Ante Šimundža

Ante Šimundža (born 28 September 1971) is a Slovenian football manager and former professional footballer. He is currently the manager of Slovenian Prva Liga club Mura.

Ante Šimundža
Personal information
Full name Ante Šimundža
Date of birth (1971-09-28) 28 September 1971
Place of birth Maribor, SR Slovenia,
SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Mura (manager)
Youth career
Železničar Maribor[2]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1996 Maribor 170 (64)
1997 Brummell Sendai 22 (11)
1997 Maribor 2 (0)
1998 Young Boys 7 (0)
1998 Malmö FF 3 (0)
1999–2000 Maribor 56 (14)
2001 La Louvière 12 (5)
2001–2002 Železnik 14 (11)
2002 Aluminij 15 (11)
2002–2003 Šmartno ob Paki 28 (9)
2005–2007 SV Wildon 56 (17)
2008–2009 SV Straß 23 (10)
National team
1992 Slovenia U21 1 (0)
1993–1999 Slovenia 3 (0)
Teams managed
2008–2011 Maribor (assistant)
2011–2012 Mura 05
2012 GAK
2013 Mura 05
2013 Aluminij
2013–2015 Maribor
2017– Mura
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Šimundža started his career at his hometown club Železničar Maribor when he was ten years old, and moved to NK Maribor after the independence of Slovenia in 1991.[3][4] He stayed there for six seasons, scoring 64 league goals in 170 appearances.[5] He played for a number of different foreign clubs between 1997 and 1998, however, plagued by constant ankle injuries he soon returned to Maribor.[4] There he was an important part of Maribor's qualification to the UEFA Champions League during the 1999–2000 season.[4] He was the scorer of the winning goal in the first round of the group stage when Maribor defeated Dynamo Kyiv 1–0, which is to date the only victory of any Slovenian club in this phase of the competition.[6] In 2001, he again moved abroad and played for La Louvière, before returning to his native country and finishing his professional career with Aluminij and Šmartno ob Paki.[5] Šimundža has made a total of 256 Slovenian PrvaLiga appearances, scoring 87 goals in the process.[5] Considered a Maribor club legend, he is tied with Gregor Židan as a player with the most appearances for the club during the 1990s.[7]

International career

Šimundža has been capped three times for the Slovenia national football team between 1993 and 1999.[8]

Managerial career

Šimundža began his coaching career at his hometown club Železničar Maribor, where he was coaching youth selections.[9] He started his senior coaching career in 2007, when he was appointed as an assistant coach of Pavel Pinni at Celje.[9] In 2008, he became an assistant of Darko Milanič at Maribor.[10] He was part of Maribor's sports department until 2011 when he was selected as a head coach of Mura 05.[11] His season with Mura 05 was impressive and he turned the team around, changing it from a relegation contender to the eventual UEFA competitions qualifier, as the club finished third during the 2011–12 Slovenian PrvaLiga season.[4] By the end of his first season as head coach, he was nominated for the best coach in the league.[12] He then accepted an offer from Austrian side GAK, signing with the club in June 2012.[13] However, the club went bankrupt a few months later and Šimundža returned to Mura 05 in early 2013.[14] After the 2012–13 season, Mura 05 also went bankrupt, and Šimundža took over the Slovenian Second League side Aluminij in June 2013.[14]

In September 2013, Šimundža has been appointed as the new manager of Slovenian champions Maribor.[15] With Maribor, he won two national titles (2013–14 and 2014–15), and also qualified for the group stages of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League.[16] He resigned in August 2015 after losing 3–0 at home against Maribor's biggest rivals, Olimpija Ljubljana.[17]

In June 2017, Šimundža once again took charge at Mura.[18] With the club, he won the 2019–20 edition of the Slovenian Football Cup, clinching their first major trophy in 25 years.[19]

Personal life

Šimundža was born in Maribor, present day Slovenia, as the youngest of two children, with his sister being six years older than him.[4] His father was a Croat from Split and his mother a Slovene from Kidričevo.[4][16] He is married and has two sons named Luka and Jure, who got their names after their grandfathers.[4][16]

References
  1. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Ante Šimundža". national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  2. Nejedly, Gorazd (17 August 2015). "Ante Šimundža je začutil, da ne gre več naprej". Delo (in Slovenian). Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  3. "Legenda Maribora – Ante Šimundža". Slovenski nogometni portal (in Slovenian). 21 March 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  4. Pocak, Tamara (28 May 2012). "Žena se zaman trudi, da bi me spravila na plesišče". Ekipa (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  5. "Ante Šimundža – club career" (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  6. Viškovič, Rok (15 September 2011). "Šimundža: Verjamem, da se bo ponovil Kijev" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  7. "Veličastnih 50" (in Slovenian). NK Maribor. 13 December 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  8. "Ante Šimundža – national team career" (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  9. Okorn, Jože (1 October 2013). "Po Anteju (Čačiću) znova Ante (Šimundža)". Dnevnik. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  10. J. P. (30 September 2013). "Po Anteju Ante – Šimundža novi trener Maribora". Delo (in Slovenian). Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  11. S. J. (24 August 2011). "Šimundža na klopi Mure nasledil Pevnika" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija.
  12. D. O. (9 May 2012). "Za igralca leta se poteguje kar 11 nogometašev Maribora". Delo (in Slovenian).
  13. M. R. (24 June 2012). "Mura išče novega trenerja: Šimundža skočil čez mejo" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  14. R. Š. (11 June 2013). "Ante Šimundža prevzel Aluminij". Slovenski nogometni portal (in Slovenian). Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  15. "Šimundža novi trener prvakov iz Maribora". Dnevnik (in Slovenian). 30 September 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  16. Plestenjak, Rok (5 August 2017). "Edina vijolica, ki je prezimila v Evropi" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  17. "Šimundža nič več trener Maribora" (in Slovenian). Slovenian Press Agency. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  18. GR.G. (18 June 2017). "Ante Šimundža novi trener Mure". Večer (in Slovenian). Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  19. Viškovič, Rok (25 June 2020). "Mariborčan, na katerega je Murska Sobota čakala četrt stoletja" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
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