Enver Hadžiabdić (born 6 November 1945) is a Bosnian former

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 ...

, best known for playing for and later managing Željezničar. Hadžiabdić is the only person in Željezničar history to have won league titles both as a player and as a manager. As a player he won the

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) ...

with Željezničar in 1972, while as a manager the Bosnian First League in 1998.

Club career

Hadžiabdić started playing

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 ...

in the youth teams of Iskra Bugojno and Bratstvo Travnik, before signing his first professional contract with Željezničar in 1965. During the next nine years at Željezničar, he played more than 450 games for the club. He also won the

in the 1971–72 season with Željezničar. In 1974, Hadžiabdić signed with Belgian side

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

where he stayed for three seasons. After Charleroi he went back to

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and joined Velež Mostar. After 2 years at Velež, Hadžiabdić went to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and signed a contract with AEL where he stayed 1 year and afterwards retired from professional football in 1980 at the age of 35.

International career

Hadžiabdić was one of the best European

defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: * Defense (military) * Defense (sports) ** Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film, television, and theatre Film * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The D ...

in the early 1970s and he made his debut for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in an April 1970

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

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and has earned a total of 11 caps, scoring no goals. He was also a member of the team that participated in the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

. His final international was a July 1974 World Cup match against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Managerial career

After retirement, Hadžiabdić returned to

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 ...

where he graduated from the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo (Bosnian language, Bosnian, Croatian language, Croatian and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a List of universities in Bo ...

Faculty of Physical Education.

Managing in Iran and Qatar

In 1994, Hadžiabdić became a manager of the Iran Olympic team, and two years later in 1995, manager of the Al-Rayyan youth team. He was the manager of the youth team until 1997.

Željezničar

In January 1998, Hadžiabdić took over the place of manager in his favourite Željezničar. He managed to lead the club to the Bosnian championship title in his first season. In the winter of 1999, Hadžiabdić stepped down because of disappointing league results, despite winning the Bosnian Supercup in 1998 against the club's biggest rivals -

. Nevertheless, he was back again next season in 1999 in which he guided the club to its first Bosnian Cup title in 2000. He again left the club shortly after winning the cup.

Tirana

In 2002, Hadžiabdić became the new manager of

Albanian Superliga Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

club

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

. In his only season with the club, he won the Albanian Supercup on 14 September 2002 after beating Dinamo Tirana 6–0 in that year's Supercup. He was sacked by the club management on 21 February 2003 after a series of poor results.

Return to Željezničar

After several years working as a stadium director, Hadžiabdić yet again became manager of Željezničar on 10 January 2007, working as manager until January 2008.

Honours

Player

Željezničar *

: 1971–72

Manager

Željezničar * Bosnian First League: 1997–98 * Bosnian Cup: 1999–2000 * Bosnian Supercup: 1998 Tirana * Albanian Supercup:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hadziabdic, Enver 1945 births Living people Footballers from Belgrade Bosniaks of Serbia Men's association football defenders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers 1974 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1976 players FK Željezničar Sarajevo players Royal Charleroi S.C. players FK Velež Mostar players Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players Yugoslav First League players Belgian Pro League players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Greece Bosnia and Herzegovina football managers FK Željezničar Sarajevo managers KF Tirana managers First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers Kategoria Superiore managers Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Iran Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Iran Expatriate football managers in Qatar Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Albania