Robert Prosinečki

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Robert Prosinečki
Personal information
Full name	Robert Prosinečki
Date of birth	January 12, 1969 (1969-01-12) (age 39)
Place of birth	Schwenningen, West Germany
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1986–1987 1987–1991 1991–1994 1994–1995 1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–2000 2000–2001 2001 2001–2002 2002–2003 2003–2004	Dinamo Zagreb Red Star Belgrade Real Madrid Oviedo FC Barcelona Sevilla Croatia Zagreb NK Hrvatski dragovoljac Standard Liège Portsmouth Olimpija Ljubljana NK Zagreb	002 0(1) 117 (24) 055 (10) 030 0(5) 019 0(2) 020 0(4) 050 (14) 004 0(1) 020 0(4) 033 0(9) 023 0(3) 026 0(5)
National team
1989–1991 1994–2002	Yugoslavia Croatia	015 0(4) 049 (10)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Robert Prosinecki (or Prosinečki) [ˈrɔbɛrt ˈprɔsinɛtʃki] (born January 12, 1969 in Villingen-Schwenningen, West Germany) is a Croatian former football midfielder and current assistant manager of the Croatia national football team.

Contents 1 Club career 2 National team 2.1 International goals 3 Honours 3.1 International 3.2 Club 3.3 Individual 4 Miscellaneous 5 External links

[edit] Club career

Born in Germany to a family of Yugoslav gastarbeiters, Prosinečki moved to Yugoslavia at an early age. He started his professional career at Dinamo Zagreb where former Yugoslavian, (now Croatian) coach Miroslav Blažević sent him away, saying that, if Prosinečki ever became a real football player, he would eat his football diploma.^{[citation needed]}

Ironically Prosinečki developed into one of Yugoslavia's most gifted and talented players ever who was only held back from becoming one of the greats by his poor mental application and lack of dedication.^{[citation needed]} After that, he moved to Red Star Belgrade where he became a notable midfielder under coaches Dragoslav Šekularac and Ljupko Petrović, winning the European Cup in 1991.

He also played with Real Madrid, Real Oviedo, FC Barcelona, Sevilla FC, NK Hrvatski dragovoljac, Standard Liège, Portsmouth F.C. (where he is considered a legend despite playing only one season in the latter stages of his career), Olimpija Ljubljana, and Zagreb.

Prosinečki is still held as a folk hero at Portsmouth for his marvelous one man performances in the centre of midfield, his goals and assists saving the club from relegation in the 2001/02 season. It was after talking to Prosinečki that current Croatia international Niko Kranjčar decided to sign for Portsmouth in the summer of 2006.

[edit] National team

Prosinečki has 49 caps for Croatia and has scored 10 goals for his country. He was also capped 15 times, scoring four goals, for Yugoslavia. In 1987, Prosinečki was named the tournament's best player as Yugoslavia won the World Youth Championship in Chile. He then played for Yugoslavia at the 1990 World Cup and for Croatia at Euro 96 and the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. It was in 1998 that Prosinečki and the Croatian squad won third place in the World Cup, with Prosinečki scoring two goals along the way. Prosinečki is the only player to score in the World Cup finals for two different teams - Yugoslavia and Croatia.

[edit] International goals

Results list Croatia's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
01.	23 March 1994	Estadio Luís Casanova, Valencia, Spain	Spain	0 – 1	0 – 2	Friendly
02.	25 March 1995	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Ukraine	3 – 0	4 – 0	Euro 1996 Qualifying
03.	26 April 1995	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Slovenia	1 – 0	2 – 0	Euro 1996 Qualifying
04.	2 April 1997	Poljud, Split, Croatia	Slovenia	1 – 0	3 – 3	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
05.	3 June 1998	Kantrida Stadium, Rijeka, Croatia	Iran	1 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
06.	6 June 1998	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Australia	3 – 0	7 – 0	Friendly
07.	14 June 1998	Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens, France	Jamaica	1 – 2	1 – 3	World Cup 1998
08.	11 July 1998	Parc des Princes, Paris, France	Netherlands	0 – 1	1 – 2	World Cup 1998
09.	5 September 2001	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	0 – 2	0 – 4	World Cup 2002 Qualifying
10.	5 September 2001	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	0 – 4	0 – 4	World Cup 2002 Qualifying

He is the only player in World Cup history to score for two different national teams. In 1990, he scored one goal for Yugoslavia in a group match against the United Arab Emirates and eight years later he added two goals for Croatia by scoring in a group match against Jamaica and in the third place match against the Netherlands. He played in a total of nine World Cup matches, three for Yugoslavia in 1990 and six for Croatia in 1998 and 2002.

[edit] Honours

[edit] International

• with  Yugoslavia
  • 1987 World Youth Championship winner
• with  Croatia
  • 1998 FIFA World Cup third place

[edit] Club

• Red Star Belgrade
  • Yugoslav First League: 1988, 1990, 1991
  • Yugoslav Cup: 1990
  • European Cup (now called Champions League): 1991
  • Intercontinental Cup: 1991
• Real Madrid
  • Copa del Rey: 1993
  • Spanish Super Cup: 1993
• Dinamo Zagreb
  • Prva HNL: 1998, 1999, 2000
  • Croatian Supercup: 1998
• Olimpija Ljubljana
  • Slovenian Cup: 2002

[edit] Individual

• 1987 World Youth Championship Golden Ball
• Bravo Award 1991

[edit] Miscellaneous

Prosinečki became infamously known for being a heavy smoker and rumors about his ability to smoke up to 40 cigarettes a day circulated in Croatian public for some time.

In early 2006, Prosinečki made a short comeback playing for NK Savski Marof, an amateur side based in the village of Savski Marof near Zagreb, in the fourth tier of Croatian football.^[1]

Prosinečki is regarded by many as the player with best technique that ever played in and for Croatia. Former national squad teammate Zvonimir Boban, humbly, also agreed with this. His dribbling is considered excellent, and his ability to keep possession of the ball is very highly regarded.

In the summer of 2006, he was recruited as an assistant by Croatia's national team coach Slaven Bilić, with whom he has been helping plan out strategies for the team.^[2]

Prosinečki was the lead star of a commercial campaign for Renault in Spain. [1]

[edit] External links

1. ^ Prosinečki će igrati za Savski Marof - Sport - Index.hr
2. ^ Croatia back among the big boys

• Portsmouth club stats from http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=6489
• Club stats from http://www.national-football-teams.com/php/spieler.php?id=15044
• Inteview with him in Slovenian language: http://www.nogomania.com/Default.asp?podrocje=5&novica=8871

v • d • e Yugoslavia squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Ivković • 2 Stanojković • 3 Spasić • 4 Vulić • 5 Hadžibegić • 6 Jozić • 7 Brnović • 8 Sušić • 9 Pančev • 10 Stojković • 11 Vujović • 12 Omerović • 13 Katanec • 14 Bokšić • 15 Prosinečki • 16 Šabanadžović • 17 Jarni • 18 Baljić • 19 Savićević • 20 Šuker • 21 Panadić • 22 Leković • Coach: Osim

v • d • e Croatia squad - UEFA Euro 1996 1 Ladić • 2 Jurčević • 3 Jarni • 4 Štimac • 5 Jerkan • 6 Bilić • 7 Asanović • 8 Prosinečki • 9 Šuker • 10 Boban • 11 Bokšić • 12 Mrmić • 13 Stanić • 14 Soldo • 15 Pavličić • 16 Mladenović • 17 Pamić • 18 Brajković • 19 Vlaović • 20 Šimić • 21 Cvitanović • 22 Gabrić • Coach: Blažević

v • d • e Croatia squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Ladić • 2 Krpan • 3 Šerić • 4 Štimac • 5 Jurić • 6 Bilić • 7 Asanović • 8 Prosinečki • 9 Šuker • 10 Boban • 11 Marić • 12 Mrmić • 13 Stanić • 14 Soldo • 15 Tudor • 16 Kozniku • 17 Jarni • 18 Mamić • 19 Vlaović • 20 Šimić • 21 Jurčić • 22 Vasilj • Coach: Blažević

v • d • e Croatia squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Šerić • 3 Šimunić • 4 Tomas • 5 Rapaić • 6 Živković • 7 Vugrinec • 8 Prosinečki • 9 Šuker • 10 Niko Kovač • 11 Bokšić • 12 Butina • 13 Stanić • 14 Soldo • 15 Šarić • 16 Vranješ • 17 Jarni • 18 Olić • 19 Vlaović • 20 Šimić • 21 Robert Kovač • 22 Balaban • 23 Vasilj • Coach: Jozić