Miron Muslić (born 14 September 1982) is an Austrian-Bosnian 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

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 current manager of 2. Bundesliga club

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

Club career

Muslić came to Austria with his family during the turmoil of the

Bosnian war The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

and started playing football in the academy of

FC Wacker Innsbruck FC Wacker Innsbruck was an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck, Tyrol. History The ''Fußball-Club Wacker'' ("Valiant") ''Innsbruck'' was established in 1915 by Jakob Hanspeter, Benedikt Hosp, Josef Leitner, Josef Albrecht and o ...

in 1994 at the age of twelve. After the club disbanded, he played for

Wacker Innsbruck FC Wacker Innsbruck was an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck, Tyrol. History The ''Fußball-Club Wacker'' ("Valiant") ''Innsbruck'' was established in 1915 by Jakob Hanspeter, Benedikt Hosp, Josef Leitner, Josef Albrecht and o ...

from 1999. In October 2000, he moved to the second division club

Wörgl Wörgl () is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol, in the Kufstein district. It is from the international border with Bavaria, Germany. Population Transport Wörgl is a railway junction in the line between Innsbruck and Munich, as well as the ...

. He made his debut for Wörgl in the second division in March 2001, when he was substituted for Markus Unterrainer at half-time on matchday 24 of the 2000–01 season against First Vienna. Muslić moved to

Novalja Novalja () is a town on the north of the island of Pag in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea. In recent times, Novalja has become famous because of the Zrće Beach. History The earliest settlers on the island were an Illyrian tribe that ca ...

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 ...

for the 2002–03 season. After a season abroad, he returned to Wörgl in 2003. In September 2003, he scored his first second league goal in a 2–2 draw against BSV Juniors. With Wörgl, he was relegated from the second-highest division in the 2004–05 season. He then moved to third division club SVG Reichenau for the 2005–06 season, for whom he played 18 games. In the summer of 2006, he joined league rivals Hall. In the 2006–07 season, he scored 21 goals in 29 games for Hall in the Regionalliga West. He moved to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

SV Ried SV Ried, commonly known as SV Guntamatic Ried for sponsorship reasons, is an Austrian association football club based in Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria. The team plays its home matches at Josko Arena, a stadium with a capacity of 7,680. The t ...

for the 2007–08 season. He made his Bundesliga debut in July 2007, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute for Jovan Damjanović on matchday three of that season against Austria Kärnten. After four games in the Bundesliga, Muslić moved to third division club

Gmunden Gmunden () is a town in Upper Austria, in the district of Gmunden (district), Gmunden. It has 13,204 inhabitants (estimates 2016 ). Geography Gmunden covers an area of and has a median elevation of . It is situated next to the lake Traunsee on t ...

during the winter break of the 2007–08 season. With Gmunden, he was relegated to the

OÖ Liga The OÖ Liga (whose official Sponsor (commercial), sponsor name is ''Radio OÖ Liga'', and still colloquially known as the ''Oberösterreich-Liga'') is the Austrian Landesliga, football division of the state of Upper Austria. It's Football in Austr ...

at the end of the season. He joined league rivals ATSV Sattledt for the 2010–11 season. With Sattledt, he was relegated from the fourth-highest division in 2012. He then joined fifth-tier Union Weißkirchen in the summer of 2012, with whom he was promoted to the OÖ Liga in 2014. After finishing second in the scoring charts in the 2012–13 season with 24 goals in 26 games, he became the top scorer in the fifth-tier Landesliga Ost in the 2013–14 season, with 31 goals in 24 appearances. He returned to Ried for the 2015–16 season, where he joined the amateur team. He ended his active career after the 2016–17 season.

Managerial career

Early career

Muslić was assistant coach to Alfred Olzinger at Union Weißkirchen in 2014. From the 2015–16 season, he was also assistant coach to Thomas Weissenböck at Ried's amateur team. From the 2017–18 season, he coached the Ried Under-18s team. In April 2018, he became Weissenböck's assistant coach with the first team at

. He also took over as head coach of Ried's amateurs for the 2018–19 season. Following Weissenböck's resignation in November 2018, Muslić took over Ried as head coach on an interim basis for one match. In December 2018, he gave up his role as coach of the amateurs to work only as an assistant coach. After the 2018–19 season, he returned to the academy. On 14 July 2020, Muslić was hired as a manager by

Austrian Football Second League The Second League (), commonly known as Admiral 2. Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. The division currently contains 16 teams, and the champion of the league is promoted to the Austr ...

club

Floridsdorfer AC The Floridsdorfer Athletics Sports Club or simply Floridsdorfer AC or FAC is a professional football club based in Floridsdorf, the 21st district of Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria ...

. Muslić returned to

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

club SV Ried in January 2021 and became head coach of the club. After ten games as coach of Ried, he resigned in March 2021, with the Upper Austrians picking up just three points in this period and remaining winless.

Cercle Brugge

In October 2021, Muslić became assistant coach to

Yves Vanderhaeghe Yves Vanderhaeghe (; born 30 January 1970) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Known for his tackling, hard-working approach and stamina, he played for five clubs during his 22-year professional ...

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

. He also remained at the club under

Dominik Thalhammer Dominik Thalhammer (born 2 October 1970) is an Austrian Association football, football manager, best known for bringing Austria's women to the brink of the Euros final at their first ever major championship, and later spells at Cercle Brugge and ...

, and was promoted to the main first-team managerial role the following year, replacing Thalhammer on 19 September 2022. Helped by the goals of Japan international

Ayase Ueda is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Eredivisie club Feyenoord and the Japan national team. Youth career Born in the city of Mito, located in the Ibaraki Prefecture, he began playing football at age 6 and was in ...

, Muslić steered Cercle from the relegation zone to a regular-season finishing position of eighth for the 2022–23 campaign, qualifying them for a streamlined version of the Belgian Pro League's European play-offs. They finished runners-up to Gent in these play-offs for the final European qualifying place, seeing them officially finish in sixth position. With Ueda moving to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

, and Kevin Denkey promoted to become Muslić's first-choice striker, Cercle would qualify for the title play-offs for the first time, going on to finish fourth for the 2023–24 season, their highest finish since 2008, qualifying them for Europe for the first time in 14 years, and only the fourth time ever. Early season struggles for the 2024–25 season did not clear, and after a 2–0 lead over bottom side

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen (), or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the top tier Pro League after promotion from second tier in 2023–24 season. In 2013, KFCO Wil ...

turned into a 2–3 defeat, Muslić was dismissed as Cercle manager on 2 December 2024.

Plymouth Argyle

On 10 January 2025, Muslić signed a three-and-a-half-year contract to become head coach of

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

side

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

. On 9 February 2025, with Plymouth in the bottom position in the Championship, Muslić's team met

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

at Home Park in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Fourth Round and won 1–0. The win marked only the fourth time in FA Cup history that the leaders of the Premier League have been knocked out by a team outside the top flight. On 28 May 2025, the club announced they had "reluctantly" given Muslić permission to speak to a team in the German second division, reportedly

, about becoming their manager. Plymouth expressed frustration in their official statement announcing the decision, noting that they had "received repeated verbal promises from Miron that he was committed to Argyle."

Schalke 04

In May 2025, he moved to

Personal life

Born in Bosnia, Muslić and his family fled to

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

as refugees in 1992, when he was nine years old after his hometown came under siege. Speaking to BBC Sport, Muslić describes how, " is familyhad to leave Bosnia, and Bihać, our hometown, literally overnight, grabbing things you can grab with your hands." He has three children with his wife, Ensada.

Managerial statistics

References

External links