Darko Nestorović (; born 4 April 1965) is a Bosnian 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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Kakanj Kakanj ( sr-cyrl, Какањ) is a town and municipality located in Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the Europe's oldest continuously inhabitted settlement. As of 2013, ...

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

, Nestorović played for Čelik Zenica, Rad and

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 ...

in the former

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. After Rijeka and the breakup of Yugoslavia, he played abroad for

Panserraikos Panserraikos Football Club (), the ''All-Serres Football Club'', is a Greece, Greek Association football, football club based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and well-supported clubs in northern G ...

in the Greek First Division,

HamKam Hamarkameratene (), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian professional football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently promoted to the Elites ...

in the first league of Norway, Hong Kong Golden in the first league of China, FC Umea in the first league of Sweden. In the first league of Serbia and Montenegro, he played for

FK Spartak Subotica Fudbalski klub Spartak Ždrepčeva Krv () is a professional football club from Subotica, Serbia, that plays in the Serbian SuperLiga. The club was founded in 1945 and was named after Jovan Mikić Spartak, the leader of the Partisans in Subotic ...

and

FK Mogren FK Mogren was a football club based in Budva, Montenegro. Founded in 1920, it was two times champion of Montenegrin First League and once winner of Montenegrin Cup. In 2015, following the bankruptcy and debts, FK Mogren was relegated to the lowes ...

. In his playing career, he was a representative of all national teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a youth representative of Yugoslavia in the generation of Darko Pančev, Dragan Stojković, Mitar Mrkela, Aleksandar Stojanović, and with that generation he qualified for the European Championship. He also remained as Celik's all-time top scorer. He played in the UEFA Cup with

FK Rad FK Rad () is a football club based in Banjica, Belgrade, Serbia. They compete in the Belgrade Zone League, the fourth tier of the national league system. Founded in 1958, the club spent a total of 30 seasons in the top flight between 1987 and 2 ...

and was the scorer in a 2–1 victory over Olympiacos in Belgrade. Abroad, he was a member of the Hong Kong national team.

Managerial career

After ending his playing career, Nestorović stayed in football as a professional manager, starting off at Radnik Bijeljina. After Radnik, he managed Drina Zvornik then Rudar Prijedor. With Rudar Prijedor, Nestorović achieved the greatest success in the history of the club. In three seasons, he introduced a team from the second league to the first league, and the following year to the premier league of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With the same players, he was in the middle of the Premier League table. He was twice chosen as the best coach of the year in the selection of

Sportski žurnal ''Sportski žurnal'' (Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and ...

, as well as by his fellow coaches. Then he managed Sloboda Mrkonjić Grad, Radnik Bijeljina, who he promoted to the

Bosnian Premier League The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

by winning the 2011–12 First League of RS. While at Radnik Bijeljina, Nestorović was coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U23 Olympic national team, Sutjeska Foča and Rudar, before becoming head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 national team on 27 December 2014. Nestorović stayed as head coach until 10 mart 2017. He then became manager of

Kuwait Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as Zain Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Kuwait SC holds the best record in the competition, having won 20 times. History The ...

club Al-Arabi on 13 August 2017, working alongside Kuwaiti manager

Mohammed Ebrahim Hajeyah Mohammed Ebrahim Hajeyah (; born 7 January 1962) is a Kuwaiti football coach and former player. Ibrahem played for Kuwaiti football club Al Qadisiya (Qadsia Sporting Club) in the Gulf Club Champions Cup, Kuwaiti Premier League, Crown Prince ...

. On 5 September 2018, he became the new manager of newly promoted Bosnian Premier League club Zvijzeda 09. Nestorović took over the team that was last in the standings with only three points and that everyone had already seen in the second league. In a very short period, he stabilized the team and with five consecutive victories in the championship led the team to the sixth place in the table and saved relegation. Even after making decent results with the club, Nestorović decided to leave Zvijezda on 11 March 2019. On 6 September 2019, he returned to Al-Arabi. Nestorović took over Al Arabi, who were also last in the Kuwait First League table and were in a very difficult situation. He eventually managed to lead the team to third place and also played with Al Arabi in the final of the Prince Cup and was first in the League Cup. Al Arabi played the most beautiful football in Kuwait during that period. Nestorović once again became manager of Radnik Bijeljina on 24 November 2020. On 16 April 2021, he decided to resign as manager of Radnik for private reasons. On 14 June 2021, Nestorović became the coach of

Kazma Kazma () is an area in Kuwait. It is located in Al Jahra Governorate, north of Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait. It is an ancient area with a long history, known to Persians and Arabs since the Sassanid, Jahiliyyah and the early Islamic eras. ...

, another club in the

. With Kazma, Nestorović was the autumn champion of the Kuwait First League and played in the semi-finals of the Emir Cup. After twenty years, Kazma was at the top of Kuwaiti football. During that period of his stay in Kazma, Nestorović was a candidate for the selector of the National Team of Kuwait. 2023 Won the Jordanian Super Cup with Al Wehdat. In the two final games Al Faisali won 2-1 and 1-0. I left the team in second position in the Jordan championship. With FC Arabi, he was the autumn champion of Kuwait and played in the semi-finals of the Emir Cup. On 16 November 2024, Nestorović was appointed as manager of Saudi First Division League club Al-Jubail. He was sacked on 8 April 2025.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Rudar Prijedor * Second League of RS: 2007-08 * First League of RS: 2008–09 Radnik Bijeljina * First League of RS: 2011–12 AL-Wehdat SC *

Jordan Super Cup The Jordan Super Cup () is a Jordanian football championship contested by the winners of Jordan Premier League and the Jordan FA Cup. In the event that a team wins both League and the Cup, the runners up of the Cup play against the winner of Lea ...

: 2023

References

External links