Mato Neretljak (born 3 June 1979) 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 beg ...

and former professional

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 i ...

who is the manager of First League of FBiH club Zvijezda Gradačac.

Club career

Neretljak started his professional career in 1999 with HNK Orašje. In 2000, he transferred to

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

for which he played until 2002. Then he transferred to

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

and spent three seasons with the club before leaving it for

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n club

Suwon Samsung Bluewings The Suwon Samsung Bluewings () are a South Korean Association football, football club based in Suwon that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. Founded in December 1995, they have won the K League on four occas ...

in 2005. In 2009, he moved to Japanese club

Omiya Ardija is a Japanese professional association football club based in Ōmiya-ku, Saitama, Ōmiya, Saitama Prefecture. Its "hometown" (as designated by the league) is shared with neighbours Urawa Red Diamonds. The team currently play in J2 League, the ...

. On 23 May 2012, he signed for

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...

on a two-year contract. In 2014, he announced his retirement. In his career, he won many titles with Hajduk Split, Suwon Bluewings and even one Herzeg-Bosnia Cup with Orašje.

International career

Neretljak won eight international caps for the Croatia U21 national team in 2000 and 2001. While still playing for the U21 national team, he also made his full international debut for

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 ...

in a friendly match against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

on 25 April 2001 in

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

, where he came on as a substitute for

Boris Živković Boris Živković (; born 15 November 1975) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a full-back and centre-back. Živković began his professional career with Marsonia and Hrvatski Dragovoljac in his native country before s ...

in the 88th minute. His competitive international debut for Croatia came on 15 November 2003 in the

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

qualifying play-offs against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, where he played the entire 90 minutes in the first leg in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, which ended in a 1-1 draw. On 18 February 2004, he scored his only international goal for Croatia in their 2-1 defeat against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

. He was also part of the Croatian squad at the UEFA Euro 2004 finals in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, but did not appear in any of the team's three group matches before they were knocked out of the tournament. After the UEFA Euro 2004 finals, he only appeared in 4 international friendlies for Croatia, including both of their matches at the 2006 Carlsberg Cup in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. He won a total of 10 international caps for the national team, 9 of which were in friendly matches. His final international was a February 2006 Carlsberg Cup match against hosts

Managerial career

Neretljak started off his managerial career after being appointed as manager of HNK Orašje in 2015. He managed Orašje until the end of the 2015–16 First League of FBiH season, where Orašje made a fantastic result coming in the third place. On 14 November 2016, Neretljak was named the new manager of NK Metalleghe-BSI. He left Metalleghe on 1 June 2017, after failing not to get relegated in the 2016–17 Premier League season. 19 days after leaving Metalleghe, Neretljak came back to and became the new manager of Orašje once again. In that First League FBiH

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, Orašje finished in the 5th place. After the last game of the season in which Orašje beat

NK Travnik NK Travnik (), commonly known as Travnik is a professional association football club from the city of Travnik that is situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently, Travnik plays in the First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and ...

3–2, Neretljak stuck to his word and left the club after the end of the season. On 28 September 2018, after Feđa Dudić got sacked, Neretljak was named the new manager of

Bosnian Premier League The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

club GOŠK Gabela. In his first game as club's manager, on 30 September, the club unexpectedly beat Željezničar Sarajevo on

Grbavica Stadium Grbavica Stadium or Stadion Grbavica is located in Grbavica, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This football stadium has terraces close to the pitch and it is the home stadium of FK Željezničar Sarajevo and one of two stadiums of the national ...

1–2, with a 90+5th-minute penalty goal that won the game for GOŠK, with

Mirsad Ramić Mirsad Ramić (born 6 December 1992) is a Bosnian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Centre-forward, centre-forward for Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Premier League clu ...

scoring the goal from the penalty spot. On 12 March 2019, Neretljak left GOŠK after making a series of bad results with the club. In July 2019, it was announced that Neretljak became the new manager of Orašje for the third time in his career. A few days later, he also accepted a job offer from the

Croatian Football Federation The Croatian Football Federation (, HNS) is the national governing body of football in Croatia. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of Zagreb. The organisation is a member of both FIFA and UEFA, and is responsible f ...

as an assistant manager for the Croatia national under-20 team under manager

Ognjen Vukojević Ognjen Vukojević (born 20 December 1983) is a Croatian football manager and former professional player. He is currently the manager of the Croatia national under-20 team, an assistant manager of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv, and a ...

. He left Orašje only a few months after coming back to the club because of losing five out of six matches in the league and getting to last place. On 4 October 2020, Neretljak was named new manager of Zvijezda Gradačac. In his first game as Zvijezda manager, Neretljak led his team to a league win over

Čapljina Čapljina ( cyrl, Чапљина, ) is a city located in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located on the border with Croatia a mere from the Adriatic Sea. The rive ...

. His first loss as Zvijezda manager was against Radnik Hadžići also in a league match on 18 October 2020. Neretljak left the club in October 2021. In July 2022, Neretljak was appointed as manager of Croatian Second League club NK Rudeš, ahead of the 2022–23 season. In mid September 2022, five fixtures into the season, when Rudeš were second in the table behind HNK Vukovar 1991 only on goal difference, Neretljak was sacked due to unsatisfactory early performance.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Results list Croatia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Player

Orašje * Herzeg-Bosnia Cup: 1999–2000 Hajduk Split * Croatian First League: 2003–04 * Croatian Cup: 2002–03 * Croatian Super Cup:

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 ...

Suwon Bluewings * K League Classic:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Korean League Cup The Korean League Cup was a professional football competition in South Korean football. It was held by the K League Federation from 1986 to 2012. Sponsorship Results Finals Titles by club K League's principle of official statistics is tha ...

Korean Super Cup The Korean Super Cup was the annual curtain-raiser to the South Korean football season from 1999 to 2006, and was contested between the champions of K League and Korean FA Cup. It was dropped from the South Korean football calendar in 2007. After ...

: 2005

Individual

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

K-League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League titles, the top conti ...

Best 11 *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Best 11 *

Best 11

References

External links

* *
Mato Neretljak
at guardian.co.uk * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neretljak, Mato 1979 births Living people People from Orašje Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to Croatia Men's association football defenders Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's under-21 international footballers Croatia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players HNK Orašje players NK Osijek players HNK Hajduk Split players Suwon Samsung Bluewings players RB Omiya Ardija players HNK Rijeka players NK Zadar players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Croatian Football League players K League 1 players J1 League players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Bosnia and Herzegovina Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Croatian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Croatian football managers HNK Orašje managers NK GOŠK Gabela managers NK Zvijezda Gradačac managers NK Rudeš managers Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Bosnia and Herzegovina