Srečko Katanec

Club

Katanec began playing football at the age of seven with NK Ljubljana. In 1981, he joined Olimpija; in 1985, he joined Dinamo Zagreb; while the next year, he signed with Partizan and was a Yugoslav champion in 1987. In 1988, Katanec joined VfB Stuttgart in the German Bundesliga. The club reached the 1989 UEFA Cup final, but lost to Diego Maradona's Napoli. Katanec played just one season for Stuttgart. In 1989, he signed for Italian Serie A side Sampdoria, where he won the European Cup Winners' Cup in his first season. In 1991, Sampdoria won the Scudetto as Serie A champions, while the next year, the club reached the 1992 European Cup final, losing to Barcelona. In 1994, he also won the Coppa Italia with Sampdoria under manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.

International

Katanec was a member of the Yugoslavia national team for the 1984 European Championship in France, but he has fonder memories of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where Yugoslavia team won a bronze medal. He was playing successfully in the qualifying round for 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy so he became the third Slovenian to play at a World Cup, where he appeared in three of Yugoslavia's five matches. These would be his last three caps for Yugoslavia. Altogether, he appeared in 31 matches and scored 5 goals. Katanec played five more matches (and scored a goal) for the independent Slovenia national team, but appeared in only one official match. That was a qualifying round for the 1996 European…

Club

Managerial

As of match played 19 November 2024

Between 1996 and 1997, Katanec was an assistant manager of Drago Kostanjšek at the Slovenia under-21 team. In December 1997, he became a head coach of Gorica, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract. In July 1998, he was announced as the Slovenian national team manager. With Slovenia, he qualified for the 2000 UEFA European Championship after eliminating Ukraine in the qualifying play-offs, which was the country's first-ever appearance at the major tournament. At the tournament, Slovenia earned draws against FR Yugoslavia and Norway, and lost to Spain. Slovenia also managed to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where they lost all three matches against Spain, South Africa and Paraguay. After the first game, Katanec had a huge argument with the team's star player Zlatko Zahovič, who was sent home. He resigned immediately after the World Cup. On 2 November 2002, he became the new manager of Olympiacos. Under Katanec's command, Olympiacos played worse than expected, and on 7 February 2003 the club terminated his contract with immediate effect due to poor performances and a bad atmosphere in the team. In 2004, Katanec was a candidate to become the national team manager of Croatia; however, Zlatko Kranjčar was chosen instead of him. On 17 February 2006, Katanec was appointed as Macedonia's head coach for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers. Following a mixed set of results in the qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, including a 1–0 win against Scotland and a 4–0 loss to…

Katanec was born in Ljubljana to Croat parents from Međimurje. He has two sons, Svit Oliver and Ian Oskar.