Alen Petrović

Petrović's professional debut came in the 1989–90 Yugoslav First League for the Croatian side NK Osijek, where he immediately established himself as a regular member of the starting eleven. After spending five seasons with Osijek and one season at Belenenses in Portugal he was picked up by the Croatian powerhouse NK Dinamo Zagreb (at the time known as "Croatia Zagreb") in 1995. His time at Croatia proved to be very successful as the squad won three consecutive domestic Doubles between 1996 and 1998 and reached the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Round of 16 in which they were knocked out by Atlético Madrid 2–1 on aggregate. In 1998, he tried his luck abroad once again and spent a season with VfL Bochum in Germany but he never managed to break into the first team – he appeared in only seven games for Bochum in the 1998–99 Bundesliga before the club was relegated from top level at the end of season. He then returned to Croatia and had stints with NK Slaven Belupo and NK Osijek before retirement. Shortly after retiring he was appointed director of football at NK Osijek in June 2005, a post he held until his contract was terminated by mutual consent in August 2009. He spent his second period as sporting director in NK Osijek from February 2016 to September 2020. He has been the longest-running sporting director of NK Osijek since the HNL was founded. From his work in NK Osijek he is well known for his ability to sign players for low-cost, then later selling them at great profit to Europe's…