Rajko Janjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Pajкo Jaњaнин; born 18 January 1957) is a Yugoslav of

Croatian Serb The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Хрватски Срби, Hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in ...

descent former international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player, who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and a manager.

Club career

Janjanin started his professional career in 1975 playing for

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

, with whom he played for five years, winning the

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

in 1980. Afterwards, he joined

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

for almost five years. His shining moment took place on 19 September 1984, when he scored a second half hat-trick in the 3–2 win over Benfica for the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

after Red Star was down by 0–2. With Red Star he won two

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

and a Yugoslav cup in 1982, while he became an international footballer. In November 1984, Janjanin moved to

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 ...

and joined OFI, where he performed very well and had a decisive contribution to the

Cretan Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

team, achieving a second place finish in the following season's

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. In December 1986 his contract was coming to an end and despite the proposal of the management for a renewal, there was a gap between the two sides, since the player was asking for 18 million drachmas for a two-year contract and he was offered much less money.

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

, which were interested in the player, fully met his demands and signed him, despite the opposition from OFI. At AEK he didn't achieve high performances, but occasionally showed samples of his football quality. In the summer of 1988, his contract was terminated and unable to find a club of his interest, Janjanin decided to finish his career.

International career

Janjanin was capped twice for

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Managerial career

As a coach, Janjanin spent a long time at the P.O. Atsaleniou and then spent many years at the academy of Panathinaikos. In 2006 and in 2012 he served as an assistant of

Alberto Malesani Alberto Malesani (; born 5 June 1954) is an Italian football manager and former player. As a manager, he is mostly remembered for his successful spell with Parma during the late 1990s, with whom they won the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup, and the ...

and

Giannis Vonortas Giannis Vonortas (, born 25 June 1960) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. Playing career Vonortas played at Panathinaikos, Egaleo, Levadiakos, and Panargiakos. Coaching career Vonortas became assistant manager of Pan ...

respectively in the men's team. In 2015 he was an assistant of

Jasminko Velić Jasminko Velić (born 1 September 1965) is a Bosnian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. In the 2006-2007 season, Velić was hired as a scouter for Panathinaikos F.C., Panathinai ...

at the bench of Episkopi, while he later stayed for a short time as the head coach of the Rethymno team. Then he signed at P.A.O. Krousonas for the 2015–16 season.

Personal life

His brother, Željko was also a footballer.Željko Janjanin
at Povijest Dinama

Honours

: 1980

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

* Yugoslav Championship: 1981, 1984 *

: 1982, 1985

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Janjanin, Rajko 1957 births Living people Footballers from Karlovac Serbs of Croatia Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Competitors at the 1979 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in football GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Red Star Belgrade footballers OFI Crete F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Yugoslav First League players Super League Greece players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Greece