Anđa.

Honours

Player

;Badel 1862 Zagreb *

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94 *

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 The Croatian Water Polo C ...

: 1992, 1993, 1994 *

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

: 1988–89, 1990–91 *

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

: 1991 * European Champions Cup: 1991–92, 1992–93 *

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

: 1993 ;RK Metković *

: 2002 ;Pallamano Prato *Serie A: 1998–99

Head coach

;Meshkov Brest *

Belarusian First League The Belarusian First League () is the second tier of professional association football, football in Belarus. It was created in 1992, following the Belarusian independence. History and format The typical format of the league involves 16 clubs playi ...

: 2013–14, 2014–15 *Belarusian Cup: 2014, 2015 *

SEHA League The South East Handball Association League, or simply the SEHA League, is a regional men's club handball league in Southeast Europe, featuring teams from Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovakia. Due to sponsorship reasons, the le ...

runner-up: 2013–14, 2014–15 ;Croatia *

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

third place:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

;Macedonia * Macedonian Super Cup First Place: 2021-22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Babic, Zeljko Living people Croatian male handball players Croatian handball coaches Handball players from Metković People from Opuzen Sportspeople from Dubrovnik-Neretva County 1972 births RK Zagreb players Croatian expatriate handball players Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belarus Croatian expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate handball coaches Yugoslav male handball players Handball coaches of international teams Coaches at the 2016 Summer Olympics