Ljupko Petrović

Ljubomir "Ljupko" Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Љубомир "Љупко" Петровић; born 15 May 1947) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He also holds a Bosnian passport.

Ljupko Petrović
Petrović as CSKA Sofia manager in 2019
Personal information
Full name Ljubomir Petrović
Date of birth (1947-05-15) 15 May 1947
Place of birth Brusnica Velika,
PR Bosnia and Herzegovina,
FPR Yugoslavia
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Thanh Hóa (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1967–1979 Osijek 318 (134)
1979–1981 Buffalo Stallions (indoor) 70 (79)
1981–1982 Kansas City Comets (indoor) 25 (15)
1982 Phoenix Inferno (indoor) 15 (8)
Total 428 (236)
Teams managed
1982–1984 Osijek (youth)
1984 Espanyol (assistant)
1984–1987 Osijek
1987–1988 Spartak Subotica
1987 Yugoslavia U18 (assistant)
1988 Yugoslavia U21
1988–1990 Vojvodina
1990 Rad
1990–1991 Red Star Belgrade
1991 Espanyol
1992 Peñarol
1992–1993 PAOK
1993 Olympiacos
1994–1996 Red Star Belgrade
1996 Grazer AK
1996–1997 Vojvodina
1998–1999 Al-Ahli Dubai
1999–2000 Shanghai Shenhua
2000–2001 Levski Sofia
2002–2003 Beijing Guoan
2003–2004 Litex Lovech
2004 Red Star Belgrade
2005–2007 Litex Lovech
2008 OFK Beograd
2008 Croatia Sesvete
2008–2009 Vojvodina
2010–2011 Lokomotiva
2011–2013 Taraz
2013 Akzhayik
2015 APR FC
2015 Litex Lovech
2016 Levski Sofia
2017 Thanh Hóa
2018 APR FC
2018–2019 CSKA Sofia (consultant)
2019 CSKA Sofia
2020– Thanh Hóa
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

As a manager, Petrović's biggest success was winning the European Cup in the 1990–91 season with Red Star Belgrade.

Playing career

Born in Brusnica Velika (a village near Bosanski Brod) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Petrović, Started playing for NK Darda and then moved to NK Osijek during most of his career. After his career at Osijek he also spent some time in the United States.

Managerial career

As a manager, he has been in charge of NK Osijek, FK Spartak Subotica, FK Rad, FK Vojvodina, and finally Red Star Belgrade, with whom he won the 1991 European Cup.

He has also managed Spanish side RCD Espanyol, Uruguayan C.A. Peñarol, Austrian Grazer AK (where he was dismissed after slapping Boban Dmitrović[1]) and Chinese Shanghai Shenhua and Beijing Guoan.

He had another two spells at Red Star before moving to Bulgaria in the 2000s to coach PFC Levski Sofia and later PFC Litex Lovech. He came back to Serbia in March 2008 to become the manager of OFK Beograd, but he resigned from this position one month later.

On 2 July 2008, Petrović became the head coach of Croatian First League team Croatia Sesvete, thus becoming the first Serbian head coach of a Croatian first division team after the Yugoslav wars.

On 23 December 2008, he was appointed for the head coach of his former team FK Vojvodina from Novi Sad, title challengers in the Serbian Superliga for the 2008–09 season. Yet, after gaining only one point in the first two matches of the second part of the season, he resigned from this position on 8 March 2009. In 2010 he coached Croatian side NK Lokomotiva a feeding club of Croatian football giant GNK Dinamo Zagreb.

In the summer of 2015 Petrović managed Litex Lovech for three matches, leading them to first place in the 2015–16 A PFG standings, but left the team in early August for family reasons.[2] In early December he returned to the team from Lovech once again after the position of manager was vacated by Laurențiu Reghecampf. Petrović guided them to the 1/2 finals of the Bulgarian Cup. However, it eventually turned out to be another short-lived appointment for the Serbian head coach, as Litex were expelled from the A PFG by the Bulgarian Football Union after their players were ordered off the pitch in a heated derby match against Levski Sofia held on 12 December.[3][4]

In May 2016, he was unveiled as the new manager of Levski Sofia, replacing Stoycho Stoev.[5] He left Levski on 22 October 2016.[6]

After Levski he also managed Viatnemese club Thanh Hoa FC and Rwandan club APR FC.

In December 2018, Petrović became a consultant at PFC CSKA Sofia.[7]

Since July 21, 2019 he is officially the head coach of PFC CSKA Sofia, replacing Dobromir Mitov who was demoted to assistant.

FK Sarajevo controversy

On 8 April 2014, Petrović was announced as the successor of the recently sacked Croatian manager Robert Jarni as the head of the FK Sarajevo team.[8]

However, only two days after, a picture of the manager and deceased Serbian paramilitary commander Arkan erupted in the Bosnian media depicting Petrović holding a weapon while instructed by the war criminal.[9] This resulted in a hurried press conference where the FK Sarajevo board of members announced that no contract would be signed with Petrović.

The manager himself agreed to the decision, citing the possibility of strained working conditions after the unexpected publication. He however claimed no involvement in the Yugoslav wars nor the paramilitary activities of Arkan.[10] Petrović managed FK Sarajevo for only one day, conducting a single training with the players. The authenticity of the photo has later been brought to doubt.[11]

Personal life

Petrović is married to Snežana with whom he has two children: son Srđan and daughter Svetlana. He also has three grandchildren: Nikola, Anastasija and Viktor.

Honours

Player

Osijek

Manager

Spartak Subotica

Vojvodina

Red Star Belgrade

Levski Sofia

Beijing Guoan

Litex Lovech

APR FC

References
  1. "Nach manchen Spielen habe ich geweint", Wiener Zeitung, 22nd February 2012
  2. "Люпко Петрович напусна Литекс, Регенкампф поема тима. Сърбинът имал семейни проблеми". topsport.bg. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  3. Tomov, Assen; Kichukov, Simeon (4 December 2015). "Точно преди дербито с "Лудогорец", Регекампф абдикира и избяга в "Стяуа". 7sport.net. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  4. "Люпко Петрович напусна Литекс". sportal.bg. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  5. ""Левски" представи Петрович, целта му е първото място". dnevnik.bg. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  6. "Шок в Левски: Люпко подаде оставка минути преди мача" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 22 October 2016.
  7. A. Pašić (5 December 2018). "Ne pomišlja na penziju: Petrović našao novi angažman" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  8. "Ljupko Petrović novi trener FK Sarajevo". Klix.ba. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  9. Vedran Radenović. "Petrović zbog Arkana neće biti trener Sarajeva". Nezavisne.com. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  10. "FK Sarajevo neće potpisati ugovor sa Petrovićem zbog fotografije sa Arkanom". Klix.ba. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  11. "ATV VIDEO: Petrović bez posla zbog fotografije sa Arkanom - ATV - ATV". Atvbl.com. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
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