Marijan Bilić is a Croatian retired

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 in 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) ...

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

, and

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

Playing career

Bilić played in the

with

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

in 1967. In 1969, he played with

Toronto Croatia C.N.S.C. Toronto Croatia (Croatian National Sports Club Toronto Croatia) is a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, that plays in the Supergroup Open Division in the Canadian Academy of Football. The team's colours are red, white and b ...

in the

, where he was given the captaincy. He assisted in winning the NSL Championship in 1971, and 1974. In 1977, Toronto Metro's signed Bilić to a playing contract.

Managerial career

In July 1970, he was named the

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for

. In 1975, he briefly served as an interim coach for the

Toronto Metros-Croatia Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the fourth-most populous city in North America. The city ...

in the

, where he managed a 13–9 record. After the dismissal of Ivan Markovic as head coach in 1976 he returned to the coaching position, where he appointed

Domagoj Kapetanović Domagoj Kapetanović (30 January 1926 – January 2005) was a Yugoslav football player and manager best known for winning the 1976 NASL Championship with Toronto Metros-Croatia. Playing career Kapetanović started his playing career with Gr ...

as his tactician and eventual successor.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilić, Marijan Year of birth missing Men's association football defenders Yugoslav men's footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Toronto Croatia players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players Yugoslav First League players Canadian National Soccer League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Croatian football managers Toronto Croatia coaches Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) head coaches Canadian National Soccer League coaches North American Soccer League (1968–1984) head coaches Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Canada