Simo Krunić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...

: Симо Крунић; born 13 January 1967) is a Bosnian-Serbian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

and former

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 ...

. He is currently the manager of

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English language, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK ...

Playing career

In the late 1980s, Krunić played for the two biggest clubs in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

and Željezničar, while the teams competed 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) ...

. In between the two clubs, he also played for Famos Hrasnica. He subsequently moved to

due to the outbreak of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, spending two seasons with the ''Romantičari'' (1992–1994). During his footballing career, Krunić also played professionally in Spain, South Korea (he won the 1996 Korean FA Cup with

Pohang Steelers The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional Association football, football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of Football in South Korea, South Ko ...

) and Greece.

Managerial career

Together with Risto Vidaković, Krunić served as assistant to Spaniard

Javier Clemente Javier Clemente Lázaro (; born 12 March 1950) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Forced to retire from playing in his early 20s through injury, he embarked on a coaching career with his first managerial ...

at the helm of the Serbia national team during the

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...

. He was later manager of BASK, Željezničar,

, Čukarički,

Inđija Inđija (, ) is a town and a municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the town has total population of 24,450, while the municipality has 43,433 inhabitants. It is located in the geogr ...

Jagodina Jagodina ( sr-cyrl, Јагодина, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Pomoravlje District in central Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Belica (river), Belica River, in the geographical region of � ...

(on two occasions), Dalian Yifang and Radnik Surdulica. In May 2013, he won the 2012–13 Serbian Cup with Jagodina. In May 2018, Krunić for a second time in his career took over the managerial job of Čukarički. Krunić had success with Čukarički, getting the club to 4th place in the 2018–19 Serbian SuperLiga and also qualifying it to the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. He decided to leave Čukarički on 25 May 2019. On 11 February 2019, it was announced that Krunić became a new member of the Serbia national team coaching staff and was appointed as a coach. He left the national team later that day. On 25 June 2019, he became the new manager of Radnički Niš, succeeding Nenad Lalatović on the position. He was sacked in August 2019, but shortly after in October, returned to manage Radnik Surdulica.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Pohang Stellers *

Korean FA Cup The Korea Cup (), formerly the Korean FA Cup, is a national Association football, football cup knockout competition of South Korea, held annually by the Korea Football Association (KFA). Before the competition was established in 1996, two simil ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Manager

Jagodina *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

: 2012–13 OFK Beograd *

Serbian League Belgrade Serbian League Belgrade ( Serbian: Српска лига Београд / Srpska liga Beograd) is one of four sections of the Serbian League, the third tier of professional football in Serbia. The other three sections are Serbian League East, Se ...

: 2022–23 *

Serbian First League The Serbian First League (), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier in professional Serbia's football league. The league was formed in 2005, following a reshuffle of the second tier Serbo-Montenegr ...

: 2023-24

References

External links