Zlatko Zahovič

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Zlatko Zahovič
Personal information
Date of birth	February 1, 1971 (age 36)
Place of birth	Maribor, SFR Yugoslavia
Playing position	Midfield
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1989-1990 1990-1991 1991-1993 1993-1996 1996-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2005	FK Partizan → Proleter Zrenjanin (loan) / FK Partizan Vitória de Guimarães F.C. Porto Olympiacos Valencia CF S.L. Benfica Total	9 (1) 25 (0) 28 (5) 73 (13) 74 (27) 14 (7) 20 (3) 80 (14) 323 (70)
National team
1992-2004	Slovenia	80 (35)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Zlatko Zahovič (listen (help·info) ; born February 1, 1971) is a Slovenian football player.

Zahovič was born in Maribor, Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia to Serbian parents. He started his career at the youth team of Kovinar Maribor. In 1989 he was noticed by a well known Yugoslav football player Milko Đurovski (who at that time was doing military service in Maribor). He then played for Partizan Belgrade, (1989–1993), including loan spells at Proleter, Zrenjanin (1990–1991); Vitória Guimarães (1993–1996), FC Porto (1996–1999), Olympiakos (1999–2000), Valencia (2000–2001) and Benfica (from 2001 onwards).

In 2001 his team Valencia reached the Champions League finals, but lost after apenalty shootout against the German champions Bayern Munich. Zahovič was one of the unfortunate penalty takers to miss; to be more precise, Oliver Kahn superbly saved his very well aimed shot.

His first match for the Slovenian national team was on November 7, 1992 at a friendly match against Cyprus. The Slovenian national team qualified for the 2000 European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands, where Zahovič played very well, scoring three of Slovenia's four goals.

Slovenia also managed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan but Zahovič had a very serious argument with the Slovenian national coach Srečko Katanec and he was sent home immediately after the first match against Spain.

Srečko Katanec resigned immediately after the World Cup, so Zahovič returned to the national team. He played what was probably his last national team match on April 28, 2004 against Switzerland. Altogether he played 80 matches for the national team and scored 35 goals, thus making him the most successful Slovenian football player after Slovenian independence.

Zahovič is infamous for his numerous arguments, the one with Srečko Katanec being just the most infamous. Soon after at Olympiakos he had an argument with the management and he left the club before the season was over. He also had an argument with Valencia coach Héctor Cúper, believing that he was not being given enough opportunities. Nevertheless, he played for Valencia till the end of the 2001 season when he moved to Benfica, who he left in the middle of the 2004/2005 season.

	Slovenia squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Simeunovič | 2 Sankovič | 3 Milinovič | 4 Vugdalič | 5 Galič | 6 Knavs | 7 Novak | 8 A. Čeh | 9 Osterc | 10 Zahovič | 11 Pavlin | 12 Dabanovič | 13 Rudonja | 14 Gajser | 15 Tavčar | 16 Tiganj | 17 Pavlovič | 18 Ačimovič | 19 Karič | 20 N. Čeh | 21 Cimirotič | 22 Nemec | 23 Bulajič | Coach: Katanec