Samir Toplak

Toplak started his career with Varteks, in Varaždin, and spent the first ten seasons of his career there. After proving himself to be one of the best defenders in the top level Prva HNL, Toplak transferred to German Bundesliga club VfL Bochum. He spent four seasons in Germany, where the club floated between first and second division. Toplak returned to Varteks in the summer of 2002, for the last season of his top-level football career. He played two friendly matches for Croatia in 1994, against Slovakia and Israel.

During his last two years as a player, Toplak had started working as a youth coach in the Varteks system. Upon retirement, he became a club director and became an assistant manager (2005–2007) with the senior team. In 2010, Toplak was hired as manager of the senior team, the same year that it changed its name to NK Varaždin. He led the relatively young team, consisting mainly of Varaždin's home grown players, to a successful 2011–12 UEFA Europa League campaign, beating FC Lusitanos and Iskra-Stal before they were stopped in the third qualifying round by Romanian powerhouse Dinamo București in a narrow two leg encounter. However, the success in UEFA play was soon overshadowed when the club went bankrupt and was demoted to the very bottom of the Croatian football league system. In August 2011 Toplak took over another Prva HNL club, HNK Cibalia, from Vinkovci. In the 2011–12 Prva HNL season, Toplak led Cibalia to a top table position and the semi-finals of the Croatian Cup. However, due to disagreements with the club's executive board, Toplak chose to leave Vinkovci in July 2012. In December 2012, Toplak was appointed as manager of HNK Gorica, a second-level Druga HNL side located in Velika Gorica. Gorica's first half of the 2012–13 Druga HNL season had been disastrous, and they finished the first half in the relegation zone. Toplak was hired to bring the club back to the top of the chart by the end of the season. After failing to move Gorica out of the relegation zone, Toplak…

His given name happens to be Bosnian which has sometimes caused confusion, as his family is actually from Kneginec near Varaždin. In 1994 Toplak married his girlfriend of two years, Vesna. Two years later, they had their first daughter, Lana, and three years after that, while living in Bochum, Germany, daughter Bianka was born. In 2004 Toplak settled down with his family in a small village outside of Varaždin.