Slobodan Komljenović (, born 2 January 1971) is a

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 ...

n football manager and 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 as either a central or right defender. He played several years in Germany in representation of five teams, namely

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

, also representing

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

in Spain for two and a half seasons. At international level, Komljenović appeared for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

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. He earned a total of 22 caps, scoring 3 goals.

Club career

Born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, Komljenović joined hometown side

in 1990, from amateurs

SG 01 Hoechst The SG 01 Hoechst is a Football in Germany, German Association football, association football club from the Höchst (Frankfurt am Main), Höchst district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse. The club's greatest success has been to qualify for the German ...

. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut on 21 November 1992, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 away draw against

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

, and finished his debut season with 18 first-team appearances, being a very important defensive unit in the following years, and suffering top flight relegation in 1996. Komljenović returned to the top division with

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

, only missing three games with the ''Zebras'' in his two seasons combined, and helping them to two consecutive eighth-place finishes. In 1999, he moved to

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

, helping the club qualify to 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 ...

in his first season, but being sparingly used in his second, where he played seven times in the team's quarterfinal run in European competition. Aged 30, Komljenović signed for

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

, appearing 15 times in his first season, which ended in relegation. In January 2004, after having contributed to the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese return to the top division but spending the following months without any official appearances, he returned to Germany and joined SV Wacker Burghausen in the second division. After two seasons in the same category with

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...

, Komljenović retired from football at the age of 35, amassing German top flight totals of 210 games and ten goals. In January 2007, after taking a six-month break, he signed for Union Weißkirchen in Austria (third level) and, in June of the following year, he joined another semi-professional side, VfR Jettingen from

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, competing in Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord, the eight-tier of

German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for Football in Germany, association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 Season (sports), season consisted of 2,235 Sports_leagu ...

. During the 2009–10 season, Komljenović returned to the land of his ancestors and became the

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

Bosnia 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 ...

n club

FK Laktaši Fudbalski klub Laktaši (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Лакташи) is a professional association football club based in the city of Laktaši, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It competes in the First League of the Repu ...

. At the time of his arrival to the post, the club was dead last in the league standings, and finally suffered top flight relegation as second from last.

International career

Komljenović 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 23 December 1994, in a 0–2 friendly defeat with

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Even though he played no part in 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 ...

qualifying campaign, he was selected by manager

Slobodan Santrač Slobodan Santrač (, ; 1 July 1946 – 13 February 2016) was a Serbian football manager and player. He is the all-time top scorer of the Yugoslav First League with a total of 218 goals, as well as the top scorer in the history of OFK Beograd. A ...

for the finals in France, where he would score twice in only three games, against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the group stage (1–0) and against

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

(1–2 loss). Komljenović also appeared at the

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 ...

in Belgium and the Netherlands, making three appearances (270 minutes) and netting – and being booked – in the 3–4 group stage loss against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He played his final international at the tournament.

Personal life

Komljenović married Ivana Stepanović, daughter of his former Eintracht Frankfurt manager Dragoslav Stepanović. The couple have two children.

Career statistics

Honours

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: runner-up 1997–98

References

External links

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Slobodan Komljenović
at FuPa
Slobodan Komljenović
at ÖFB {{DEFAULTSORT:Komljenovic, Slobodan 1971 births Living people Footballers from Frankfurt German people of Serbian descent Men's association football defenders West German men's footballers German 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 Serbian men's footballers SG 01 Hoechst players Eintracht Frankfurt II players Eintracht Frankfurt players MSV Duisburg players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Real Zaragoza players SV Wacker Burghausen players TSV 1860 Munich players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players La Liga players Austrian Landesliga players German expatriate men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain German expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Spain Serbian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Serbian expatriate sportspeople in Austria