Srečko Katanec

Footballer

Birthday July 16, 1963

Birth Sign Cancer

Birthplace Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia

Age 60 years old

Nationality Slovenia

Height 1.90 m

#48670 Most Popular

1963

Srečko Katanec (born 16 July 1963) is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Uzbekistan national team.

At international level, he was capped for both the Yugoslavia and Slovenia national teams.

1981

In 1981, he joined Olimpija; in 1985, he joined Dinamo Zagreb; while the next year, he signed with Partizan and was a Yugoslav champion in 1987.

1984

A former midfielder, who was also capable of playing as a defender, Katanec is regarded as one of the greatest Slovenian footballers of all time, having represented Yugoslavia at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, UEFA Euro 1984 and the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

After Slovenian independence, Katanec made five appearances for the newly formed Slovenia national team before retiring from professional football.

Katanec was a member of the Yugoslavia national team for the 1984 European Championship in France, but he has fonder memories of 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where Yugoslavia team won a bronze medal.

1988

During his club career, Katanec won a Yugoslav League championship with FK Partizan and was a runner-up of the 1988–89 UEFA Cup with VfB Stuttgart.

In 1988, Katanec joined VfB Stuttgart in the German Bundesliga.

1989

The club reached the 1989 UEFA Cup Final, but lost to Diego Maradona's Napoli.

Katanec played just one season for Stuttgart.

In 1989, he signed for Italian Serie A side Sampdoria, where he won the European Cup Winners' Cup in his first season.

1990

He was playing successfully in the qualifying round for 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy so he became the third Slovenian to play at a World Cup, where he appeared in three of Yugoslavia's five matches.

These would be his last three caps for Yugoslavia.

Altogether, he appeared in 31 matches and scored 5 goals.

Katanec played five more matches (and scored a goal) for the independent Slovenia national team, but appeared in only one official match.

1991

In 1991, Sampdoria won the Scudetto as Serie A champions, while the next year, the club reached the 1992 European Cup Final, losing to Barcelona.

1992

In his five-year spell with Sampdoria, he won the Serie A championship, the Coppa Italia and the European Cup Winners' Cup, as well as finishing as a runner-up in the 1992 European Cup Final, losing to Barcelona.

1994

In 1994, he also won the Coppa Italia with Sampdoria under manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.

That was a qualifying round for the 1996 European Championship, on 7 September 1994 in Maribor against Italy.

Soon after, his contract with Sampdoria expired and he retired from professional football.

1996

Between 1996 and 1997, Katanec was an assistant manager of Drago Kostanjšek at the Slovenia under-21 team.

1997

In December 1997, he became a head coach of Gorica, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract.

1998

In July 1998, he was announced as the Slovenian national team manager.

2000

As manager of Slovenia, Katanec led the country to its first major tournament in history after qualifying for the 2000 European Championship and the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Katanec began playing football at the age of seven with NK Ljubljana.

With Slovenia, he qualified for the 2000 UEFA European Championship after eliminating Ukraine in the qualifying play-offs, which was the country's first-ever appearance at the major tournament.

At the tournament, Slovenia earned draws against FR Yugoslavia and Norway, and lost to Spain.

2002

Slovenia also managed to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where they lost all three matches against Spain, South Africa and Paraguay.

After the first game, Katanec had a huge argument with the team's star player Zlatko Zahovič, who was sent home.

He resigned immediately after the World Cup.

On 2 November 2002, he became the new manager of Olympiacos.

2003

Under Katanec's command, Olympiacos played worse than expected, and on 7 February 2003 the club terminated his contract with immediate effect due to poor performances and a bad atmosphere in the team.

2004

In 2004, Katanec was a candidate to become the national team manager of Croatia; however, Zlatko Kranjčar was chosen instead of him.

2006

On 17 February 2006, Katanec was appointed as Macedonia's head coach for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers.

2009

Following a mixed set of results in the qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, including a 1–0 win against Scotland and a 4–0 loss to the Netherlands, Katanec resigned from the position on 6 April 2009.

On 23 June 2009, he was presented as a new head coach of the United Arab Emirates national team.

2011

He was sacked on 6 September 2011 after two successive defeats in the third round of qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

2012

On 31 December 2012, he accepted the offer from the Football Association of Slovenia to become the manager of Slovenia for the second time, and was officially appointed on 4 January 2013.

2017

He resigned in October 2017 after failing to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

2018

On 4 September 2018, Katanec was appointed as head coach of the Iraq on a three-year contract.