Goran Sablić (born 4 August 1979) 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 manager of

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 ...

club Velež Mostar. He spent most of his career in Croatia, playing for

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 ...

and has also played for Ukrainian side

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

. Sablić has had two spells as manager of

RNK Split Radnički nogometni klub Split ("Workers' Football Club of Split") commonly known as RNK Split, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Split. History The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard. The club was fo ...

, he was once manager of

club

Široki Brijeg Široki Brijeg () is a city and the regional capital of West Herzegovina Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. the town itself had a population of 6,149 and the municipality of 28,929. Name ...

and also managed Moldovan First League club

Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff Tiraspol (), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria, that plays in the Liga, the top tier o ...

. From 2020 until 2021, he was the manager of Hajduk's reserves and youth team. From June until December 2021, Sablić was manager of

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 ...

in the Bosnian Premier League.

Club career

Sablić started his career in Junak Sinj after coming from the club's youth academy. He won the Croatian championship in 2001 and the Croatian Cup in 2000 with

. He then signed a four-year contract with

on 12 August 2002. With Dynamo Kyiv, Sablić won the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

in 2003, 2004 and 2009. He also won the

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

in 2003, 2005 and 2006. After many injury problems, he agreed to go on a loan to reach his previous form. On 30 July 2007,

agreed to loan Sablić to his former club Hajduk for one year. In 2008, he returned to Dynamo and in 2010 he left the club and retired from football.

International career

Sablić 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 an April 2002

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

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 ...

, coming on as a 79th-minute substitute for Boris Živković , and earned a total of 5 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a September 2006 European Championship qualification match away against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Managerial career

Split

In October 2012 Sablić started as assistant coach at

under manager

Zoran Vulić Zoran Vulić (; born 4 October 1961) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is notable for having managed Hajduk Split five separate times between 1998 and 2018, which is a record among all Ha ...

. In May 2013, Sablić became the new manager of

, but after three matches he was sacked. Instead, he was hired as U-17 coach at the club afterwards, and later also on the U-19 team. On 30 September 2015 Sablić again became head coach of the club's first team. On 18 July 2016 he resigned.

Široki Brijeg

During January 2017, Sablić was named the new manager of

club

. In his first season, he guided the club to win the 2016–17 Bosnian Cup. In his second season with Široki, the club finished on 4th place in the 2017–18 Bosnian Premier League and made it to the quarterfinals of the 2017–18 Bosnian Cup where they got eliminated by eventual winners Željezničar. Sablić left the club after the end of the 2017–18 season.

Sheriff Tiraspol

On 7 June 2018, Sablić was appointed manager of Moldovan First League club

with whom in his first season as manager, won the Moldovan Championship three games before the end of the season. On 27 April 2019, after a 1–0 away league loss against Petrocub Hîncești, he unexpectedly resigned even though Sheriff at the time were on 1st place in the league.

Hajduk Split II

On 15 December 2020, Sablić was announced as the new manager of Hajduk Split II, the

reserves and youth team.

Sarajevo

On 12 June 2021, Sablić became the new manager of

, thus returning to manage in the Bosnian Premier League. In his first game as Sarajevo manager, Sablić's team drew against Moldovan club

Milsami Orhei Fotbal Club Milsami Orhei, commonly known as Milsami Orhei or simply Milsami, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Orhei, Moldova, currently playing in the Liga, the top tier of Moldovan football. Previously known as ''FC Viito ...

in a

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

qualifying round on 8 July 2021. His first loss as the club's manager was an unexpected one in the second leg game against Milsami a week later on 15 July, thus knocking out Sarajevo only in the first qualifying round of the Europa Conference League. Sablić guided the team to his first win as manager in a league game against

Posušje Posušje () is a town and municipality in the West Herzegovina Canton, a federal unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Name The name Posušje is derived from ''suša'' ( Croatian for drought). Th ...

on 25 July 2021. In his first ever

Sarajevo derby The Sarajevo derby (, ), also known as the Eternal derby (), is the name given to any football match between rival clubs Željezničar and Sarajevo, the two primary clubs in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the most viewed annual sporting ...

, Sarajevo beat fierce city rivals Željezničar in a league match on 22 September 2021. On 27 December 2021, Sablić terminated his contract with Sarajevo and left the club, following mixed results.

Hajduk Split

In August 2022, Sablić was employed as the head of the under-14 to under-19 teams at Hajduk Split's youth academy. On 25 April 2024, he took over Boro Primorac's position as head of the Youth Academy.

Velež Mostar

On 12 June 2025, Sablić was appointed manager of Velež Mostar.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Hajduk Split *

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 ...

: 2000–01 * Croatian Cup: 1999–2000 Dynamo Kyiv *

: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2008–09 *

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Manager

Široki Brijeg * Bosnian Cup: 2016–17 Sheriff Tiraspol *

Moldovan National Division The Moldovan Liga, officially known as Liga 7777.md for sponsorship reasons, is an association football league that is the top division of Football in Moldova, Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when Moldov ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sablic, Goran 1979 births Living people Footballers from Sinj Men's association football defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's youth international footballers Croatia men's international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players Croatian Football League players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Croatian football managers RNK Split managers NK Široki Brijeg managers FC Sheriff Tiraspol managers FK Sarajevo managers FK Velež Mostar managers Croatian Football League managers Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers Moldovan Super Liga managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate football managers in Moldova Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova HNK Hajduk Split non-playing staff