Nikola Jurčević

Nikola Jurčević (born 14 September 1966) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player.

Playing career Jurčević made his debut for Croatia in a December 1990 friendly match against Romania, coming on as a 66th-minute substitute for Ivan Cvjetković, and earned a total of 19 caps (2 unofficial), scoring 2 goals. Since Croatia was still officially part of Yugoslavia at the time, his first two games were unofficial. His final international was a December 1996 friendly against Morocco.

Managerial career Jurčević started as a manager of NK Zagreb in 2002, but a year later he became the manager for Dinamo Zagreb. He celebrated the Prva HNL and Croatian Cup in 2004. Later, he managed NK Slaven Belupo. He also worked as an assistant manager for the Croatia national team, assisting his former international teammates Slaven Bilić and Aljoša Asanović.

On 18 September 2015, he was appointed as the assistant manager to Bilić at West Ham United. He left the club along with Bilić's other coaching staff when the manager was sacked on 6 November 2017. On 12 March 2018, he was named the manager of Croatian First Football League club Dinamo Zagreb, but he was sacked by club on 15 May 2018, after poor performance in the club.

On 11 February 2019, he was named the new head coach for the Azerbaijan national team. On 13 December 2019, he was sacked as manager of the Azerbaijan national team due to the team's poor performance in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, despite managing a respectable 1–1 draw to his home country Croatia at home.

On 2 October 2023, Jurčević was appointed head coach of the Lebanon national team ahead of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification. However, just two months into the role, Jurčević left the Lebanon national team just a month before the tournament began, by “mutual consent”.

Career statistics International

Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jurčević goal.

Managerial

Honours Player NK Zagreb Yugoslav Third League (West): 1989–90 Yugoslav Second League: 1990–91

Austria Salzburg Austrian Bundesliga: 1993–94, 1994–95 UEFA Cup Runner-up: 1993–94

Individual Austrian Bundesliga top scorer: 1993–94

Manager Dinamo Zagreb Croatian Super Cup: 2003 Croatian Cup: 2004