Nenad Gračan (born 23 January 1962) is a Croatian football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is the coach of the Croatia women's national football team.

Club career

Born in

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

, Gračan started playing professionally for hometown's NK Orijent and, soon thereafter, HNK Rijeka, amassing nearly 150 official appearances. He then moved to another club in his native

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, HNK Hajduk Split. During his first match at

Hajduk A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time ...

Gračan was injured while playing against his former club by

Mladen Mladenović Mladen Mladenović (born 13 September 1964) is a Croatian professional association football, football Manager (association football), manager and retired Football player, player who played as a midfielder. Playing career Club During his career h ...

who nearly broke Gračan's leg. Because of this injury he appeared intermittently for

over the course of four full seasons. Late into 1989, Gračan signed with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

club Real Oviedo. Joined by compatriots

Janko Janković Janko Janković (born 14 January 1963) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a forward. Club career Janković was born in Split, Croatia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After playing in his country with NK Solin, HNK Hajduk ...

and Nikola Jerkan in his second season, he helped the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic- Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who w ...

finish sixth and

qualify Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

by contributing with 26 matches, and eventually appeared in more than 100 games overall. Aged almost 31, Gračan left Oviedo and returned to his country, now independent. After two years of inactivity he played a handful of games with first professional club Rijeka, but retired shortly after. In the following decade, he took up coaching, starting with his last team as a player, but he rarely settled.

International career

Gračan made his debut for

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

in a March 1984

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

and earned a total of 10 caps, scoring 2 goals. He never attended any major international tournament. In 1984, the then 21-year-old helped the Olympic squad win the bronze medal in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, featuring in all games but one and scoring in the quarterfinals against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

(5–2). His final international was a May 1986 friendly away against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

International appearances

International goals

Managerial career

In June 2001, he was named manager of

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979 ...

. Gračan was dismissed as manager of

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the ...

in May 2007 and he took charge of

for a third time in November 2009.

Personal life

Gračan married former miss Croatia Daniela Mihalic in 1999. The couple have three daughters.

Career statistics

As a player

Managerial statistics

Club

National team

: *Dates of first and last games under Gračan; not dates of official appointments

Honours

Player

;Hajduk Split * Yugoslav Cup: 1987 ;Yugoslavia *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

bronze medal: 1984 ;Individual * SN Yellow Shirt award: 1985-86 *

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top division, HT Prva lig ...

all time XI by Novi list

References

External links

*
National team data
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gracan, Nenad 1962 births Living people Footballers from Rijeka Association football midfielders Yugoslav footballers Yugoslavia international footballers Olympic footballers of Yugoslavia Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Croatian footballers HNK Orijent players HNK Rijeka players HNK Hajduk Split players Real Oviedo players Yugoslav First League players La Liga players Croatian Football League players Yugoslav expatriate footballers Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Spain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Croatian football managers HNK Rijeka managers HNK Hajduk Split managers FC Koper managers NK Osijek managers NK Kamen Ingrad managers GNK Dinamo Zagreb managers NK Istra 1961 managers NK Croatia Sesvete managers Croatia national under-21 football team managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Slovenia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia