Ljubinko Drulović (; born 11 September 1968) is a Serbian 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 winger, and is a current

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He spent the most notable part of his playing career in Portugal, with stints at

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

and Benfica – a combined ten seasons between the two clubs, winning 14 major titles with the former. He also had brief spells at Partizan as player and manager. Drulović represented the Yugoslavia national team in one

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and one European Championship, earning 38

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(including 1 unofficial). He had brief spells as manager of his country and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, as well as coaching Serbia under-19 to the European title in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Club career

Drulović was born in

Nova Varoš Nova Varoš ( sr-cyr, Нова Варош, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. The municipality of Nova Varoš has a population of 13,507, while the town of Nova Varoš itself has a population of ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

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 ...

. After playing out his contract at FK Rad in the summer of 1992, he signed a two-year deal with Portuguese club Gil Vicente FC, but only remained there until December 1993, after which he moved to

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

also of the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

; between both teams, he finished the 1993–94 season with a career-best 18 goals. Drulović was one of very few players to have contributed to each of Porto's five consecutive titles during the 90s. He was mostly remembered at the side for his pin-point assists and ability to cross the ball, mainly to the head of Mário Jardel. In June 2001, already 33, Drulović joined S.L. Benfica. In June 2002, he obtained Portuguese nationality by naturalisation. After a slow 2002–03 campaign, he returned home and signed with

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

, being one of the side's most influential players as they reached the group stage 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 ...

. He moved back to Portugal a year later, finishing his career with F.C. Penafiel alongside former Porto teammate António Folha.

International career

Drulović made his debut for

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

on 28 December 1996, in a friendly with

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

played in

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(3–2). He went on to play a further 37 times in the following five years, appearing for the nation at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

and

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

tournaments and contributing with one goal in the 3–3 group stage draw against

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and four assists in the latter as the country reached the quarter-finals.

Coaching career

Drulović began his coaching career with modest Portuguese club G.D. Tourizense, in 2006–07. At the season's closure, he obtained a professional licence. In early April 2008, Drulović became manager of FK Banat Zrenjanin in the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

. As the fifth manager of the season – he replaced Žarko Soldo – he took over a team under relegation threat (eighth place out of 12), with eleven matches to go. Eventually, he could not help prevent them from dropping down a level after a 4–1 loss to

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Serbia, the second large ...

on 17 May. In June 2008, Drulović moved to

and signed with NK Drava Ptuj. Eighteen months later, he was appointed coach of C.D. Primeiro de Agosto of the Angolan

Girabola Girabola, or ''Campeonato Nacional de Futebol de Séniores Masculinos'', is the top division of Angolan association football, football. It is organized by the Angolan Football Federation. The term "Girabola" () is a creation of the nationalist, ...

. As manager of his country's under-19 team, Drulović won the 2013 UEFA European Championship in Lithuania with a shock 1–0 win over

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in the final. The following February, he became the senior team's interim manager after

Siniša Mihajlović Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian football manager and professional footballer who played as a defender. Mihajlović had an illustrious playing career, winni ...

failed to make the year's World Cup. He led the team for four exhibition games before the appointment of

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former association football, football player and coach. He is currently the manager of the Curaçao national football team. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a ...

, starting with a 2–1 win away to the

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on 5 March. Drulović was named in charge of neighbours North Macedonia on 23 April 2015. In five games before leaving for Partizan in October, he avoided defeat in only his last – a goalless draw away to

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UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

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. His spell back at the reigning Serbian champions lasted only until 22 December, when he was dismissed from the fourth-placed team who were 26 points behind rivals

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

Career statistics

Honours

Player

Porto *

: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 1993–94, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

: 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2001 Individual *

: Top assist provider

Manager

1º de Agosto * Supertaça de Angola:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Serbia U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

Individual * Serbian Coach of the Year: 2013

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drulovic, Ljubinko 1968 births Living people People from Nova Varoš Footballers from Zlatibor District Portuguese people of Serbian descent Naturalised citizens of Portugal Men's association football wingers Yugoslav men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players GFK Sloboda Užice players FK Rad players Gil Vicente F.C. players FC Porto players S.L. Benfica footballers FK Partizan players F.C. Penafiel players Yugoslav Second League players Yugoslav First League players Primeira Liga players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Serbian football managers FK Banat Zrenjanin managers C.D. Primeiro de Agosto managers Serbia national football team managers North Macedonia national football team managers FK Partizan managers Serbia national under-21 football team managers Serbian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Portugal Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate football managers in Slovenia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate football managers in Angola Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Angola Expatriate football managers in North Macedonia Serbian expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Expatriate football managers in Uzbekistan Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Uzbekistan