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Personal information
Velimir Zajec
Date of birth	February 12, 1956 (1956-02-12) (age 53)
Place of birth	Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Senior career¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1974–1984 1984–1988	Dinamo Zagreb Panathinaikos	238 0(13) 067 0(11)
National team
1977–1988	Yugoslavia	036 00(1)
Teams managed
1996–1997 1997–1998 2004–2005	Panathinaikos Dinamo Zagreb Portsmouth
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Velimir Zajec (born 12 February 1956) is a former Croatian footballer and manager.

Zajec began his career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1974, aged 18. During 10 years at the club, he helped them to two domestic cup wins, as well as the league title, their first title honour in 24 years. He then transferred to Greek club Panathinaikos, for whom he was tremendously successful, playing over 100 games.

His performances at club level had seen Zajec capped by Yugoslavia, whom he represented 40 times, many as captain.

Following retirement, he spent two years (1989-1991) as Director of Football at former club Dinamo Zagreb before returning to Panathinaikos to run their academy. Before long, he was promoted to head coach of the club. After a period he again, he returned to Zagreb, this time as head coach, before moving once more back to Panathinaikos in 2002 to become Director of Football. In 1998, he led Dinamo in three matches of the UEFA Champions League and remained undefeated with two wins and a draw. Dinamo nevertheless did not manage to advance to the quarter-finals after finishing second in their group (only first-place finisher advanced at the time).

In 2004, he moved to English club Portsmouth to take up a position as executive director. He took over as temporary team manager following the resignation of Harry Redknapp in November 2004 and was confirmed as the new manager on 21 December 2004.^[1] Five months later, he reverted to his intended director's role, following the arrival of Alain Perrin. He resigned from his position at Fratton Park on 10 October 2005 due to personal reasons.^[2]

He is referred by Panathinaikos fans as "the Rabbit".

[edit] References

^ Zajec named as Pompey boss, BBC Sport, 21 December, 2004
^ Zajec resigns from Portsmouth job, BBC Sport, 10 October 2005

[edit] External links

Career

v • d • e Yugoslavia squad – 1982 FIFA World Cup

1 Pantelić • 2 Jerolimov • 3 Gudelj • 4 Zajec • 5 Stojković • 6 Krmpotić • 7 Petrović • 8 Šljivo • 9 Zoran Vujović • 10 Živković • 11 Zlatko Vujović • 12 Pudar • 13 Sušić • 14 Jovanović • 15 Hrstić • 16 Šestić • 17 Jerković • 18 Deverić • 19 Halilhodžić • 20 Šurjak • 21 Pašić • 22 Svilar • Coach: Miljanić

v • d • e Yugoslavia squad – UEFA Euro 1984

1 Simović • 2 N.Stojković • 3 Baljić • 4 Katanec • 5 Zajec • 6 Radanović • 7 Šestić • 8 Gudelj • 9 Sušić • 10 Baždarević • 11 Vujović • 12 Ivković • 13 Hadžibegić • 14 Elsner • 15 Miljuš • 16 D.Stojković • 17 Čop • 18 Deverić • 19 Halilović • 20 Cvetković • Coach: Veselinović

Panathinaikos FC – Managers

Kalafatis (1908–12) · John Campbell (1908–12) · Forner (1928) · Kinsler (1929–3X) · Strandl () · Game (1950–53) · Migiakis (1959–60) · Game (1960–63) · Bobek (1963–67) · Guttmann (1967–68) · Petropoulos (1968–70) · Puskás (1970–74) · Górski (1976–77) · Petropoulos (1979) · Pesaola (1979–80) · Allen (1980) · Papaemanouil (1980) · Senekowitsch (1980–81) · Petropoulos (1981–82) · Kovács (1982–83) · Papaemanouil (1983) · Tsakos (1983) · Gmoch (1983–85) · Packert (1985–86) · Ivić (1986) · Daniil (1986–88) · Bengtsson (1988–89) · Bonev (1989–90) · Daniil (1990–92) · Osim (1992–94) · Rocha (1994–96) · Zajec (1996–97) · Daniil (1997–99) · Rocha (1999) · Kyrastas (1999–2000) · Anastasiadis (2000–01) · Kyrastas (2001) · Markarián (2001–02) · Santos (2002) · Markarián (2002–03) · Shum (2003–04) · Ščasný (2004–05) · Malesani (2005–06) · Backe (2006) · Velić (2006) · Muñoz (2006–07) · Peseiro (2007–08) · ten Cate (2008–09) · Nioplias (2009–)

Dinamo Zagreb – Managers

Bukovi (1945–1947) · Kokotović (1947) · Jazbinšek (1948) · Knežević (1948–49) · Hügl (1950–52) · Antolković (1952–53) · Jazbinšek (1953–55) · Cuvaj (1956) · Antolković (1957) · Lechner (1957–58) · Antolković (1959–60) · Bukovi (1960–61) · Antolković (1961–64) · Konjevod (1964–65) · Zebec (1965–67) · Horvat (1967–70) · Čajkovski (1970–71) · Jerković (1971–72) · Bobek (1972) · Kapetanović (1973) · I. Marković (1973–74) · Bazić (1974–77) · Belin (1977–78) · V. Marković (1978–80) · I. Marković (1980) · Blažević (1980–83) · Belin (1983) · V. Marković (1983) · Zebec (1984) · Ivić (1984–85) · Kobeščak (1985) · Blažević (1988–88) · Skoblar (1988–89) · Belin (1989) · Kuže (1989–90) · V. Marković (1990–91) · Kobeščak (1991–92) · V. Marković (1992) · Blažević (1992–94) · Bedi (1994) · Kranjčar (1994–96) · Barić (1996–97) · Vlak (1997–98) · Kranjčar (1998) · Bedi & Braović (1998) · Zajec (1998–99) · Lončarević (1999) · Ardiles (1999) · Vlak (1999–00) · Braović (2000–01) · Lončarević (2001–02) · Vlak (2002) · Blažević (2002–03) · Jurčević (2003–04) · Bago (2004) · Gračan (2004) · Lončarević (2005) · Cvetković (2005) · Kuže (2005–2006) · Ivanković (2006–08) · Soldo (2008) · Ivanković (2008) · Vlak (2008–09) · Jurčić (2009–)

Portsmouth F.C. – Managers

Brettell (1898–1901) · Blyth (1901–04) · Bonney (1904–08) · Brown (1911–20) · McCartney (1920–27) · Tinn (1927–47) · Jackson (1947–52) · Lever (1952–58) · Cox (1958–61) · G. Smith (1961–70) · Tindall (1970–73) · Mortimore (1973–74) · St. John (1974–77) · Dickinson (1977–79) · Burrows (1979–82) · Campbell (1982–84) · Ball (1984–89) · Gregory (1989–90) · Burrows (1990–91) · J. Smith (1991–95) · Fenwick (1995–98) · Waldon^c (1998) · Ball (1998–99) · McNab^c (1999–00) · Pulis (2000) · Claridge (2000–01) · Rix (2001–02) · Redknapp (2002–04) · Zajec (2004–05) · Perrin (2005) · Jordan^c (2005) · Redknapp (2005–08) · Adams & Jordan^c (2008) · Adams (2008–09) · Hart (2009) · Groves & Woan^c (2009) · Grant (2009–)

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