Nenad Bjelica

Nenad Bjelica (Montenegrin: Ненад Бјелица, pronounced [něnaːd bjělitsa]; born 20 August 1971) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Prva HNL club Osijek.

Nenad Bjelica
Bjelica with Lech Poznań in 2017
Personal information
Full name Nenad Bjelica
Date of birth (1971-08-20) 20 August 1971
Place of birth Osijek, SR Croatia,
SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Osijek (manager)
Youth career
1989–1990 Metalac Olt
1990–1991 Osijek
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1993 Osijek 28 (7)
1993–1996 Albacete 79 (19)
1996–1998 Real Betis 30 (2)
1998–1999 Las Palmas 24 (3)
1999–2001 Osijek 30 (16)
2001–2004 1. FC Kaiserslautern 65 (5)
2004–2006 Admira Wacker Mödling 5 (12)
2006–2008 Kärnten 58 (17)
Total 366 (81)
National team
1993 Croatia U21 1 (0)
2001 Croatia B 1 (0)
2001–2004 Croatia 9 (0)
Teams managed
2007–2008 Kärnten (caretaker)
2008–2009 Kärnten
2009–2010 Lustenau 07
2010–2013 WAC St. Andrä
2013–2014 Austria Wien
2014–2015 Spezia
2016–2018 Lech Poznań
2018–2020 Dinamo Zagreb
2020– Osijek
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Born in Osijek, Bjelica started playing for a small club, Metalac Olt, in the 1989–90 season. He quickly moved to NK Osijek and spent almost four seasons there, before moving abroad to Spain.

Bjelica played for Albacete Balompié for four years, during which the team reached the Copa del Rey semi-final in the 1994–95 season. In 1996 he moved to Real Betis and was in the team that was the runner-up in the 1996–97 campaign. The next season, Bjelica spent at UD Las Palmas, but returned to Real Betis a year later. Due to injuries, he played very few games in this period, and would again spend a season at Las Palmas until the end of 1999.

Bjelica then returned home to Osijek for two seasons and recovered his form, playing with the team in three stages of the UEFA Cup. He then moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 2000, where he spent four seasons until semi-retiring top-tier football in 2004. During the 2004–05 season, Bjelica played for VfB Admira Wacker Mödling. After that, he played for the Austrian club FC Kärnten in the Austrian Second League before retiring on 30 June 2008.

International career

Bjelica represented Croatia nine times from 2001 until 2004.[1] He was part of the UEFA Euro 2004 squad, but retired from the team in that year, at the same time the manager Otto Barić was replaced.

Managerial career
Bjelica with Austria Wien in October 2013

Bjelica began his coaching career on 15 September 2007 at FC Kärnten,[2] as player-caretaker manager. On 1 July 2008, he signed a full managing contract, just a day after ending his playing career.

Bjelica was the head coach of Lustenau 07 from March to December 2009,[3] as well as WAC St. Andrä from May 2010 to June 2013.[3] Bjelica moved to Austria Wien on 17 June 2013 as their new head coach,[4] and qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League group stage, defeating the Croatian champion Dinamo Zagreb in the last round of qualification, with the club.[5] Bjelica was sacked on 16 February 2014.[6] As Austria Wien failed to qualify for the UEFA Europa League nonetheless at the end of the season, his contract expired.

In June 2014, he was hired by Serie B side Spezia.[7] On 30 August 2016, he was appointed new head coach at Polish side Lech Poznań.[8] On 10 May 2018, he was released from his contract at Lech.[9]

On 15 May 2018, Bjelica signed a two-year contract with the Croatian champion Dinamo Zagreb, being appointed as their head coach.[10] Four days later, he celebrated winning the league title, while on 23 May, he won the Croatian Cup. On 8 November, beating Spartak Trnava, Dinamo managed to qualify for the 2018–19 Europa League knockout phase.[11] On 18 September 2019, Bjelica led Dinamo in the club's inaugural match in the UEFA Champions League campaign after two seasons, with a 4–0 home win against Atalanta.[12] On 16 April 2020, following the sacking of the entire coaching staff by the club, it was announced that Dinamo terminated the contract with Bjelica.[13]

In September 2020, after failing to win three opening games of their season, Croatian club Osijek sacked their head coach Ivica Kulešević and appointed Bjelica instead.[14]

Personal life

Bjelica is of paternal Montenegrin and maternal Croatian descent.[15] In 1997, he married his wife Senka. The couple have two sons: Luka and Luan.[16]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 6 February 2021
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref.
PWDLWin %
Kärnten 15 September 2007[2] 29 January 2009[2] 49 17 12 20 034.69 [17]
[18]
Lustenau 07 19 March 2009[19] 11 December 2009[19] 32 12 8 12 037.50 [20]
[21]
WAC St. Andrä 10 May 2010[22] 17 June 2013[4] 124 55 30 39 044.35 [23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
Austria Wien 17 June 2013[4] 16 February 2014[6] 35 12 10 13 034.29 [27]
Spezia 22 June 2014[7] 21 November 2015 61 25 18 18 040.98
Lech Poznań 30 August 2016[8] 10 May 2018[9] 78 41 22 15 052.56 [28]
[29]
Dinamo Zagreb 15 May 2018 16 April 2020 99 71 15 13 071.72
Osijek 5 September 2020 present 20 16 2 2 080.00
Total 498 249 117 132 050.00 —

Honours

Manager

WAC St. Andrä

Dinamo Zagreb

Individual

References
  1. Mamrud, Roberto (16 July 2009). "Croatia – Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  2. "FC Kärnten » Trainerhistorie". Worldfootball. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  3. "Nenad Bjelica". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  4. "Bjelica neuer Austria-Coach". Österreich (in German). 17 June 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  5. "Kienast the hero as Austria Wien pip Dinamo". UEFA.com. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  6. "Austria trennt sich von Bjelica". kicker (in German). 16 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  7. "Nenad Bjelica wechselt nach Italien" (in German). ligaportal.at. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  8. "Bjelica nowym trenerem Lecha" (in Polish). Lech Poznań. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  9. "Bjelica odchodzi z Lecha" (in Polish). Lech Poznań. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  10. "Dinamo potvrdio: Nenad Bjelica novi trener Modrih!". gol.dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). gol.dnevnik.hr. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  11. "USPJELI SU KADA NITKO NIJE VJEROVAO U NJIH: Kako je Bjelica stvorio pobjednički Dinamo i začepio usta svim kritičarima". net.hr (in Croatian). 8 November 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  12. "Dinamo na krilima Oršića srušio Atalantu". sport.hrt.hr (in Croatian). 18 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  13. "Priopćenje GNK Dinamo". gnkdinamo.hr (in Croatian). GNK Dinamo Zagreb. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  14. "NENAD BJELICA NOVI TRENER OSIJEKA!". nk-osijek.hr. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  15. Nikolić, Nikola (6 October 2013). "Bjelica: Sramota me je što nisam bio u Crnoj Gori". Vijesti.me (in Montenegrin). Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  16. Belošević, Nikolina (8 March 2019). "Ljubav koja traje skoro četvrt stoljeća: Evo tko je jedina žena u životu Nenada Bjelice". tportal.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  17. "FC Kärnten » Dates & results 2007/2008". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  18. "FC Kärnten » Dates & results 2008/2009". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  19. "FC Lustenau » Trainerhistorie". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  20. "FC Lustenau » Dates & results 2008/2009". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  21. "FC Lustenau » Dates & results 2009/2010". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  22. "Wolfsberger AC » Trainerhistorie". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  23. "Wolfsberger AC » Dates & results 2009/2010". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  24. "Wolfsberger AC » Dates & results 2010/2011". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  25. "Wolfsberger AC » Dates & results 2011/2012". Worldfootball. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  26. "Wolfsberger AC" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  27. "Austria Wien" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  28. "Sezon 2016/17". 90minut.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  29. "Sezon 2017/18". 90minut.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 31 July 2017.
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