Damir Krznar

Damir Krznar (born 10 July 1972) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Slovenian PrvaLiga club Celje.

Damir Krznar
Krznar in 2021
Personal information
Date of birth (1972-07-10) 10 July 1972
Place of birth Zabok, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia[1]
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Position(s) Left midfielder[2]
Team information
Current team
 Celje (head coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1995 Varteks 83 (4)
1995–2004 Dinamo Zagreb 122 (7)
2004–2010 Inter Zaprešić 134 (1)
Total 339 (12)
International career
1998 Croatia 1 (0)
Managerial career
2010–2011 Inter Zaprešić (assistant)
2011–2016 Dinamo Zagreb (assistant)
2013 Dinamo Zagreb (interim)
2016–2017 Al Nassr (assistant)
2017–2019 Al Ain (assistant)
2019 Al Hilal (assistant)
2020–2021 Dinamo Zagreb (assistant)
2021 Dinamo Zagreb
2022 Dinamo Zagreb II
2022–2023 Maribor
2023– Celje
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Club

Krznar spent his career playing for Varteks, Dinamo Zagreb and Inter Zaprešić.[1]

International

He made his international debut coming in as a second half substitute for Robert Jarni against Poland on 22 April 1998, which was his only appearance for the Croatia national team.[1][3]

Managerial career

Career as assistant

In the period between 2010 and 2021, Krznar worked as an assistant coach to Ilija Lončarević at Inter Zaprešić, to Krunoslav Jurčić, Ante Čačić, Branko Ivanković and Zoran Mamić at Dinamo Zagreb, and to Mamić at Al Nassr, Al Ain and Al Hilal.[4]

He served as Dinamo interim manager on two occasions; from August to September 2013,[5] and from July to September 2015.[6]

Dinamo Zagreb

After Zoran Mamić was sentenced to five years in prison on 15 March 2021, he resigned on the same day and was succeeded by Krznar, who made his debut as Dinamo head coach on 18 March in a 3–0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Stadion Maksimir, thus qualifying for the quarter-finals of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League for the first time in the history of the club. Furthermore, Krznar became the first ever manager to eliminate Spurs head coach José Mourinho from the Europa League (the Portuguese took part in the competition two more times before–in 2002–03 coaching Porto, and in 2016–17 coaching Manchester United–winning both editions).[7][8][9][10] However, Dinamo went on to lose their quarter-final fixture against Villarreal 3–1 on aggregate.[11]

On 9 May 2021, Dinamo secured its 22nd Croatian First League title with a 5–1 victory over Rijeka, and the 32nd national league title in total.[12] Ten days later, Dinamo also won the Croatian Cup title, with a victory against Istra 1961 by a scoreline of 6–3.[13]

Krznar left Dinamo on 1 December 2021 after being eliminated by Rijeka in the quarter-finals of the Croatian Cup.[14] However, the next month, he took over the reserve team of Dinamo,[15] playing in the Croatian Second League, where he stayed until the team was dissolved following the 2021–22 season.[16]

Maribor

On 16 August 2022, Krznar took charge of the reigning Slovenian PrvaLiga champions Maribor, signing a two-year contract.[17] At the time of his arrival, Maribor was sitting in last place in the league with only three points out of five games.[17] He led the club to third place in the league and also reached the cup final, earning a contract extension until 2026.[18] However, after a poor start to the 2023–24 season, Krznar terminated his contract by mutual consent and left the club on 2 October 2023. In total, he led Maribor in 55 matches and achieved 28 wins, 13 draws and 14 defeats.[19]

Managerial statistics
As of 1 October 2023[20]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Club From To Record
P W D L Win %
Dinamo Zagreb (interim) 22 August 2013 2 September 2013 3 3 0 0 100.00
Dinamo Zagreb 15 March 2021 1 December 2021 48 29 11 8 060.42
Dinamo Zagreb II 7 January 2022 16 August 2022 15 7 2 6 046.67
Maribor 16 August 2022 2 October 2023 55 28 13 14 050.91
Total 121 67 26 28 055.37

Honours

Player

Dinamo Zagreb

Manager

Dinamo Zagreb

References
  1. "Damir Krznar - Povijest Dinama" (in Croatian). GNK Dinamo Zagreb. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  2. "Damir Krznar". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  3. "Damir Krznar, international football player". eu-football.info. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  4. "Pomoćnik dolazi na Mamićevo mjesto i vodi utakmicu protiv Mourinha". Croatian Radiotelevision (in Croatian). 16 March 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  5. "Nakon samo osam utakmica na klupi, Branko Ivanković više nije trener Dinama!". evarazdin.hr (in Croatian). 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  6. Hina (5 July 2015). "Vođenje momčadi Dinama preuzeo prvi pomoćnik i pomoćni trener Damir Krznar". Novi list (in Croatian). Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  7. "Čudo na Maksimiru! Dinamo izbacio Tottenham iz Europske lige" (in Croatian). Croatian Radiotelevision. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  8. UEFA.com. "Dinamo Zagreb vs Tottenham: UEFA Europa League background, form guide, previous meetings". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  9. "Sorry Tottenham stunned by Dinamo Zagreb in Europa League exit". BBC Sport. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  10. Hina (19 March 2021). "'Ovo je raspad u Hrvatskoj!; Pa ovo je neprihvatljivo! 'Sramotni Spursi'; 'Veličanstveni Oršić...'". Sportske novosti (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  11. Antolić, Dražen (16 April 2021). "Nakon ispadanja iz Europske lige postoji nešto za čime Modri imaju razloga najviše žaliti". Sportske novosti (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  12. "Dinamo obranio naslov prvaka Hrvatske!" (in Croatian). GNK Dinamo Zagreb. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  13. "Dinamo je pobjednik Hrvatskog nogometnog kupa!" (in Croatian). GNK Dinamo Zagreb. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  14. "Damir Krznar više nije trener Dinama". index.hr (in Croatian). 1 December 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  15. "Početak priprema Dinamove B momčadi". gnkdinamo.hr (in Croatian). 7 January 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  16. "Kdo je Damir Krznar? Spisal je enega največjih Dinamovih evropskih preobratov in porazil Mourinha" (in Slovenian). Nogomania. 16 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  17. M. R. (16 August 2022). "Uradno: Novi trener Maribora je Damir Krznar" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  18. A. G. (5 May 2023). "Krznar pred finalom pokala podaljšal z vijoličastimi do leta 2026" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  19. "Damir Krznar ni več trener NK Maribor" (in Slovenian). NK Maribor. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  20. "Damir Krznar – Stats and titles won". footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
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