- Dragan Talajić
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Dragan Talajić 
Personal information Full name Dragan Talajić Date of birth 25 August 1965 Place of birth Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Playing position Goalkeeper Club information Current club Al Kuwait (manager) Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1992-1993 
NK Belvedur Izola1993-1995 
Zeytinburnuspor26 (2) 1997–2001 
Tanjong Pagar United FCTeams managed 2004 
Al Ittihad2005-2006 
Bahrain Riffa Club2006-2007 East Riffa Club2007-2009 Al Nahda2009-2010 
Shabab Al Ordon2010-2011 Al-Wahdat2011- 
Al Kuwait* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Dragan Talajić (born 25 August 1965) is a Croatian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is a football manager who is currently coaching Al Kuwait from Kuwait. For the season 2010-2011 Talajić was declared Best Coach of Asia and Best Coach of Arabic football world 2010-2011 by the television giant Al Jazeera Sport TV, Best Coach of Arabic football world 2010-2011 by MBC Sport TV and Best Coach of Jordan 2010-2011 by votes of people and Press.
Contents
Club career
Talajić had a spell with Zeytinburnuspor in the Turkish Super Lig during the 1994-95 season.[1] Dragan started in FK Sarajevo and was one of the brightest young talents of Jugoslavian football. As a junior player for Fk Sarajevo Dragan Talajić broke the record of the great Jugoslavian goalkeper Slobodan Janjuš by having received only one goal in the whole season.Talajić left a big mark in Singaporean football, since he was twice elected the player of the year.
Career as manager
Al Ittihad
At the age of 39, Talajić won the AFC Champions League 2004 in his first match as a manager of Al-Ittihad (KSA).[2] Talajic won in the final game of AFC Champions League 2004 5-0 in Korea against Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and that is the most remarkable win in the history of Asian Football.
Bahrain Riffa Club & Al-Nahda (RSA)
Following his dismissal from Al-Ittihad, lead Al Riffa from Bahrain to the finals stage of the Gulf Cup in 2005/2006. At the age of 42 Talajić led Saudi club Al Nahda to the final of the Prince Faisal Cup 2007/2008 entering in the history of Saudi football as the first team from second league to play the finals of Prince Faisal Cup.
Shabab Al-Ordon Al-Qadisiya
In the 2009-10 season, Talajić was the coach of Shabab al Ordon (Jordan Youth Club)from Amman, Jordan. He led his team to a victory in AFC Cup in Yemen against Al Ahli Sanaa, drew both home and away against Al-Karmah from Syria, then drew in Oman against Saham and won against Saham in Jordan and qualified to the next round of the AFC Cup, thanks to a win in Jordan against Al-Ahli Sanna by 6-1.
Al-Wahdat Amman
For the season 2010-2011, Talajić is the head coach of the biggest Jordanian side Al-Wahdat from Amman. His remarkable trophy run began on 6 August 2010 when Talajić won his first trophy of the season with Al-Wahdat winning 2-0 in the finals of the Jordan Shield Cup.
On August 13.2010 Dragan Talajić won the Jordan Super Cup against Al-Wahdat's bitter rival Al- Faisaly. The title win was 10th Super Cup trophy that Al-Wahdat have won in the clubs history.
At the end of season 2010-2011 Talajic's Al-Wahdat finished first winning the Jordan League with 17 point difference between them and Al-Faisaly who finished second. Talajić's Al-Wahdat finished end of season with 16 wins, 3 draw and 1 loss. His team scored 42 goals and received only 16. Talajić made an remarkable run with 46 games without defeat.
On May the 21. Talajić won the Jordan League Cup as his forth trophy of the season becoming the second coach in history to win all 4 trophies in one season.{ 1st coach was akram salman from iraq in 2008-09 season }
Kuwait SC
In July 2011, Talajić signed a one year contract with Kuwait SC club from Kuwait. Talajić was brought to Kuwait SC after his remarkable run with Al Wahdat in the season 2010-2011. Talajić led his club to victory at home against Muangthong United wining by 1-0. In Thailand the score was 0-0 and Kuwait SC qualified to the semi-finals of the AFC cup. Talajić was dismissed in the 65' minute in Thailand after entering the pitch to protest to the referee for his disgraceful performance after the Thai players injured 4 Kuwaiti players without receiving any cards for their dirty way of playing. Talajić was later suspended by the Asian Football Federation for one game due to his actions.In the semi-finals of AFC Cup Talajić's Kuwait SC played against Iraqi's Arbil FC. Kuwait won in Iraq with the result 2-0 and played in Kuwait 3-3 to qualify to the AFC Cup Finals. Their opponent in the finals was FC Nasaf Qarshi from Uzbekistan. The finals where played at Qarshi Stadium located in Qarshi, Uzbekistan. FC Nasaf Qarshi had to their advantage the home stadium and fans witch led to a hell of an atmosphere for Talajić's team. The game ended with 2-1 for FC Nasaf Qarshi.
Achievements as manager
Honors
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- 2004 (Al-Ittihad (Jeddah))
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- 2010-2011 (Al-Wahdat)
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- 2010-2011 (Al-Wahdat)
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- 2010-2011 (Al-Wahdat)
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- 2010-2011 (Al-Wahdat)
Declarations
- Best Coach of Asia 2010-2011 (Al Jazeera Sport TV)
- Best Coach of Arabic football world 2010-2011 (Al Jazeera Sport TV & MBC Sport TV)
- Best Coach of Jordan 2010-2011 (Votes of people and Press)
Performances
- AFC Champions League: 2004-2005
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- Finals(champion) (Al-Ittihad (RSA))
- Gulf Club Champions Cup: 2005-2006
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- Finals(runner-up) (Bahrain Riffa Club)
- Saudi Federation Cup: 2007-2008
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- Finals(runner-up) (Al-Nahda (RSA))
- AFC Cup: 2009-2010, 2010–2011
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- Round of 16 (Shabab Al-Ordon Al-Qadisiya)
- Finals(runner-up) (Al Kuwait)
- Jordan FA Shield: 2010-2011
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- Finals(champion) (Al-Wahdat)
- Jordan Super Cup: 2010-2011
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- Finals(champion) (Al-Wahdat)
- Jordan FA Cup: 2010-2011
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- Finals(champion) (Al-Wahdat)
References
- ^ "DRAGAN TALAJIC". Turkish Football Federation. http://www.tff.org/Default.aspx?pageId=526&kisiId=25710. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
- ^ "Al Ittihad snatch crown after amazing recovery". FIFA. 2004-12-06. http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/tournament=107/edition=4735/news/newsid=95604.html. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
Categories:- 1965 births
- Living people
- Yugoslav footballers
- Croatian footballers
- Croatian expatriate footballers
- Croatian football managers
- Zeytinburnuspor footballers
- Süper Lig players
- Ittihad FC managers
- Expatriate footballers in Turkey
- Expatriate footballers in Singapore
- Football managers in Bahrain
- Croatian expatriates in Bahrain
- Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia
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