serbian football coach and erstwhile football player

Mladen Krstajić ( serbian Cyrillic : Младен Крстајић, pronounced [ mlǎden kr̩stâjitɕ ] ; born 4 March 1974 ) is a serbian professional football coach and former musician who played as a centre-back. He represented Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. From January 2015 [ 1 ] until March 2020, [ 2 ] Krstajić served the character of president of the board of Bosnian Premier League club Radnik Bijeljina. Krstajić became promontory coach of Maccabi Tel-Aviv in December 2021.

Club career [edit ]

early career [edit ]

Krstajić was born and raised in Zenica, SFR Yugoslavia, confront day Bosnia and Herzegovina to a bosnian Serb mother from Bijeljina and a forefather from Žabljak, Montenegro. [ 3 ] After playing in the young teams of Čelik Zenica, Krstajić moved to Kikinda, FR Yugoslavia, present day Serbia in April 1992, following the break of the Bosnian War. He started playing with Senta for six months. He then moved to OFK Kikinda, at that time a first gear league club. At some point of a successful career as a serbian football player, there comes the time, to decide, whether one wants to play for Partizan or for Red Star Belgrade, and Krstajić decided to take the move to Partizan in 1996. According to Krstajić himself, Red Star was interested in him, but as he comes from a family that cheers for Partizan, he decided to sign a contract with his darling club. His four and a half years at Partizan were more than successful, winning the national championships three times ( 1996, 1997, 1999 ) and besides the home cup in 1998 .

Werder Bremen and Schalke [edit ]

In 2000, Krstajić, the defender with the “ achiever mentality ” ( Jupp Heynckes ) [ citation needed ] joined german Bundesliga baseball club Werder Bremen who paid a DM 1.8 million ( about €950,000 ) transmit fee to Partizan. [ 4 ] At Werder Bremen he was initially deployed at left-back in his beginning season [ 5 ] but became one of the best cardinal defenders in the Bundesliga, [ 4 ] winning the double of Bundesliga and cup with Werder in 2004. In 2004 he joined Schalke 04, where he was named the newly captain on 17 March 2009. [ 6 ]

enthusiast [edit ]

On 5 June 2009, Krstajić signed a biennial contract with his former club Partizan. [ 7 ] In January 2010, after the passing of Nenad Đorđević, he was named the newfangled Partizan captain. [ 8 ] After two very successful seasons, Krstajić played his last professional match on 21 May 2011. [ 9 ] immediately after retiring, he was appointed as the new director of football of the club. After less than 6 months as director of football, he was sacked due to a media war against club president Dragan Đurić. Aleksandar Stanojević resigned ampere coach as a result. The day before Krstajić was released, Partizan fans, Grobari, chanted his name as a sign of confirm during a basketball match against arch rivals Red Star. [ 10 ]

International career [edit ]

Krstajić was a part of the Serbia and Montenegro national team “ celebrated Four ” defense, which conceded just one goal during the qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The other members of the celebrated four were Ivica Dragutinović, Goran Gavrančić and Nemanja Vidić. between 1999 and 2008 he made 58 international appearances scoring 2 goals. He represented three senior national sides : FR Yugoslavia ( 1992–2002 ; 20 appearances, 2 goals ), Serbia and Montenegro ( 2002–2006 ; 27 appearances ), and Serbia ( 2006–2008 ; 11 appearances ). [ 11 ]

Managerial career [edit ]

serbia [edit ]

In October 2017, Krstajić succeeded Slavoljub Muslin as head coach of the Serbia national team, initially as a caretaker. In December, it was announced he would take on the character permanently and at least until the goal of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] On 13 June 2019, Krstajić was sacked from the position after a blue 5–0 loss in a UEFA Euro 2020 modifier against Ukraine. [ 14 ] [ 15 ]

TSC [edit ]

Krstajić became fountainhead coach of TSC in January 2021. [ 16 ] He left the club in October. [ 17 ]

Maccabi Tel-Aviv [edit ]

On 9 December 2021, Krstajić was appointed director of Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Tel Aviv. [ 18 ]

administrative career [edit ]

Before becoming a director, Krstajić became the new president of the board of Bosnian Premier League clubhouse Radnik Bijeljina on 23 January 2015. [ 19 ] During his time as club chair, Radnik became a static bosnian Premier League cabaret, finishing about always in the top five or six. It won its first base ever national and major trophy, the bosnian Cup in the 2015–16 season and therefore qualified for its first always UEFA contest, the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ] In the 2018–19 bosnian Premier League season, Radnik finished in fifth place, but as fourthly placed Željezničar did not get an UEFA license to compete in the follow temper ‘s UEFA Europa League, Radnik was qualified by default option to the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds for a second clock time in its history. [ 23 ] On 27 December 2019, Krstajić by chance decided to leave Radnik, stating that it was prison term for person fresh to lead the club. [ 24 ] He formally left the golf club on 28 March 2020, with Predrag Perković succeeding him as president. [ 2 ]

career statistics [edit ]

club [edit ]

International [edit ]

Appearances and goals by national team and year[26]
National team Year Apps Goals
FR Yugoslavia 1999 2 0
2000 5 0
2001 5 1
2002 11 1
Serbia and Montenegro 2003 7 0
2004 5 0
2005 8 0
2006 5 0
Serbia 2006 5 0
2007 4 0
2008 2 0
Total 59 2

managerial statistics [edit ]

As of 27 December 2021
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record
Serbia 30 October 2017 13 June 2019 19 9 5 5 30 21 +9 0 47.37
TSC Bačka Topola 4 January 2021 19 October 2021 33 15 8 10 51

37 +14 0 45.45
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 9 December 2021 Currently 2 1 1 0 5 1 +4 0 50.00
Total 54 25 14 15 84 59 +25 0 46.30

Honours [edit ]

actor [edit ]

Partizan
Werder Bremen [ 27 ]
Schalke 04 [ 27 ]

References [edit ]