Zoran Vulić (; born 4 October 1961) is a Croatian professional

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who played as a defender. He is notable for having managed

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 ...

five separate times between 1998 and 2018, which is a record among all Hajduk managers.

Playing career

Club

Vulić was born in

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 is the son of Ante, a famous goalkeeper for

in the 1950s. Zoran Vulić joined Hajduk Split as a stopper with a powerful shot, and played for the club for nine seasons. He played a total of 167 league games and scored 25 goals. He successfully continued his career abroad, with stints at

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

and

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes, commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Naunnt''), is a French professional association football, football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 Ap ...

in the following five years. He was instrumental in Mallorca's return to the

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 ...

during his debut season. He played 35 matches and scored five times. Vulić returned to Hajduk in 1993 and retired after two years with the club, at age 34. In his first stint with the club, he conquered two Yugoslav Cups in 1984 and 1987, and in his second stint two Croatian Leagues in 1994 and 1995, and one cup in 1995.

International

Vulić won 25 caps 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 ...

, scoring once, and participated at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

in Italy, where he played four of the team's five matches. His national team debut was on 30 April 1986, when Yugoslavia lost 4–2 to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in a friendly match. He also played in three friendly matches 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 October 1990 against the

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and in June 1991 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 ...

, both unofficial since Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia at the time, as well as against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in June 1993.

International goals

:''Results list Yugoslavia's and Croatia's goal tallies first.''

Managerial career

In 1998, Vulić continued his career as manager, with his first four spells all at

. His biggest success as Hajduk manager was winning the 2000–01 Croatian First League and the 2002–03 Croatian Cup. In 2004, he was sacked three rounds before the end of the 2003–04 Croatian First League season even though the team was sitting at the top of the table, and he was replaced by the new manager, Petar Nadoveza, who ended up winning that championship with Hajduk. In January 2008, Vulić moved to

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok FC Luch Vladivostok () was an association football club based in Vladivostok. In 2005, Luch won the Russian First Division and played in the Premier League from 2006 to 2008. The club was called Luch-Energiya from 2003 to 2018, when it was rena ...

. He returned to Croatia in 2009, taking over

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 ...

. In February 2010, he took charge of Istra 1961. Vulić also managed RNK Split on two occasions. His biggest success with that team was reaching the final of the 2014–15 Croatian Cup where they were beaten on penalties by

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 ...

. In 2015, he took over Sheriff Tiraspol and managed to win the 2015–16 Moldovan National Division. He left the club in June 2016. On 14 December 2016, Vulić was appointed as manager of FC Atyrau. On 11 April 2017, the club announced a mutually agreed contract termination, as Vulić wanted to return to Croatia. He was then manager of Apollon Smyrni from September to December 2017, when he was sacked after a poor run of results. His final stint with Hajduk was from 9 September to 27 November 2018, when he was sacked after having won only 3 of the 9 league matches. In February 2022 he was named manager of Greek second-tier side

Xanthi Xanthi is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope mountain chain, the city is divided ...

, but was relieved of his duties after only a month. Additionally, Vulić also served as an assistant coach of the Croatia national team.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Hajduk Split * Croatian First League: 1993–94, 1994–95 * Croatian Cup: 1994–95 *

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 ...

: 1983–84, 1986–87

Manager

Hajduk Split *Croatian First League: 2000–01 *Croatian Cup: 2002–03 Sheriff Tiraspol *

Moldovan National Division The Moldovan Liga, officially known as Liga 7777.md for sponsorship reasons, is an association football league that is the top division of Football in Moldova, Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when Moldov ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * *
Croatian football federation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vulic, Zoran 1961 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football defenders Men's association football utility players Yugoslav men's footballers Yugoslavia men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players Croatian men's footballers Croatia men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) HNK Hajduk Split players RCD Mallorca players FC Nantes players Yugoslav First League players Croatian Football League players La Liga players Segunda División players Ligue 1 players Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Spain Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Croatian expatriate sportspeople in France Croatian football managers HNK Hajduk Split managers FC Luch Vladivostok managers HNK Rijeka managers NK Istra 1961 managers RNK Split managers Croatia national under-19 football team managers FC Sheriff Tiraspol managers FC Atyrau managers Apollon Smyrnis F.C. managers Xanthi F.C. managers Croatian Football League managers Russian Premier League managers Moldovan Super Liga managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Russia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate football managers in Moldova Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Expatriate football managers in Kazakhstan Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate football managers in Greece