Nenad Bjelica
Nenad Bjelica as coach of the Wolf Berger AC ( April 2012)
Nenad Bjelica ( born August 20, 1971 in Osijek ) is a Croatian football coach and former player at the position of midfielder. From June 17 2013 to February 16, 2014 he was the coach of FK Austria Wien. Before that, he spent 3 years as coach of the WAC / St. Andrae worked, with which he has ascended to the Austrian Bundesliga.
Career
Playing career
He began his career at his hometown club NK Osijek. From 1990 to 1992 he played in the first team of Osijek. His first venture abroad went to Spain, where he played from 1993 to 1996 in Albacete Balompié and from 1996 to 1997, Betis Sevilla. After the seasons on the Iberian Peninsula, he went to the year 1997/1998 to the Canary Islands to UD Las Palmas, where he remained until the summer of 1999. In the season 1999/2000 he played again at NK Osijek in his Croatian homeland. There he was elected to the Croatian Footballer of the Year 2000. Only a year later, he moved to Germany for 1 FC Kaiserslautern, with whom he was in the 2001 UEFA Cup semi-finals. The two-footed midfielder in 2004 moved to VfB Admira Wacker Mödling, however, where only was a disappointing last place in the table reaches the end of the 2005/06 season and Mödling had to join the in the second division. Therefore Bjelica moved in summer 2006 to Klagenfurt for FC Kärnten, where the first home game, he scored three goals. On September 15, 2007, the captain of the Carinthian took over from his previous trainer Richard Huber and was until the end of season 2007/2008 player-coach at the club.
Coaching career
His coaching career began Bjelica as player-coach in the 2007/2008 season at FC Kärnten. With the descent into third-rate Regional retired as a player and he was up to the attitude of gaming operations of the financially troubled club in the spring of 2009, only coach. Then Bjelica coached the team of FC Lustenau.
In summer 2010 Bjelica changed again back to Carinthia and took over the Wolf Berger AC in the regional center. With the Carinthian he managed to climb up in the Austrian Bundesliga. In the season 2012/13 he missed with his team in 5th place just barely qualifying for the Europa League.
On June 17, 2013 Bjelica was presented as new coach of Austria Vienna. On the basis of an oral agreement with President Dietmar Riegler of the Wolf Berger AC he could go for a transfer fee of € 350,000 after favorites. Nenad Bjelica led the Austria in the fall of 2013 for the first time in club history in the Champions League. In the championship, the reigning champions, however, and was disappointed after only 23 laps on the fifth. After a home draw against SC Wiener Neustadt, he was on leave as head coach of Austria on 16 February 2014 and replaced by the trainer of amateurs Herbert Gager.
National
Bjelica played nine times in the Croatian national team. The midfielder was in 2004 at the European Championships in Portugal in the squad of the Croats and came to two inserts. Again and again, the two-footed player has been called up by the Croatian ex-team boss Zlatko Kranjcar in the advanced team squad.