Igor Štimac

At the club level Štimac played for his local Croatian club Hajduk Split and, most notably, the English club Derby County. Štimac arrived at the Baseball Ground on 31 October 1995 for a fee of £1.5 million from Hajduk Split. He scored a goal on his debut for the Rams away at Tranmere, but the Rams fell to a heavy 5–1 defeat. The rest of the season was more successful, as Derby gained promotion and remained unbeaten in 20 consecutive matches. During this time he formed a strong partnership with Dean Yates in the centre of Derby's defence. Štimac played nearly four years with the Rams, and made 84 league appearances for the Rams, in addition to seven FA Cup appearances and two League Cup appearances. He was sold on 29 August 1999 to West Ham United for £600,000, where he scored once, against Newcastle United.

Štimac played for the Croatia national team, winning 53 caps and scoring two goals, and formed part of a Croatia squad that won the bronze medal at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. His final international was a February 2002 friendly match against Bulgaria. Previously, Štimac was a member of the highly talented Yugoslavia under-20 team that won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, playing four games and scoring two goals in the tournament.

International goals

Early days

Štimac started his managerial career in 2001, taking charge of the Hajduk Split football academy and also acting as the club's sport director. Hajduk won two championships during this time (2003–04 and 2004–05). In 2004–05 season he took managerial position for the last 10 games after replacing Blaž Slišković. With many difficulties he managed to win championship but lost the cup final to HNK Rijeka. In the spring of 2006, he also spent a few months coaching Croatian first division side Cibalia, saving them from relegation. On 14 September 2009, he was appointed as the new NK Zagreb manager after they lost the first seven games of the season, replacing Luka Pavlović. However Štimac managed to save NK Zagreb from relegation and left the club at the end of the season.

Croatia national team

On 5 July 2012, Štimac was appointed as the new Croatia national football team manager, after the departure of his former national team teammate Slaven Bilić. His first match as Croatia manager came in a friendly game against Switzerland at Poljud Stadium, which ended in a disappointing 2–4 loss. Despite that loss, Croatia entered the 2014 World Cup qualifies in decent fashion, taking 16 points from first six games. However, the results were not representative of Croatia's form on the pitch, as the team only had a goal difference of +7 from those six matches and scored the majority of their goals from set pieces, counterattacks, and defensive errors by their…

Player

Hajduk Split

Croatian First League: 1992, 1994–95 Croatian Cup: 1995 Yugoslav Cup: 1991 Croatian Super Cup: 1994 Derby County

First Division runner-up: 1995–96 Yugoslavia U-20

FIFA U-20 World Cup: 1987 Croatia

FIFA World Cup third place: 1998

Manager

Hajduk Split

Croatian First League: 2004–05 India

SAFF Championship: 2021, 2023 Tri-Nation Series: 2023 InterContinental Cup: 2023 Zrinjski Mostar

Bosnian Cup: 2025–26 Bosnian Supercup: 2025

Orders

Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar – 1995 Order of the Croatian Trefoil – 1998