Siniša Gogić

Siniša Gogić (Serbian Cyrillic: Синиша Гогић; Greek alphabet: Σίνισα Γκόγκιτς, born October 20, 1963) is a Cypriot football striker who played for Yugoslav clubs Radnički Niš and FK Rad, for the Greek football team Olympiacos from 1997 until 2000, the Cypriot teams APOEL FC, Anorthosis Famagusta and Olympiakos Nicosia and Cyprus national football team. He is currently coaching the Greek under-21 Super league club Olympiacos U-21.

Career

Born in Niš, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, Gogić begin his career there, and played for the Yugoslav First League clubs FK Radnički Niš and FK Rad. Gogic first came to Cyprus in 1989 and played for APOEL where he won the championship in his first season. The same year Gogic became top Goalscorer of the Cypriot First Division with 19 goals. He stayed at APOEL for a few years where he won the championship again in 1991/92 and the Cyprus cup in 1992/1993. In 1993, after an argument with the APOEL coach, he left APOEL for Anorthosis and became again top goal scorer, this time with 26 goals and the following season, he helped Anorthosis win the Championship (1994/95) for the first time in 32 years and scoring 24 goals (2nd top scorer). He had a great season in 1996/97 ( 14 goals in 13 games) which attracted the interest of Olympiacos Pireus. He joined Olympiacos CFP at the age of 33, in 1997 from Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta and nobody could imagine his excellent attacking abilities.

He stayed at Olympiacos for 4 years, during which Olympiacos dominated the domestic league. Those four years Olympiacos became champions in Greece (1997-2000). 1998/99, was a greatest season for Olympiacos as the club won the Double and for first time reached the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League. Gogic was considered as one of the best Olympiacos players in the club's greatest achievement, in both Greek and European competitions. His nickname among the fans was "Pappous", which means "grandpa", because it was not until late in his career that he met with club success on a greater level.

In the first match against FC Porto, when Olympiacos was losing 2-0 away, he played for the last five minutes and he equalized by scoring Olympiacos' second goal. He scored other several goals in the Group stage and Olympiacos then faced Juventus in quarter finals. After 2-1 away defeat in Stadio delle Alpi, the result was giving enough chances for Olympiacos to qualify. Gogic played during whole match in the second leg, in Olympic Stadium (Athens) and during the first 15 minuted he scored Olympiacos goal. The result, which Olympiacos would have passed in semi finals for first time, remained like that until 85th minute, when Antonio Conte equalized for Juventus and Olympiacos was eliminated.

One year later, Gogic left Olympiacos and returned to Cyprus, where he joined his favourite team APOEL again. In 2001/02 he helped his team once more to win the championship.

In 2002/2003, following financial differences with APOEL, he played for six months for Olympiakos Nicosia, where he ended his career.

Coaching career

In the age of 42 he became manager in Olympiacos' youth academies and after that at the age of 44 he was the manager of Cypriot team Apollon Limassol FC. On 14 September 2008 was named as Assistant coach by Red Star Belgrade than on 9 May 2009 becomes the Head Coach job by Red Star Belgrade, he replaces Čedomir Janevski.^[2] On June 12, 2009, Gogic agreed with Panetolikos F.C. chairman Fotis Kostoulas, to take over as manager of Panetolikos, replacing Vasilis Dalaperas. On February 18, 2010, he signed for Shenzhen Ruby.

International career

Having lived for a considerable time in Cyprus, he took Cypriot citizenship and was selected to play for the national team. Between 1994 and 1999 he scored 8 goals for Cyprus including one memorable goal in Cyprus' victory against Spain in 1998. He also scored two goals against Israel, when Cyprus won 2-0 in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification.

References

External links

• Siniša Gogić at National-Football-Teams.com