The coach who showed that small countries can create miracles: Who is Zlatko Dalic?

Zlatko Dalic, who has been managing the Croatian National Team since the 2017-18 season, was born in Livno, Croatia. He is 58 years old. (He was born on October 26, 1966.) During his coaching career, he coached clubs such as HNK Rijeka, Dinamo Tirana, Slaven Belupo, Faisaly, Al-Hilal, and Al-Ain. The coach, who played 106 matches with Al-Ain, achieved an average of 2.06 points per game and was appointed as the coach of the Croatian National Team in 2017.

After ending his football career in 2000, he became an assistant coach at Varteks. From May 2002 to May 2005, Dalić worked as the club's sporting director and simultaneously served as assistant coach to Miroslav Blažević in the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons.

He was appointed as coach of Varteks in May 2005, and in his first season, he finished third in the Croatian First League and reached the Croatian Cup final.

In the summer of 2007, he became Rijeka's manager after his contract with Varteks expired, placing fourth at the end of the 2007–08 season. After being eliminated by FK Renova in the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup, Dalić was sacked on 1 July 2008, just before the start of the season.

Dynamo Tirana

In the 2008–09 season, Dalić managed Albanian champions Dinamo Tirana, where he won the Albanian Super Cup. He resigned in February 2009 after losing two back-to-back derbies against capital teams Tirana and Partizani.

Slaven Belupo

After a short stay in Albania, he returned to Croatia in 2009 and took over the third Croatian football club, Slaven Belupo.

Al Faisal

He became head coach of Al-Faisaly during the 2010-11 season.

On March 8, 2014, Dalić was appointed coach of Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates following the dismissal of Quique Sánchez Flores. On 7 October 2017, following Ante Čačić's dismissal due to a series of poor results, the Croatian Football Association appointed Dalić as head coach of the Croatian national football team.

13 December 2022

Croatia coach Dalic: Coming to consecutive World Cup finals would be the greatest achievement of all time

Dalic made a statement at the press conference held before the semi-final match against Argentina tomorrow at the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosted by Qatar.

Stating that they will play a very important match, Zlatko Dalic said, "This is an important success for Croatia, but we want more. None of us will run away from the fight. We have the strength and the will. We will do our best. I expect a solid, dynamic, and gentlemanly game from both teams. To win tomorrow." "To reach the finals in a row in the World Cup would be the greatest achievement of all time for Croatia."

Emphasizing that they made the dream of small countries come true by playing in the final in Russia 2018, Zlatko Dalic said, "Four years ago, no one predicted that we would reach the final. They were encouraged by our struggle and our quality. Football brings disappointments as well as provides many good things. only 2 of them will make it to the final and one of them will win the cup."

Who won the 2018 world cup?

The defending champions Germany were eliminated in the group stage, while the host Russia was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Croatia. France won the cup, defeating Croatia 4-2 in the final match played on 15 July 2018. With this championship, France took home the cup for the second time.