Goran Vučević (born 18 May 1971) is a Croatian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

central 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 spent most of his professional career with

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 ...

(in several capacities, including player and manager) and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

(mostly with the reserves).

Club career

Born in

Split, Croatia Split (, ), historically known as Spalato (; ; see #Name, other names), is the List of cities and towns in Croatia, second-largest city of Croatia after the capital Zagreb, the largest city in Dalmatia and the largest city on the Croatian coast ...

Socialist Federal Republic of 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 ...

, Vučević started his career at local HNK Hajduk, where he became a key player at only 18, eventually winning the 1992 Sportske novosti Yellow Shirt award, issued to the best footballer playing in the Croatian League at the end of every season. Afterwards, Vučević was bought by

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. During his five-year stay, he could never break into the first team, which also featured – as the clubs in Spain were not allowed to field more than three foreign players at the same time –

Luís Figo Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Inter Milan. He won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one-t ...

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in ...

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Koeman scor ...

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional Association football, football coach and former player. Renowned for his composure, passing, vision, technical skills, ball control, and dribbling ability, Laudrup is widely regarded ...

Romário Romário de Souza Faria (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and former professional association football, footballer who is currently a Senator for Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and the presi ...

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov (; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer and current football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association football), forward, he is widely regarded as the g ...

; in December 1993, he was ousted from the squad by the Dutch manager after refusing to return to the B-side, and in the following off-season was loaned to Hajduk, where alongside experienced players such as Stjepan Andrijašević,

Aljoša Asanović Aljoša Asanović (born 14 December 1965) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He was regarded as one of the best players in the Yugoslav First League, emerging as one of five top scorers during the 1989–9 ...

and

Igor Štimac Igor Štimac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. In his playing career, Štimac had three spells with Hajduk Split and also played for Cádiz in Spain, and for Derby County and West Ham Un ...

he helped to a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

conquest – the first since 1975 – and a quarter-final run in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. After two loans, first loaned to his former club then

CP Mérida Club Polideportivo Mérida was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Mérida, Spain, Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Having played twice in La Liga (1995–96 La Liga, 1995–96 and 1997–98 La Li ...

, the latter also in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

, Vučević was finally sold in the 1997 summer to

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

. He also struggled immensely in Germany, playing very rarely including when the team was in the second division. In 1999, he returned for a third spell with Hajduk, retiring after two unassuming years.

International career

Over the course of one week, starting on 5 July 1992, Vučević played three times for the Croatia national team. All of his

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

were won in friendlies against the same opponent,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Managerial career

From 2005 to 2008, still with Hajduk Split, Vučević accumulated the tasks of assistant to the main squad and youth coach, taking the first team's reins in May 2008 but resigning in October, after which he returned to the youth system. His second spell as manager started on 16 November 2010, when he replaced

Stanko Poklepović Stanko "Špaco" Poklepović (19 April 1938 – 24 December 2018) was a Croatian professional Association football, football Football player, player and Manager (association football), manager. Poklepović managed a number of teams over 46 years, ...

; in April 2011, having already been ousted from the group stage of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

and having failed to win the national championship during the club's 100-year celebration season, he was sacked. Vučević returned to Hajduk Split in December 2013 as

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

, thanks to president Marin Brbić. In April 2015, he again replaced Poklepović for a third spell as head coach, but was himself relieved of his duties after only two games, one of them resulting in elimination from the

Croatian Football Cup The Croatian Football Cup (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the HNL championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS ...

at the hands 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 received threats to both him and his family from the fans, but continued to work as sporting director afterwards; in March 2016, he was criticised for his methods and blamed for the team's negative run in the league, offering his resignation which was taken into consideration. On 1 April 2016, Vučević resigned from Hajduk after Brbić left his post. He then became a scout for former club Barcelona. He signed a two-year deal as technical director at Saudi Arabia's

Al Nassr Al-Nassr Football Club () is a professional football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The club competes in the Saudi Pro League, the top tier of the Saudi football league system. Al-Nassr is one of only three clubs to have participated ...

in October 2021.BIVŠI TRENER HAJDUKA IMA NOVI POSAO, EVO KAKVOG SE IZAZOVA UHVATIO NAKON DUGIH PREGOVORA
- Sportske Jutarnji

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vucevic, Goran 1971 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers HNK Hajduk Split players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players CP Mérida footballers 1. FC Köln players Yugoslav First League players Croatian Football League players La Liga players Segunda División players Bundesliga players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian football managers HNK Hajduk Split managers HNK Hajduk Split non-playing staff FC Barcelona non-playing staff Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Al-Nassr FC non-playing staff