Robert Prosinečki (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈrɔbɛrt ˈprɔsinɛtʃki], German: Robert Prosinetzki) (born 12 January 1969 in Villingen-Schwenningen) is a Croatian former football midfielder and current assistant manager of the Croatia national football team.

[edit] Club career

Born in West Germany to a family of Croatian gastarbeiters, Prosinečki moved to SR Croatia at an early age. He started his professional career at Dinamo Zagreb where former Yugoslavia coach Miroslav Blažević sent him away, saying that if Prosinečki ever became a real football player, he would eat his football diploma.^[1][2] Ironically Prosinečki developed into one of Yugoslavia's most gifted and talented players, moving to Red Star Belgrade where he became a notable midfielder under coaches Dragoslav Šekularac and Ljupko Petrović, winning the European Cup in 1991.

He then played with Real Madrid, Real Oviedo, Barcelona, Sevilla, NK Hrvatski dragovoljac, Standard Liège, Portsmouth (where he is considered a legend despite playing only one season in the latter stages of his career), Olimpija Ljubljana, and Zagreb.

Prosinečki is still held as a folk hero at Portsmouth for his marvelous one man performances in the centre of midfield, his goals and assists saving the club from relegation in the 2001/02 season. It was after talking to Prosinečki that current Croatia international Niko Kranjčar decided to sign for Portsmouth in the summer of 2006.^[3]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] International career

Prosinečki has 49 caps for Croatia and has scored 10 goals for his country. He was also capped 15 times, scoring four goals, for Yugoslavia. In 1987, Prosinečki was named the tournament's best player as Yugoslavia won the World Youth Championship in Chile along with fellow Croatians Davor Šuker and Igor Štimac. He then played for Yugoslavia at the 1990 World Cup and for Croatia at Euro 96 and the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. It was in 1998 that Prosinečki and the Croatian squad won third place in the World Cup, with Prosinečki scoring two goals along the way.

[edit] International goals

Results list Yugoslavia's goal

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	20 September 1989	Stadium of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia	Greece	2 – 0	3 – 0	Friendly
2	19 June 1990	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna, Italy	United Arab Emirates	4 – 1	4 – 1	World Cup 1990
3	12 September 1990	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	0 – 2	0 – 2	Euro 1992 Qualifying
4	16 May 1991	Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade, Yugoslavia	Faroe Islands	2 – 0	7 – 0	Euro 1992 Qualifying

Results list Croatia's goal

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	23 March 1994	Estadio Luís Casanova, Valencia, Spain	Spain	0 – 1	0 – 2	Friendly
2	25 March 1995	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Ukraine	3 – 0	4 – 0	Euro 1996 Qualifying
3	26 April 1995	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Slovenia	1 – 0	2 – 0	Euro 1996 Qualifying
4	2 April 1997	Poljud, Split, Croatia	Slovenia	1 – 0	3 – 3	World Cup 1998 Qualifying
5	3 June 1998	Kantrida Stadium, Rijeka, Croatia	Iran	1 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
6	6 June 1998	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Australia	3 – 0	7 – 0	Friendly
7	14 June 1998	Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens, France	Jamaica	1 – 2	1 – 3	World Cup 1998
8	11 July 1998	Parc des Princes, Paris, France	Netherlands	0 – 1	1 – 2	World Cup 1998
9	5 September 2001	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	0 – 2	0 – 4	World Cup 2002 Qualifying
10	5 September 2001	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	0 – 4	0 – 4	World Cup 2002 Qualifying

He is the only player in World Cup history to score for two different national teams. In 1990, he scored one goal for Yugoslavia in a group match against the United Arab Emirates and eight years later he added two goals for Croatia by scoring in a group match against Jamaica and in the third place match against the Netherlands. He played in a total of nine World Cup matches, three for Yugoslavia in 1990 and six for Croatia in 1998 and 2002.

[edit] Honours

[edit] International

• with  Yugoslavia
  • 1987 World Youth Championship winner
• with  Croatia
  • 1998 FIFA World Cup third place

[edit] Club

• Red Star Belgrade
  • Yugoslav First League: 1988, 1990, 1991
  • Yugoslav Cup: 1990
  • European Cup (now called Champions League): 1991
  • Intercontinental Cup: 1991
• Real Madrid
  • Copa del Rey: 1993
  • Spanish Super Cup: 1993
• Dinamo Zagreb
  • Prva HNL: 1998, 1999, 2000
  • Croatian Supercup: 1998
• Olimpija Ljubljana
  • Slovenian Cup: 2002

[edit] Individual

• 1987 World Youth Championship Golden Ball
• Bravo Award 1991
• Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport 1997
• "Vecernji list" Croatian Player of the Year: 1990, 1997 ^[4]
• Portsmouth Best Ever 11
• Only player to score in the World Cup finals for two different teams
• The fifth non-Spaniard who played for FC Barcelona and Real Madrid

[edit] Miscellaneous

• Prosinečki is regarded by many as the player with best technique that ever played in and for Croatia. Former national squad teammate Zvonimir Boban, humbly, also agreed with this. His dribbling is considered excellent, and his ability to keep possession of the ball is very highly regarded

• He is one of the few footballers to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid

• Prosinečki became infamously known for being a heavy smoker and rumors about his ability to smoke up to 50 cigarettes a day circulated in Croatian public for some time

In early 2006, Prosinečki made a short comeback playing for NK Savski Marof, an amateur side based in the village of Savski Marof near Zagreb, in the fourth tier of Croatian football^[5]

• In the summer of 2006, he was recruited as an assistant by Croatia's national team coach Slaven Bilić, with whom he has been helping plan out strategies for the team^[6]

• He is a double winner of Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport, in 1997 as an individual and in 1998 as a member of Croatian national football team

• Prosinečki was the lead star of a commercial campaign for Renault in Spain. YouTube

• He is married and has two daughters

• In 2006, Prosinečki guest starred as himself in one episode of the Croatian popular sitcom Bitange i princeze imDB

• Prosinečki opened a restaurant in Zagreb in 2007, and called it prosikito&kalimero^[7]

• At the end of the 2007-08 Premier League season the readers of The News have picked Prosinečki for all-time best Portsmouth eleven. He is only non-British player among elected

[edit] References

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2008) (Find sources: Robert Prosinečki – news, books, scholar)

1. ^ Jajčinović, Milan (20 November 1998). "Hrvatski jal" (in Croatian). Vjesnik. http://www.vjesnik.hr/html/1998/11/20/Gledista.htm. Retrieved 5 September 2008. 
2. ^ Jurišić, Predrag (25 June 2000). "Drugi odlazak »Velikog Žutog« - najtužniji dan za hrvatski nogomet" (in Croatian) (PDF). Vjesnik. http://www.vjesnik.com/pdf/2000%5C06%5C25%5C11A11.PDF. Retrieved 5 September 2008. 
3. ^ Kranjčar: Prosinečki je presudio - Sport - Net.hr
4. ^ "Vecernji list" Player of the Year
5. ^ Prosinečki će igrati za Savski Marof - Sport - Index.hr
6. ^ Croatia back among the big boys
7. ^ Elita na otvaranju restorana Roberta Prosinečkog - Javno.hr

[edit] External links

• Facebook fansite
• Interview with Prosinecki (English): http://www.extra-football.com/articles/robert-prosinecki-exclusive-interview.html
• National team stats from http://www.hns-cff.hr/?ln=hr&w=statistike&id=19406
• Club stats from http://www.national-football-teams.com/php/spieler.php?id=15044
• Portsmouth club stats from http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=6489
• Video of Prosinecki playing for Portsmouth
• Video of Prosinecki’s dribbling skills.

v • d • e Yugoslavia squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Ivković • 2 Stanojković • 3 Spasić • 4 Vulić • 5 Hadžibegić • 6 Jozić • 7 Brnović • 8 Sušić • 9 Pančev • 10 Stojković • 11 Vujović • 12 Omerović • 13 Katanec • 14 Bokšić • 15 Prosinečki • 16 Šabanadžović • 17 Jarni • 18 Baljić • 19 Savićević • 20 Šuker • 21 Panadić • 22 Leković • Coach: Osim

v • d • e Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 1996 1 Ladić • 2 Jurčević • 3 Jarni • 4 Štimac • 5 Jerkan • 6 Bilić • 7 Asanović • 8 Prosinečki • 9 Šuker • 10 Boban • 11 Bokšić • 12 Mrmić • 13 Stanić • 14 Soldo • 15 Pavličić • 16 Mladenović • 17 Pamić • 18 Brajković • 19 Vlaović • 20 Šimić • 21 Cvitanović • 22 Gabrić • Coach: Blažević

v • d • e Croatia squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Ladić • 2 Krpan • 3 Šerić • 4 Štimac • 5 Jurić • 6 Bilić • 7 Asanović • 8 Prosinečki • 9 Šuker • 10 Boban • 11 Marić • 12 Mrmić • 13 Stanić • 14 Soldo • 15 Tudor • 16 Kozniku • 17 Jarni • 18 Mamić • 19 Vlaović • 20 Šimić • 21 Jurčić • 22 Vasilj • Coach: Blažević

v • d • e Croatia squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Šerić • 3 Šimunić • 4 Tomas • 5 Rapaić • 6 Živković • 7 Vugrinec • 8 Prosinečki • 9 Šuker • 10 N. Kovač • 11 Bokšić • 12 Butina • 13 Stanić • 14 Soldo • 15 Šarić • 16 Vranješ • 17 Jarni • 18 Olić • 19 Vlaović • 20 Šimić • 21 R. Kovač • 22 Balaban • 23 Vasilj • Coach: Jozić