Nenad Gračan

Nenad Gračan

Personal information
Full name	Nenad Gračan
Date of birth	(1962-01-23) 23 January 1962
Place of birth	Rijeka, SFR Yugoslavia
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Croatia U21 (coach)
Youth career
	Rijeka
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1979–1980	Orijent
1980–1986	Rijeka	136	(31)
1986–1989	Hajduk Split	55	(10)
1989–1993	Oviedo	90	(1)
1995–1996	Rijeka	10	(1)
Total		291	(43)
International career
1984–1986	Yugoslavia	10	(2)
Managerial career
1998–2000	Rijeka
2001	Hajduk Split
2001–2002	FC Koper
2002–2003	Osijek
2004	Dinamo Zagreb
2007	Istra 1961
2008	Nafta Lendava
2009	Croatia Sesvete
2009–2010	Rijeka
2013–	Croatia U21
Medal record Men's Football Representing Yugoslavia Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nenad Gračan (born 23 January 1962) is a retired Croatian footballer who played as a central midfielder, and a current coach.

Club career

Born in Rijeka, SFR Yugoslavia, Gračan started playing professionally for hometown's NK Orijent and, soon thereafter, HNK Rijeka, amassing nearly 150 official appearances. He then moved to another club in his native Croatia, HNK Hajduk Split, for which he appeared intermittently over the course of four full seasons.

Late into 1989, Gračan signed with La Liga club Real Oviedo. Joined by compatriots Janko Janković and Nikola Jerkan in his second season, he helped the Asturians finish sixth and qualify for the UEFA Cup by contributing with 26 matches, and eventually appeared in more than 100 games overall.

Aged almost 31, Gračan left Oviedo and returned to his country, now independent. After two years of inactivity he played a handful of games with first professional club Rijeka, but retired shortly after. In the following decade, he took up coaching, starting with his last team as a player, but he rarely settled.

International career

Gračan was capped ten times for Yugoslavia, but never attended any major international tournament.

In 1984, the 21-year-old helped the Olympic squad win the bronze medal in Los Angeles, featuring in all but one games and scoring in the quarterfinals against West Germany (5–2).

External links

• Nenad Gračan profile at BDFutbol
• National team data (Serbian)
• Nenad Gračan at National-Football-Teams.com
• Worldfootball profile