Nikola Nikić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Никић, ; born 7 January 1956) is a Bosnian

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 First League of FBiH club Bratstvo Gračanica.

Playing career

Nikić, born to father Ilija and mother Radojka (née Tadić), started his career in the lower leagues with

Modriča Modriča ( sr-cyrl, Модрича) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013 census, the town has a population of 10,137 inhabitants, while the municipality has a population of 25,720 inhabitants. Hist ...

and Zvijezda Gradačac, before joining Željezničar. Although he was an excellent winger, he became famous for his funny character and truthful nature. Nikić's was part of the famous Željezničar squad which under the guidance of

Ivica Osim Ivan Osim (6 May 1941 – 1 May 2022), best known as Ivica Osim, was a Bosnian professional Football player, footballer and Manager (association football), football manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football managers of all ...

reached the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

semi-finals in the 1984–85 season. However, he didn't play the semi-final match against Videoton because in December 1984 he moved to Greece where he stayed for four seasons. In the 1984–85 season, he played for galeo making 19 appearances scoring 3 goals. During the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons, Nikić played for

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki (), is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki. Nicknamed ''God of War'', Aris was one of the strongest Greek clubs during t ...

, scoring 12 goals in 53 league matches. At the end of the 1986–87 season, he moved to Aris' fierce rival

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

, but made only 9 appearances matches in the 1987–88 season, failing to score a goal. Nikić returned to Željezničar in 1988, staying until the middle of the 1990–91 season when he signed with Čelik Zenica. He stayed at Čelik until 1992 when he moved to Borac Banja Luka. Nikić ended his playing career after leaving Borac in 1993.

Managerial career

After ending his career as a professional player, Nikić became a

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 was the manager of

Kolubara The Kolubara ( sr-cyr, Колубара, ) is a long river in western Serbia; it is an eastern, right tributary to the Sava river. Due to the many long tributaries creating a branchy system within the river's drainage basin, the short Kolubara ...

Žepče Žepče ( sr-cyrl, Жепче) is a town and municipality located in Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, between Doboj and Zenica. ...

, Thermaikos, TOŠK Tešanj and Borac Šamac and Bratstvo Gračanica. His biggest success was when he led Modriča to promotion to the

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 ...

season after winning the 2002–03 First League of RS. Nikić was also the head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 national team and the Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 team national team. For a brief period, he was also head coach of the Republika Srpska official team (league selection) in September 2013.

Outside of football

While still actively playing football, he had a small acting role in the 1991 movie Holiday in Sarajevo. He is well-known in Bosnia & Herzegovina for his funny anecdotes in interviews. His official biography was published in 2024 by a Bosnian journalist.

Personal life

Nikić's son Branislav was also a professional player in Bosnia & Herzegovina and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

where he also played for Zvijezda Gradačac and Čelik Zenica like his father.

Honours

Manager

Modriča * First League of RS: 2002–03

References

External links

Nikola Nikić
at Sofascore {{DEFAULTSORT:Nikic, Nikola 1956 births Living people People from Modriča Footballers from Doboj Region Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Men's association football wingers Yugoslav men's footballers FK Alfa Modriča players NK Zvijezda Gradačac players FK Željezničar Sarajevo players Egaleo F.C. players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players PAOK FC players NK Čelik Zenica players FK Borac Banja Luka players Yugoslav First League players Super League Greece players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Greece Bosnia and Herzegovina football managers FK Alfa Modriča managers FK Kolubara managers Bosnia and Herzegovina national under-21 football team managers NK TOŠK Tešanj managers NK Bratstvo Gračanica managers