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AZERBAIJAN
THE COACH
The 47-year-old was appointed national coach of
Azerbaijan in December 2014, replacing Berti Vogts
(April 2008-October 2014).
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In December 2010 he became head coach of Red
Star Belgrade.
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2012 and in October that year he took the reins at
struggling Kayserispor in the Turkish Super League.
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start the following season he resigned at the end
of 2013.
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year contract as head coach of Azerbaijan – and
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two years.
He has certainly started well in his second
campaign with the Azeris. His team have not
conceded a goal in their three matches to date
in World Cup 2018 qualifying and are currently
second in the table.
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Windsor Park. He played against Northern Ireland
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a 2-0 victory in September 1990.
The Azerbaijan coach was born in West Germany
to Yugoslav parents, however the family returned to
the independent republic of Croatia in 1979 when
he was aged 10.
After playing in the youth ranks at Dinamo Zagreb,
and in some games for the senior team, he moved
to Red Star Belgrade.
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1987 he was a member of the Yugoslav team
which won the World Youth Championship in Chile,
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is determined to make his mark as an
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and he picked up the Golden Ball award as the
tournament’s best player.
He spent four years with Red Star, winning the
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as winning the 1991 European Cup when Red
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penalties after a scoreless 120 minutes.
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with the Spanish giants before moving on to Real
Oviedo in the summer of ’94.
From there he moved to Barcelona, where he spent
two seasons, followed by a season with Sevilla.
In 1997 he returned home to play for NK Croatia
(Dinamo) Zagreb. In 2000 he moved again, this
time to Standard Liège in Belgium, and in the
summer of 2001 he signed for English First
Division side Portsmouth on a one-year deal and
put in some stunning performances.
He then had further one-year stints at Olimpija
Ljubljana and at NK Zagreb. In spring 2005 he
ended his playing career with lower division club
NK Savski Marof.
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10 goals for his country. He was also previously
capped 15 times - scoring four goals - for
Yugoslavia.
He played for Yugoslavia at the 1990 World Cup
in Italy and (following the break-up of Yugoslavia)
for Croatia at Euro 1996 and in the 1998 and 2002
World Cup tournaments.
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scoring two goals along the way - making him the
only player in history to have scored World Cup
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scored for Yugoslavia in a group match against
United Arab Emirates).
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