Aljoša Asanović

Early career

Born in Split, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, Asanović started his professional career with Hajduk Split in 1984. In the 1989 to 1990 season, Asanović emerged as the best player of the Yugoslavia football league. This was first of the three spells he had with Hajduk, as he came back to play for the club in 1994 and 2001 respectively. In his first spell with Hajduk, he played until the 1990, when he was signed by the French club Metz.

French clubs

Asanović spent one season with Metz, during which he made total of 35 appearances and scored 13 goals. In the summer of 1991, he moved to another French club, Cannes, where he also spent only one season. At the beginning of the 1992/93 season, he was signed by his third club in France: Montpellier. He appeared in total of 43 matches and scored ten goals in the process. He stayed with the club for two seasons, until the summer of 1994.

Hajduk Split

After four seasons in France, Asanović was summoned by his native club Hajduk Split in 1994. The club signed Asanović and several other important players such as Igor Štimac, Tonči Gabrić and Barcelona youngster Goran Vučević, as they were eager to qualify for 1994–95 UEFA Champions League for the first time since Croatian independence. Asanović scored two goals in second leg of qualifier against Legia Warsaw and Hajduk Split qualified for 1994–95 UEFA Champions League. Asanović added another goal in the group stage match against Steaua București.…

Asanović was one of the best players for the Croatia national team during their golden age from 1994 to 1998. He was arguably Croatia's most intelligent player in midfield, yet lacked the complete package of skills possessed by his fellow midfielder Robert Prosinečki. He debuted for the national on 17 October 1990, which ended in a 2–1 victory against the United States. This was Croatia's first international game since the independence from Yugoslavia, and Asanović even scored the first goal. Asanović participated in the Euro 1996 as well as the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in which Croatia won the bronze medal. In semi-final of the FIFA World Cup, Asanović made a spectacular assist to Davor Šuker from the centre of the field with a loop pass, for Croatia to take the lead against the host France. His last international match was a 28 May 2000 friendly against France. In total he was capped 62 times, scoring 3 goals, thus ranking among the top five Croatian national players. Asanović ended his active career in 2002 while with Hajduk Split, the club in which his career had started almost twenty years earlier.

In 2006, he became assistant manager of the Croatia national team. He held this role from 2006 until 2012, working alongside Slaven Bilić, who was the head coach. He departed when Bilić was replaced by Igor Štimac. After his departure from the national team, Asanović took up another assistant role, this time in Russia, following Slaven Bilić to Lokomotiv Moscow. Asanović departed the club at the end of the season. In 2015, Asanović became the new technical director of Dunajská Streda. In October 2017, Asanović took up a job in Australia, becoming the head coach of National Premier Leagues Victoria side Melbourne Knights. In October 2018, Asanović took up an assistant coach role with a Saudi Arabian premier league side Al-Ittihad until 2019. Asanović was the Director and Diaspora instructor for the Croatian Football Federation from 2019 to June 2021 before being appointed Technical Director for the Zambia national team, a role he held till December 2021. He was appointed as head coach of the Zambian national team in January 2022. He left in September over alleged non-payment of wages.

Asanović's son Antonio, who was born in France while he was playing for Cannes, is also a footballer.