Željko Kopić (born 10 September 1977) is a Croatian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who is the current head coach of

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club Dinamo București.

Playing career

Club

In his playing days, Željko Kopić played as a midfielder. He played in the younger age categories of

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

and

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional association football, football Football team, club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They ...

. In his senior career, he played for Croatian clubs NK Čakovec, NK Marsonia and NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac and an Australian club Sydney United 58 FC.

Managerial career

After his playing career, Željko Kopić became a coach. In 2006, he received the UEFA B coaching diploma, and since 2013 he has the UEFA PRO coaching diploma. At the beginning of his coaching career, he worked at the football school of NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and later became an assistant coach of the first team. His first independent job in senior football was NK Zagorec from

Krapina Krapina (; ) is a town in northern Croatia and the administrative centre of Krapina-Zagorje County with a population of 4,482 (2011) and a total municipality population of 12,480 (2011). Krapina is located in the hilly Zagorje region of Croatia ...

, after which he took over HNK Segesta from

Sisak Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...

. Then, he worked first as an assistant, and later as the first coach at NK Lučko, which was then playing in the 1st HNL. After that, he worked for a short time in Cibalia. In June 2014, he became the coach of NK Zagreb. Towards the beginning of the next season, he became the coach of Slaven Belupo from

Koprivnica Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of Koprivnica-Križevci County. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total populati ...

, where he stayed for 96 games and became the longest-serving coach in the 110-year-old history of the club. With Slaven Belupo he played the final of the

Croatian Football Cup The Croatian Football Cup (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the HNL championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS ...

against

. He left them in October 2017. On 13 November 2017, he was named as the new

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

manager. In 34 official matches at Hajduk, he achieved 6 consecutive victories away from home and 6 consecutive victories in the national league and cup. In October 2018, he was appointed coach of the Cypriot first league side Pafos FC, where he won the Coach of the Month award and achieved significant victories against the big Cypriot clubs such as Apoel, Omonia and AEK. Upon his return to Croatia, he became the academy director of Dinamo Zagreb's football school, which is known as one of the best football schools in the world. In December 2021, after the departure of Damir Krznar, he was appointed as the coach of the first team and is only the seventh coach to lead the two biggest Croatian clubs, Dinamo and

Hajduk A hajduk (, plural of ) is a type of Irregular military, irregular infantry found in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries, especially from Hajdú–Bihar Count ...

. With Dinamo, he achieved 7 consecutive victories in the HNL and European competitions, among which the 0–1 victory against

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

and the 1–0 victory against

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

in the knockout phase of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

stand out the most. The victory against

was the first victory of a Croatian club against an English side on their home ground in the history of Croatian club football. In August 2022, Željko Kopić became the coach of the Bulgarian first division side

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

and during his engagement, which lasted four months, he raised the club from the last place in the table to the 10th place. In December 2023, he became the head coach of Dinamo București. Despite the tough situation when he arrived, Kopić managed to save the club from relegation, and Dinamo București remained in

. After the first half of the 2024–25 season, Dinamo held second place with a 24–17 goal difference in 15 games, making it one of the biggest surprises in the Romanian Superliga. He was honored as Manager of the Month for August 2024, an award bestowed by

Gazeta Sporturilor Gazeta Sporturilor () is a Romanian sports website, originally founded in 1924 as a daily newspaper. It was the third-oldest daily newspaper in Europe, with 99 years of uninterrupted publication, before issuing its last edition on 31 October 2023. ...

. At the end of 2024, he won the "Manager of the year award.https://www.gsp.ro/superlativele2024.html

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Hajduk Split * Croatian Cup runner-up: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kopic, Zeljko 1977 births Living people Footballers from Osijek Men's association football midfielders Croatian men's footballers NK Čakovec players NK Marsonia players Sydney United 58 FC players NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac players Croatian Football League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Croatian football managers HNK Segesta managers NK Lučko managers HNK Cibalia managers NK Zagreb managers NK Slaven Belupo managers HNK Hajduk Split managers Pafos FC managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb managers Botev Plovdiv managers FC Dinamo București managers Croatian Football League managers Cypriot First Division managers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) managers Liga I managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate football managers in Bulgaria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate football managers in Romania Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Romania