Nenad Gračan

Nenad Gračan (born 23 January 1962) is a Croatian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the coach of the Croatia women's national football team.

Club career Born in Rijeka, SFR Yugoslavia, Gračan started playing professionally for hometown's NK Orijent and, soon thereafter, HNK Rijeka, amassing nearly 150 official appearances. He then moved to another club in his native Croatia, HNK Hajduk Split. During his first match at Hajduk Gračan was injured while playing against his former club by Mladen Mladenović who nearly broke Gračan's leg. Because of this injury he appeared intermittently for Hajduk over the course of four full seasons.

Late into 1989, Gračan signed with La Liga club Real Oviedo. Joined by compatriots Janko Janković and Nikola Jerkan in his second season, he helped the Asturians finish sixth and qualify for the UEFA Cup by contributing with 26 matches, and eventually appeared in more than 100 games overall.

Aged almost 31, Gračan left Oviedo and returned to his country, now independent. After two years of inactivity he played a handful of games with first professional club Rijeka, but retired shortly after. In the following decade, he took up coaching, starting with his last team as a player, but he rarely settled.

International career Gračan made his debut for Yugoslavia in a March 1984 friendly match against Hungary and earned a total of 10 caps, scoring 2 goals. He never attended any major international tournament. In 1984, the then 21-year-old helped the Olympic squad win the bronze medal in Los Angeles, featuring in all games but one and scoring in the quarterfinals against West Germany (5–2). His final international was a May 1986 friendly away against Belgium.

International appearances

International goals

Managerial career In June 2001, he was named manager of Hajduk Split. Gračan was dismissed as manager of Pula in May 2007 and he took charge of Rijeka for a third time in November 2009.

Personal life Gračan married former miss Croatia Daniela Mihalic in 1999. The couple have three daughters.

Career statistics As a player

Managerial statistics

Club

National team TeamFromToRecordCroatia U2125 October 2013 Dates of first and last games under Gračan; not dates of official appointments

Honours Player Hajduk Split Yugoslav Cup: 1987

Yugoslavia Summer Olympics bronze medal: 1984

Individual SN Yellow Shirt award: 1985–86 NK Rijeka all time XI by Novi list