Željko Petrović

Željko Petrović (Cyrillic: Жељко Петровић; born 13 November 1965) is a retired Montenegrin footballer and current coach.

Club career

Petrović started his footballing career with Budućnost Titograd in 1987, spending 3 seasons there. A move to Dinamo Zagreb in the 1990/1991 season confirmed his place as a talented rightback. He was chosen to represent the national team on 12 September 1990 in the match against Northern Ireland which his team won 2-0.

He signed for Sevilla FC in 1991 and played there alongside Diego Maradona. However, a markedly dry spell at the Spanish club indicated that he was surplus to requirements at the club and he was quick to sign for Dutch club FC Den Bosch in 1992. He assisted the club to promotion to the Eredivisie and was eager to join RKC Waalwijk in 1994. It was at this club which he excelled as an attacking right wingback where he scored 13 goals in total of 2 seasons before joining Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in 1996.

In his first season at PSV, he showed that he could play well, getting his name in the scoresheet 5 times in the process. In his second season at the club, however, he proved a difficult player to manage and he was also involved in a spat with team captain Arthur Numan. As a result, he saw his first-team chances limited to just 10 appearances for that season.

In 1997, he moved to Japan to play for Urawa Red Diamonds^[1] before returning to RKC Waalwijk in 2000 where he finished his playing career.

International career

He was a prominent member of FR Yugoslavia national team through World Cup qualifying process throughout 1996-1997 period, and also represented his country in France 98.^[2]

Managerial and coaching career

On 21 August 2006 Petrović was appointed as the new head coach of Portuguese team Boavista FC. In his first match as manager, Boavista won 3-0 against Benfica. However, he resigned in October 2006 after only a month and a half in charge.^[3] The following 2007-2008 season Petrovic managed RKC Waalwijk to a second place in the Dutch 2nd division and failed to gain promotion to the Eredivisie. In the 2008-2009 season he was Martin Jol's assistant at Hamburger SV.

On 28 July 2010 West Ham United confirmed Petrović as the assistant manager to manager Avram Grant.^[4] On 23 November 2010, West Ham parted company with Petrović after less than four months. Upon his departure he made controversial comments about the Premier League questioning its quality.^[5]

On 17 March 2015, Petrović was named the assistant manager at Sunderland, but was sacked on the 4th of October later that year.^[6][7]

Club statistics

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National team statistics

^[9]

Managerial statistics

^[10]

References

External links

• Željko Petrović at National-Football-Teams.com
• Željko Petrović at Soccerway