Vladimir Petrović

Vladimir Petrovic on the bench

Vladimir Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic - Владимир Петровић, born July 1, 1955 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia ), also called pizon, is a former Yugoslav football player and was from September 2010 to October 2011 coach of the Serbian national team.

Career as a player

In the club

Petrović began his career as a professional footballer in 1972 as a 17 -year-old in his home town club Red Star Belgrade, the dominant club in the Yugoslav league at that time was. In his first season became the midfielder for stem force and also scored his first two goals. At the same time Petrović also debuted in the European Cup and reached with Red Star in the UEFA Cup 3rd round. At the end there was the title. His status as a regular player could Petrović also confirmed in the following two years, however, ran Titellos for Red Star to the Master League Cup in 1973. Highlights there were in the European Cup of Champion and European Cup Winners' Cup, where in 1973/74 Liverpool FC and 1974/75 Real Madrid could be turned off.

In the seasons 1975-1977 Petrović was then little used and generated in two seasons only one goal. In the three seasons before that he had not yet taken a total of 14 times. 1976/77 but he could at least win his second championship title with Red Star. However, the year 1977/1978 brought Petrović again a place in the starting eleven and nine goals, the most successful in this respect round his entire career. Another international exclamation mark put the club then in the next season by reaching the UEFA Cup final, which had to be made ​​, however, with 1:1 and 0:1 against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

The following three seasons should be the last of Petrović in the Red Star jersey, but nevertheless he experienced with his club again a title rich time. 1980 and 1981 it was re- Yugoslavian national champion, in 1982 it also followed the first national Cup victory in Petrovic's career. After ten and a half years in his homeland, the midfielder decided in the winter 1982/83 to step into Western Europe. He had a total of 257 league games for Red Star denied it marked 49 hits and received the nickname pizon. He is still regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the club.

In January 1983, Petrović signed a contract with the English club Arsenal. Although he played for the later tithe of the English Premier League in the second round of 13 games and scored two goals, but in the summer the Serb was released back into the Royal Antwerp FC in Belgium. There he was able to conquer a place in the starting eleven and networked in his first season seven times a. After two years he moved on to Stade Brest in France. There, too, he made the jump right away to achievers and decided in 1986 for a change back to Belgium, where he signed a contract with Standard Liege. For the club, the season was the tenth in the league with little success, but the Serb could stand up here as well.

At the age of 32 years, Petrović decided on a last change of club, which led him to second division club AS Nancy back to France. However, the direct re-emergence could not accomplish Nancy also with Serbian midfielder. In the summer of 1988 Vladimir Petrović finally ended his active career in which he completed a total of 417 league games and had scored 72 league goals.

National

On September 26, 1973 Petrović debuted in the Yugoslav national team in a 1-1 draw against Hungary. But his first goal he scored in 1978 against Romania. With the Yugoslavs he took part in two FIFA World championships: 1974 in Germany, he came to two partial operations in the group stage, he scored in Spain in 1982, although the 1-0 winner against Honduras, but he also could Vorrundenaus for a 1:2 not prevent against the hosts and a 0-0 draw against Northern Ireland. With his move to England in 1983 ended his international career, in October 1982 against Norway (1:3), he made his last international game. In a total of 34 appearances for Yugoslavia, he had marked five hits.

Career as a coach

Just two years after the end of his career as a player was Petrovic 's assistant coach. At his home club Red Star Belgrade, with whom he won the 1991 European Cup champion in this function and thus the biggest success in club history Moreover, fell two league titles and one Yugoslav Cup victory Red star in this time. His first stop as head coach in 1994 /95 second division side FK Bor

In July 1996, Petrović took over as coach at Red Star, but was dismissed in August 1997 for failure. In Europe Cup Winners' Cup, he had 1 FC Kaiserslautern can defeat with 0:1 and 4:0 before. After a long period of unemployment he was hired in January 1999 again from FK Bor, where he remained but only until September.

In July 2002, Petrović became coach of the U- 21 team of the now independent Serbia - Montenegro until 2004 he was hired as coach of the Serbian first division side Vojvodina Novi Sad. After only half a year, but he was released again. In mid-2005 he moved to the Serbs to China to Dalian Shide. With the defending champion in the championship he reached fifth place. In September 2007 he took over the Chinese soccer team. After switching off in the World Cup qualifiers, he was relieved of his duties in 2008. In 2009 he returned to Red Star Belgrade, but was gone again in the very next March. After several months at FC Timişoara station in Romania he coached from 2010 for the second time in his career Serbia national team. Following the departure in the European Championship qualifier in 2011 he lost that job again. On 21 February 2013, the Iraqi Football Association announced that Petrović will take over the national team in the country.