Dženan Uščuplić (18 August 1975 – 8 August 2024) was 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 ...

and

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 ...

. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he was most successful playing for and managing hometown club

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

Playing career

As a player of

on three occasions, Uščuplić won three Bosnian cup titles and one supercup with the club. He also played for

Olimpik Olimpik (or sometimes named ''Olympic'', in , in ) — a series of Soviet Union, Soviet produced Superheterodyne receiver, superheterodyne portable radio receiver. The first model was developed in 1977 by the Ukrainian artist Mykola Lebid. The pr ...

. He retired in the summer of 2002 at the age of 27 because of a chronic knee injury sustained in April 1998.

Managerial career

After being forced to retire from football, Uščuplić spent nine years in the Sarajevo youth academy and as an assistant to former first team manager

Robert Jarni Robert Jarni (born 26 October 1968) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a left winger or wingback. Jarni started his professional career with Hajduk Split in 1986, and went on to spend 10 years playing for various clubs ...

, before being named manager in 2014. In his debut season he led the club to a

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

triumph, ending a seven-season silverware drought. On 26 September 2014, Uščuplić was relieved of his duties as Sarajevo manager after a string of disappointing results, and returned to the club's youth academy where he completed the

UEFA Pro Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

program. On 21 April 2015, he was again named manager of Sarajevo after the club management sacked

Meho Kodro Mehmed "Meho" Kodro (born 12 January 1967) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. Kodro started playing professionally at Velež Mostar, making his first team debut in 1985. He spent most of his 1 ...

. This time Uščuplić led Sarajevo to a

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

triumph shortly after being named the new manager. On 11 September 2015, Uščuplić and his whole staff were sacked after a series of poor results that culminated with yet another loss, this time against Slavija Sarajevo. Six years later, on 13 May 2021, he was yet again named as Sarajevo's caretaker manager until the end of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, after the club agreed to terminate

Vinko Marinović Vinko Marinović (born 3 March 1971) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 national team. Club career Marinović started playing football at nine years of age with the ...

's contract by mutual agreement due to poor results in the last few games of the season. In Uščuplić's first game as manager, Sarajevo drew against Mladost Doboj Kakanj in a league game on 16 May 2021. He oversaw his first win as manager against Radnik Bijeljina on 23 May 2021. Three days later, on 26 May, Uščuplić led Sarajevo to yet another Bosnian cup triumph, this time beating

Borac Banja Luka Fudbalski klub Borac Banja Luka (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Бopaц Бања Лука, ) is a Bosnian Serb professional football club, based in the city of Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is the main ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. On 12 May 2022, for a second time in a year, he became Sarajevo's caretaker manager until the end of the 2021–22 season, following Aleksandar Vasoski's resignation. Sarajevo ended the season in 4th place and lost to Velež Mostar in the 2021–22 Bosnian Cup

, failing to qualify to a European competition for a second time in six years.

Death

Uščuplić died on 8 August 2024, at the age of 48. He was struck by lightning during harsh weather conditions while hiking on the

Zelengora Zelengora (Зеленгора) is a mountain range in the Sutjeska National Park of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has a highest altitude of .Ljubljani & Slovenije, p. 194 Topography Geologically, the Zelengora range is part of the Dinaric Alps ...

mountain range in the

Sutjeska National Park The Sutjeska National Park ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Nacionalni park Sutjeska, Национални парк Сутјеска, ) is a national park located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Established in 1962, it is Bosnia and Herzegovina's oldest national park ...

of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Sarajevo * Bosnian Cup: 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02 * Bosnian Supercup: 1997

Manager

Sarajevo *

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 ...

: 2014–15 *Bosnian Cup: 2013–14,

References

External links

Dženan Uščuplić
at

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Uscuplic, Dzenan 1975 births 2024 deaths Deaths from lightning strikes Footballers from Sarajevo Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Men's association football midfielders Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's under-21 international footballers FK Sarajevo players FK Olimpik players First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Bosnia and Herzegovina football managers Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers FK Sarajevo managers