Damir Milinović (born 15 October 1972) is a Croatian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player. He was named manager of Dubrava in June 2022.

Club career

Born in

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

, Milinović spent most of his career in his local club,

, before moving to

Croatia Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cro ...

in 1997. He failed to impress in Croatia so he returned to Rijeka in the next season. After an impressive season with Rijeka, during which the club lost the title in last match, Milinović left for Germany in summer of 2000, signing with

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

. As Bochum finished last in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

and were relegated, Milinović returned to Rijeka after only one season. He spent half a season in Rijeka before joining eventual season champions

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian football club based in the capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of Croatian footbal ...

. In January 2003, Milinović returned to Rijeka for the third and final time, spending there one and a half season before joining

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

once again. He left Dinamo after only half a season, joining

Austria Salzburg SV Austria Salzburg is an Austrian professional football club, based in the city of Salzburg. The club was formed in 2005 by some supporters of the original SV (Austria) Salzburg after it was renamed FC Red Bull Salzburg by its new owners, who a ...

just few months before club was rebranded as Red Bull Salzburg. Milinović returned to Croatia after only half a season in Austria, signing for

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 ...

side Pomorac Kostrena. After two seasons with Pomorac, Milinović announced his retirement in summer of 2007.

International career

Milinović made his debut for

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in a June 1997

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan national football team, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (Internatio ...

match against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, coming on as a 85th-minute substitute for

Tomislav Erceg Tomislav Erceg (born 22 October 1971) is a retired Croatian footballer who played as a forward. He made four appearances for the Croatia national team, scoring one goal. Club career Erceg started his career at HNK Šibenik in 1990, moving to H ...

, and earned a total of 4 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was an April 1999

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Managerial career

A few months after he announced his retirement, Milinović was appointed as a manager of his last club, Pomorac Kostrena. In Pomorac he was quite successful, finishing amongst top clubs in second division and reaching quarterfinals of

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 ...

. He left Pomorac in 2010 and took over third division side

NK Grobničan Nogometni klub Grobničan or simply NK Grobničan is a Croatian football club based in the town of Čavle which competes in the Croatian Second League, the third tier of the Croatian football pyramid. Honours *Treća HNL – West: ::Winn ...

. With Milinović in charge, Grobničan went from mediocre third division club to one of the best clubs in the league. They were on the edge of promotion to

two consecutive seasons but were financially incapable to take that step. In May 2012, Milinović was appointed head coach of

HNK Gorica Hrvatski nogometni klub Gorica (), commonly referred to as HNK Gorica, is a Croatian football club based in the town of Velika Gorica, located just south of the Croatian capital Zagreb. They play their home matches at the Gradski stadion Velik ...

. Milinović spent only six months in Gorica; he resigned in November 2012 after disappointing results in the first half of the season. In January 2013, Milinović took over third division side Novigrad. He signed for Gorica again, on 9 September 2015, but got sacked on 30 March 2017. In August 2017, Milinović became manager of Slovenian club

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian First League, the top flight of Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. They won the Sl ...

. On 28 August 2020, Milinović was appointed to be second division side Orijent 1919 head coach.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

NK 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 ...

: 2001–02

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milinovic, Damir 1972 births Living people Footballers from Rijeka Men's association football defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers HNK Orijent players HNK Rijeka players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players VfL Bochum players NK Zagreb players FC Red Bull Salzburg players NK Pomorac 1921 players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Croatian football managers HNK Gorica managers HNK Cibalia managers FC Koper managers HNK Orijent managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Slovenia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia