Bojan Prašnikar

Infobox Football biography
playername = Bojan Prašnikar
height = height|m=1.91
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1953|2|3
cityofbirth = Šmartno ob Paki
countryofbirth = SFR Yugoslavia
currentclub = FC Energie Cottbus
clubnumber =
position = Manager (former striker)
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = ?–1976
1976–1977
1977–1983
1983–1984
clubs = NK Šmartno
Olimpija Ljubljana
NK Šmartno
SVG Bleiburg
caps(goals) =
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 1984–1989
1989–1991
1991–1992
1993–1994
1995–1996
1996–2000
2000–2001
2001–2002
2002–2004
2004–2005
2005–2006
2006–2007
2007–
managerclubs = NK Elkroj
NK Kladivar
NK Mura
Olimpija Ljubljana
Rudar Velenje
NK Maribor
Olimpija Ljubljana
NK Maribor
Slovenia
NK Mura
AEL Limassol
NK Primorje
FC Energie Cottbus
pcupdate = 24 October 2006
ntupdate = N/A

Bojan Prašnikar (born February 03, 1953 in Šmartno ob Paki) is a Slovenian football manager and former player.

Playing career

Prašnikar started his professional football career in at his home town club NK Šmartno where in the 1975-76 season he was the top scorer of the Slovenian league. After that season he moved to Olimpija Ljubljana, spending only one year there before returning to Šmartno, where he played for the next 6 seasons. During this period he was the league's top scorer on three occasions and helped NK Šmartno become Slovenian champions in 1981. In 1983 he transferred to SVG Bleiburg of Austria where he played for one season before retiring.

Coaching career

After retirement, Prašnikar focused on coaching, starting his managerial career at NK Šmartno, before moving on to coach various other clubs - Elkroj, Ingrad Celje, NK Mura, Olimpija Ljubljana (leading them to 2 Slovenian league titles) and Rudar Velenje. His most successful spell however, came while in charge of NK Maribor from 1996 to 2000. Under his guidance, the club won the Slovenian league 4 times and qualified for the group phase of the UEFA Champions League (the only Slovenian club to ever achieve this), after defeating KRC Genk and Olympique Lyon in the qualifying rounds.

Bojan Prašnikar was the manager of the Slovenian national football team during three time spans. After Slovenia's independence in 1991 he was named the first head coach of the national team. He remained in the position until December 1993, when Zdenko Verdenik took charge of the Slovenian affairs until the end of the unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the FIFA World Cup 1998. Prašnikar was re-installed head coach in December 1997, but his second spell at the helm of Slovenia lasted for only four month as in April 1998 he resigned due to his commitments with NK Maribor on club-level. He was replaced by Srečko Katanec.

His third spell in charge of the Slovenian national team started in July 2002, when the Football Association of Slovenia appointed him the successor of Katanec after the disappointing first round finish of the national team at the FIFA World Cup 2002 and Katanec's swift resignation. This job lasted until May 2004. Not qualified for the 2004 European Football Championship tournament, the Slovenian FA replaced Prašnikar with Branko Oblak, who was the head coach of the Slovenian U21 at that time.

On September 28, 2007 he was appointed by German Bundesliga outfit Energie Cottbus, who had parted company with head coach Petrik Sander five days earlier. Prašnikar, who was in charge of Primorje Ajdovščina in the Slovenian league before that, signed a deal until June 2009 with the former German Cup finalist.

External links

* [http://www.fcenergie.de/team/person.php?KaderID=184 Career profile (from FC Energie Cottbus website)] de icon