Ivan Leko (born 7 February 1978) is a Croatian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game be ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who is the manager of

Croatian Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva ...

club

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979 ...

Club career

Leko started his career with his hometown club

and played there for several seasons before moving to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

to join

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. They won the UEFA Intert ...

. In his early senior years, he was loaned to HNK Trogir. In January 2005, Leko returned for a brief stint with Hajduk; in the summer he joined

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. On 15 January 2009, he decided to sign a contract for K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot. After his spell at the Antwerp side, he went on with his career at

K.S.C. Lokeren Koninklijke Sporting Club Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen (; often simply called Sporting Lokeren or Lokeren) was a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Lokeren, in the province of East Flanders. The club was founded in 1923 but cea ...

International career

Leko made his debut for

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in a June

1999 Korea Cup The 1999 Korea Cup ( ko, 99 코리아컵 국제축구대회) was the 23rd and the last competition of Korea Cup. It was held from 12 to 19 June 1999, and was won by Croatia. Squads Standings Matches ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- See ...

match against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

, coming on as a 65th-minute substitute for Mario Cvitanović, and earned a total of 13 caps, scoring no goals. He was called up to the squad to participate in the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

, but played no part in the tournament, as Croatia exited in the group stage. His final international was a June 2006 friendly against

Managerial career

Leko made his debut as a manager in 2014, with

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian association football, football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, ''F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration num ...

, but he managed club for a season. In 2015 he became an assistant manager of Greek side

PAOK FC P.A.O.K. FC ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, '' Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón'', "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athlet ...

under the coaching staff of Croatian manager

Igor Tudor Igor Tudor (born 16 April 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Ligue 1 club Marseille. Tudor spent most of his playing career at Juventus, winning several trophies during that time. H ...

, who was sacked in 2016. A one-season, 2016–17, he managed Sint-Truidense V.V. and the next two seasons, 2017–18 and 2018–19, Leko was the manager of

. He celebrated Jupiler Pro League and

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

in his first season in Brugge. Also, Leko won the title of Professional Manager of the Year. In October 2018 Belgian police interrogated him for corruption investigation. In May 2019,

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

and Leko parted ways. The 41-year-old coach had been with the club since 2017. On 1 June 2019, he was appointed at his new club, Al Ain. In December 2019, Leko left club

Al Ain FC Al Ain Football Club ( ar, نادي العين لكرة القدم; transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) or Al Ain FC or simply Al Ain is a professional football club, based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many s ...

after a disastrous home defeat against

Al Dhafra FC Al Dhafra FC () is a professional football club based in Madinat Zayed, United Arab Emirates. As of the 2020–21 season they play in the UAE Arabian Gulf League. Their futsal club participated in AFC Futsal Club Championship. History Al Dh ...

. Both sides had agreed to end their cooperation after five months of poor play. On 20 May 2020, Leko was appointed the manager of Royal Antwerp. Taking over the team from Laszlo Bölöni, he led the team to win their first

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

since 1992, with a 1–0 win against his former side Club Brugge in the final. This earned Antwerp a qualification in the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 22 October 2020 and ended on 10 December 2020. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League. Antwerp, ...

for the first time in the club's history, where they were drawn in Group J against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

LASK Linz Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as Linzer ASK () or simply LASK, is an Austrian professional football club, from the Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football ...

and Ludogorets Razgrad. Leko led the team to a surprising 2nd place finish in the group, with 4 wins and 2 losses, culminating in a 1–0 home victory against Tottenham on 29 October; as a result, the team qualified for the round of 32, where they were drawn against Rangers. In December 2020, Leko left Royal Antwerp F.C. just before the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

match against Rangers and moved to Shanghai Port F.C., where he took up his new post with team Shanghai Port F.C., under a 2-year total net 5 million euros contract. On 1 January 2021, Leko became the new manager of Chinese side

Shanghai Port The Port of Shanghai (), located in the vicinity of Shanghai, comprises a deep-sea port and a river port. The main port enterprise in Shanghai, the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), was established during the reconstitution of the S ...

. In February 2021, Leko was introduced as the new head coach of Shanghai Port F.C. at the SAIC Motor Pudong Arena.

Investigation

In October 2018, Club Brugge KV coach Leko was interrogated by Belgian police as part of a corruption investigation. In the subsequent court case, the judge demanded to know why Leko had received a payment from Dejan Veljkovic's Cypriot account in 2015. In June 2019, former Club Brugge KV coach Leko was interrogated all day as part of the investigation into fraud in

Belgian football Association football is the most popular sport in Belgium, which has been played since the end of the 19th century. The national association was founded in 1895 with the intention of bringing some order and organization to the sport. The fi ...

, but was later released.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Hajduk Split *

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

: 2000–01, 2004–05 * Croatian Cup: 1999–2000 Málaga *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International F ...

: 2002 Club Brugge *

: 2006–07 Belgian Cup, 2006–07 *

Belgian Supercup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

: 2005 Lokeren *

: 2011–12 Belgian Cup, 2011–12

Manager

Club Brugge * Belgian First Division A, Jupiler Pro League: 2017–18 *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Antwerp *

: 2019–20 Belgian Cup, 2019–20 Individual * Professional Manager of the Year: 2017–18

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leko, Ivan 1978 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Croatian footballers Association football midfielders Croatia youth international footballers Croatia under-21 international footballers Croatia international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players HNK Hajduk Split players HNK Trogir players Málaga CF players Club Brugge KV players Beerschot A.C. players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players Croatian Football League players La Liga players Belgian First Division A players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Croatian football managers Oud-Heverlee Leuven managers PAOK FC non-playing staff Sint-Truidense V.V. managers Club Brugge KV head coaches Al Ain FC managers Royal Antwerp F.C. managers Shanghai Port F.C. managers HNK Hajduk Split managers UAE Pro League managers Chinese Super League managers Croatian Football League managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in China Croatian expatriate sportspeople in China