Dragan Talajić (born 25 August 1965) is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who is the head coach of

Bahrain national football team The Bahrain national football team () represents Bahrain in international football and is controlled by the Bahrain Football Association, which was founded in 1951 and joined FIFA in 1966. They have never reached the FIFA World Cup, but have t ...

. Talajić played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and is a football manager who has managed many clubs in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He is the winning coach of the 2004 AFC Champions League with

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad may refer to: Sports Football Men Teams * Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia * Al Ittihad SCSC (Tripoli), Tripoli, Libya * Al Ittihad Gheryan, Gharyan, Libya * Al Ittihad Misurata SC, Misurata, Libya * Al Ittihad SC ...

. For the 2010–11 season Talajić was declared Best Coach of Asia and Best Coach of Arabic football world by Al Jazeera Sport TV, Best Coach of Arabic football world by MBC Sport TV and Best Coach of Jordan by votes of fans and press. In

Football Federation-HNS, Talajić is regarded as the prodigy of one of the most successful Croatian managers in history, Tomislav Ivić.

Club career

Talajić had a spell with Zeytinburnuspor in the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

during the 1994–95 season. Dragan started in

FK Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Sarajevo ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Сарајево; , English language, English: Sarajevo Football Club), is a professional Association football, football Sports club, club based in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosn ...

and was one of the brightest young talents of Yugoslav football. As a junior player for FK Sarajevo, Dragan Talajić broke the record of the great Yugoslav goalkeeper Slobodan Janjuš by having received only one goal in the whole season. During the 1992–93 season Talajić was a part of a historic Slovenian football story having played a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

match against Benfica for Slovenian side Belvedur Izola. His performance in UEFA Cup, despite having conceded 8 goals in the UEFA competition, led to a transfer to Turkish

. He played in Turkey for two seasons. After a short spell with

NK Orijent HNK Orijent is a football club from Sušak, the eastern part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia. The club was established under the name ''Orient'' in 1919. They currently compete in the 1. NL, the second tier of the Croatian football league syst ...

in Croatia's

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...

, from 1997 to the end of his career Talajić played for

Tanjong Pagar United FC Tanjong Pagar United Football Club is a professional football club based in Queenstown, Singapore. The club currently competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singaporean football. Tanjong Pagar United took part in the S.Lea ...

in Singapore's S-League. Talajić left a big mark in Singaporean football since he was twice selected as the player of the year.

Career as manager

Al Ittihad

Talajić won the 2004 AFC Champions League as manager of Saudi club

. He won 0–5 in Korea which is the biggest win in Asian Champions League final in the history of Asian football. It was Al Ittihad first Asian Champions League trophy in their history. It is till this day the biggest score in any

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

final, making Dragan Talajic the only coach in Asian history to win a final with five goals. He left the club within 6 months.

Riffa Club & Al-Nahda

He led Al Riffa from Bahrain to the finals stage of the Gulf Cup in 2005–2006. Talajić led Saudi club Al Nahda to the final of the Prince Faisal Cup 2007/2008 entering in the history of Saudi football as the first team from the second league to play the finals of Prince Faisal Cup.

Shabab Al-Ordon

In the 2009–10 season, Talajić was the coach of Shabab Al-Ordon (Jordan Youth Club) from Amman, Jordan. He led his team to a victory in AFC Cup in Yemen against Al-Ahli Sana'a', drew both home and away against Al-Karmah from Syria, then drew in Oman against Saham and won against Saham in Jordan and qualified to the next round of the AFC Cup, thanks to a win in Jordan against Al-Ahli Sana'a by 6–1.

Al-Wahdat

For the season 2010–2011, Talajić is the head coach of the biggest Jordanian side Al-Wahdat from Amman. His remarkable trophy run began on 6 August 2010 when Talajić won his first trophy of the season with Al-Wahdat winning 2–0 in the finals of the Jordan Shield Cup. On 13 August 2010, Talajić won the Jordan Super Cup against Al-Wahdat's bitter rival Al-Faisaly. The title win was 10th Super Cup trophy that Al-Wahdat has won in the club's history. At the end of the season, 2010-2011 Talajic's Al-Wahdat finished first winning the Jordan League with 17 point difference between them and Al-Faisaly who finished second. Talajić's Al-Wahdat finished end of the season with 16 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Including their fixtures in the AFC Cup, where they are through to the quarter-finals, they have won 32 of their 39 games, drawn six and lost just one. In the process, they have racked up 82 goals and conceded just 23. Talajić made a remarkable run with 46 games without defeat. On 21 May, Talajić won the Jordan League Cup as his fourth trophy of the season becoming the first coach in history to win all 4 trophies in one season.

Kuwait SC

In July 2011, Talajić signed a one-year contract with Kuwait SC club from Kuwait. Talajić was brought to Kuwait SC after his remarkable run with Al Wahdat in the season 2010–2011. Talajić led his club to victory at home against Muangthong United winning by 1–0. In Thailand the score was 0-0 and Kuwait SC qualified to the semi-finals of the AFC Cup. Talajić was dismissed in the 65' minute in Thailand after entering the pitch to protest to the referee for his disgraceful performance after the Thai players injured 4 Kuwaiti players without receiving any cards for their dirty way of playing. Talajić was later suspended by the Asian Football Federation for one game due to his actions. In the semi-finals of AFC Cup Talajić's Kuwait SC played against Iraqi's Arbil FC. Kuwait won in Iraq with the result 2-0 and played in Kuwait 3–3 to qualify to the AFC Cup Finals. Their opponent in the finals was FC Nasaf Qarshi from Uzbekistan. The finals were played at Qarshi Stadium located in

Qarshi Qarshi ( ; ) is a city in southern Uzbekistan. It is the capital of Qashqadaryo Region. Administratively, Qarshi is a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlement Qashqadaryo. It has a population of 278,300 (2021 estimate). It ...

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. FC Nasaf Qarshi had to their advantage the home stadium and fans which led to a hell of an atmosphere for Talajić's team. The game ended with 2-1 for FC Nasaf Qarshi. On 18 December, Dragan Talajić won the Kuwait Federation Cup beating in the finals Kazma with the result 4–3, in the 50th minute the score was 0–3 in favor of Kazma SC, but Talajić brought in two substitutes and changed the course of the game making the Kuwait Federation Cup finals 2011 more than spectacular. On 8 March 12, Dragan parted ways with the club.

Ittihad Kalba

He was the coach of Ittihad Kalba for a very short period of time. During his time with Ittihad Kalba he had to face many big defeats from the giants of

UAE Arabian Gulf League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

. He managed the club for 6 matches, with bad results and Talajic just couldn't find the same language and vision with the club boss, Dragan Talajic left the club with a mutual agreement with the club.

Dhofar

In June 2013, the

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

i club Dhofar appointed him as their coach. Dragan was in charge of Omani giant Dhofar who won

Oman Professional League The Oman Professional League (; known as the ''Omantel Professional League'' for sponsorship reasons), previously known as the Omantel Elite League, is the top division of the Oman Football Association, and was officially created in 1976. Curren ...

record 9 times. He continued the tradition of Dhofar being the biggest club in Sultanate of Oman.

Muangthong United

On 2 July 2014, Muangthong United have announced that they have signed Talajić as their head coach on a 3-year contract. On 30 July Talajić led Muangthong United to a 1–1 draw against

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side UD Almeria of Spain. Talajić led the club to the 2nd place in Thai Premier League, 2nd place in Thai FA Cup and the qualification for the Asian Champions League 2016. On 19 January 2016 the agreement was reached between Coach Dragan and the board to end the contract with the club. Dragan Talajic left the club with 60% wins on a period of two seasons.

Al Faisaly

On 19 September 2017, Talajić took helm of the most successful Jordanian football club, 2 times

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

Champion, 19 times Jordan FA Cup Champion, 16 times Jordan Super Cup Champion, 7 times Jordan FA Shield Champion and 33 times

Jordan League The Jordanian Pro League () is a Jordanian professional league for men's football clubs and represents the top flight of Jordanian football. The championship consists of twelve competing teams in a home and away league system. The league was not ...

Champion Al-Faisaly.

Henan Jianye

On 18 December 2017, Talajić was appointed as the head coach of Henan Jianye of the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

. On 11 March 2018, Talajić led Henan Jianye to a 1–0 victory against a favored side of coach

Uli Stielike Ulrich "Uli" Stielike (born 15 November 1954) is a German former footballer and manager. Usually a central midfielder or sweeper, Stielike was well known for his stamina and footballing intelligence.Radnedge, Keir. (2004). The Complete Encyclop ...

, Tianjin Teda, which is a jubilee 300th victory of Henan Jianye in

history. On 21 April 2018 after seven matches. Dragan Talajic parted company with Henan due to the club not being able to follow his attacking philosophy. He was a part of the coaching elite of Chinese Super League 2018 among coaches as:

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL, AS Roma, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus FC, Juventus. H ...

Bernd Schuster Bernd Schuster (born 22 December 1959) is a German former professional footballer of the late 1970s through early 1990s, who won club titles playing for the Spanish sides Barcelona (1980–1988) and Real Madrid (1988–1990). He played as a midf ...

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed clubs in S ...

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of UAE Pro League club Shabab Al Ahli. Starting his career ...

, Dragan Stojkovic, Vitor Pereira and

Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Cannavaro (; born 13 September 1973) is an Italian professional association football, football coach and former player who last was the head coach of Croatian club GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb. He is regarded as one of the greatest De ...

Al-Khaldiya

On 10 December 2021, Talajić was appointed as the head coach of Al-Khaldiya of the

Bahraini Premier League The Bahraini Premier League is the main domestic football competition in the kingdom of Bahrain. Currently known as the Nasser bin Hamad Premier League, the first season was held in 1956-1957. The winners of the domestic championship qualify f ...

. Al Khaldiya is a football club established in Bahrain by the Bahrain Royal Family in 2020. It is the newest Bahrain club but the most ambitious and financially the strongest Bahrain football team. With huge ambitions of the football club, Talajić was appointed as the head coach and more than nine Bahrain National Team players were brought to the club. Talajić started on the best way, beating Al Muharraq the 35 times Bahrain Football Champion and two times AFC Asian Cup Champions in Bahrain Federation Cup. On 10 February 2022, Talajić took Al Khaldiya's side to the King of Bahrain Cup 2022 Final for the first time in the club's history. On 5 March 2022, he achieved the Bahraini King's Cup for the first time ever, by winning against East Riffa on penalties.

Bahrain national team

In 2022, Talajić was appointed as the Bahraini national team technical director. In February 2024, he became the head coach of the national team, and secured his first title in the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup.

Managerial statistic

A win or loss by the penalty shoot-out is counted as the draw in time.

Achievements as manager

Honors

* Al Ittihad :*

Winner:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

* Bahrain Riffa :*

GCC Champions League The AGCFF Gulf Club Champions League (), formerly known as the GCC Champions League, is a regional association football, football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF) for clubs from its Arab Gulf Cup Football Feder ...

2005–06: Runner Up * Al Nahda :*

Saudi Federation cup The Prince Faisal bin Fahd Cup, formerly known as the Saudi Federation Cup, was an association football competition organized by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. History The competition was founded in the 1975–76 season, with Al-Nassr a ...

''(Prince Faisal Bin Fahad Cup)'' ''Official'' 2007/2008 : Runner Up * Al-Wahdat :* Jordan FA Shield Winner:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

:* Jordan Super Cup Winner:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Winner:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

:* Jordan FA Cup Winner:

* Al Kuwait :* Kuwait Federation Cup Winner: 2011–12 :*

Runner up:

* Muangthong United :*

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

2015: Runner-up :*

Thai FA Cup The Thai FA Cup (), known officially as The Football Association of Thailand Cup, is a football cup competition in Thailand. Thai FA Cup is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic football. It was held between 1974 a ...

2015: Runner-up * Al Khaldiya :* Bahraini King's Cup 2022: Winner *

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

Arabian Gulf Cup The Arabian Gulf Cup (, ''Kaʾs al-Khalīj al-ʿArabī''), also referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial association football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member nations. The history of ...

Winner: 2024–25

Declarations

* Best Coach of Asia 2010–11 (Al Jazeera Sport TV) * Best Coach of Arabic football world 2010–11 (Al Jazeera Sport TV & MBC Sport TV) * Best Coach of Jordan 2010–11 (Votes of people and Press) * Best Manager of the Month 2015

Thai League T1 The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai ...

Performances

: 2 (with 3 clubs) :*Round of 16

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Shabab Al Ordon Take-over of Al-Wahdat :*Round of 16

Al-Wahdat Take-over of Al Kuwait

References

External links