Nenad Bjelica

Nenad Bjelica

Personal information
Date of birth	20 August 1971 (1971-08-20) (age 40)
Place of birth	Osijek, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
	Osijek
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1991–1993	Osijek	28	(7)
1993–1996	Albacete Balompié	79	(19)
1996–1998	Real Betis	30	(2)
1998–1999	Las Palmas	24	(3)
1999–2001	Osijek	30	(16)
2001–2004	1. FC Kaiserslautern	65	(5)
2004–2006	Admira Wacker Mödling	52	(12)
2006–2008	FC Kärnten	58	(17)
Total		366	(81)
National team‡
1993	Croatia U21	1	(0)
2001	Croatia B	1	(0)
2001–2004	Croatia	9	(0)
Teams managed
2007–2009	FC Kärnten
2009–2010	Lustenau 07
2010–	WAC St. Andrä
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:28, 16 December 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:28, 16 december 2009 (UTC)

Nenad Bjelica (born 20 August 1971 in Osijek) is a former Croatian football player and currently coach who played for Albacete Balompié, Real Betis and Kaiserslautern. Bjelica played as midfielder.

Career

Nenad Bjelica started playing for a small club Metalac Olt in the 1989–90 season. He quickly moved to NK Osijek and spent almost four seasons there, before moving abroad to Spain.

He played for Albacete Balompié for four years, during which time the team reached the Copa del Rey semi-final. In 1996, he moved to Real Betis and was in the team that was the runner-up in the Copa del Rey. The next season he spent at UD Las Palmas, but returned to Real Betis a year later. Due to injuries, he played very few games in this period, and would again spend a season at UD Las Palmas until the end of 1999.

Bjelica then returned home to NK Osijek for two seasons and recovered his form, playing with the team in three stages of the UEFA Cup. He then moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 2000, where he spent four seasons until semi-retiring top-tier football in 2004. During the 2004–05 season he played for VfB Admira Wacker Mödling. After that he played for the Austrian club FC Kärnten in the Austrian Football First League (Austria's second division), before retiring on 31 June 2008.

Coaching career

He began his coaching career on 15 September 2007 at FC Kärnten, as player-caretaker manager. On 1 July 2008, he signed a full managing contract, just a day after ending his playing career.^[1]

International

He played for Croatia from 2001 (nine matches, no goals) until 2004.^[2] He took part in the UEFA Euro 2004 but retired from the team in that year, at the same time the manager Otto Barić was replaced.

References

1. ^ "Nenad Bjelica: „Austria Kärnten ist ein Thema für mich"" (in German). transfermarkt.de. 23 March 2010. http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/news/37134/nenad-bjelica-austria-kaernten-ist-ein-thema-fuer-mich.html. Retrieved 30 December 2010. 
2. ^ Mamrud, Roberto (16 July 2009). "Croatia – Record International Players". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/kroa-recintlp.html. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 

External links

• Nenad Bjelica – FIFA competition record
• Nenad Bjelica at National-Football-Teams.com
• Nenad Bjelica profile at transfermarkt.de
• Nenad Bjelica national team appearances at the Croatian Football Federation official website

Persondata
Name	Bjelica, Nenad
Alternative names
Short description	footballer
Date of birth	20 August 1971
Place of birth	Osijek, SFR Yugoslavia
Date of death
Place of death