Dragan Skočić (born 3 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Iranian club Tractor.
Skočić played as a midfielder in Croatia, Spain and the UAE for Rijeka, Las Palmas, Compostela, Novalja and Al-Ittihad Kalba.
Skočić, a midfielder, played professional club football in Croatia for Rijeka and NK Novalja,[citation needed] in Spain for Las Palmas and Compostela,[1][2][3] and in the UAE for Al-Ittihad Kalba.[4] He was the first player from the Croatian football league who went abroad to play professionally.[5]
After his playing career, Skočić went on to complete the Football Academy at the Croatian Football Academy and the Coach Education and Training Department at the Zagreb Faculty of Kinesiology, receiving an UEFA-PRO Coach diploma and a Professional Bachelor of the Coaching Profession.[6][non-primary source needed]
He became manager of his hometown club, Rijeka, in 2005. Skočić secured one trophy for the club, winning the Croatian Cup for the 2005–06 season.[7]
In 2007, he became the head coach of the Slovenian club Interblock Ljubljana, while the club was in a difficult situation on the league scale. Only two years after the club was founded and under the management of Skočić, the club achieved outstanding results in the Slovenian PrvaLiga. Not only did they manage to stay in the first league, but they also won two trophies in the 2007–08 season, the Slovenian Cup[8] and a Super Cup.[9]
Skočić took a year long sabbatical from coaching following his time at Interblock,[10] and in the 2009–10 season, he took over the management of the Al-Arabi club in Kuwait. Under his leadership as head coach, the club played in two finals, the Crown Prince Cup and the Federation Cup. Also under Skočić, Al-Arabi played in the AFC Cup quarter-finals.[11]
Following Kuwait, in the 2010–11 season, Skočić was engaged by the Al Nassr football club from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, one of the most prominent football clubs in the Arab world. Under Skočić, Al Nassr qualified for the third round of the AFC Champions League, after having played a successful season of competitions within the group. On 25 May 2011, he was sacked after a disappointing 4–1 loss to 2010 AFC Champions League finalists Zob Ahan, and was replaced by Portuguese boss Eurico Gomes.[12]
In March 2012 Skočić returned to take over the management of his hometown club Rijeka by replacing Ivo Ištuk as head coach, and became the third coach to take charge of the club in the 2011–12 Prva HNL season.[13] Skočić inherited a defensively frail side that was 2 points off the relegation zone and was tasked with saving the team from relegation.[14] Upon a 2-0 defeat to Cibalia, the club fell to the 12th place in the league.[15] After just 43 days in charge,[16] Skočić was relieved of his position, following a series of poor results, and was replaced by his assistant, Mladen Ivančić.[17][18][19]
On 26 May 2013, Skočić was announced as head coach of Malavan for the upcoming season. He signed a two-year contract with the club.[20] He led the club to the seventh place, their best league finish since 2005.[21]
On 23 May 2014, Skočić was named as new head coach of Iran Pro League title-holders Foolad,[22] on a one-year contract, replacing Hossein Faraki who resigned on the following day.[23] In May 2015, Skočić received the award for coach of the month and signed a two-year contract extension to keep him at the club until July 2017.[24] In November 2015 after poor scores with the club, Skočić was linked with the vacant head coach position at Sepahan F.C. but the job went to his compatriot, Igor Štimac.[25] After an unsuccessful transfer to Sepahan, he remained as Foolad's head coach according to his contract.[26][27] He left the club on 1 June 2016.[28]
On 16 January 2018 he became manager of F.C. Khooneh be Khooneh (Rayka Babol) replacing formerly resigned Javad Nekounam.[29] He soon went on a streak by getting 13 points out of his first 5 games and also leading the second tier team into Hazfi Cup's final.[30][31]
In July 2019 he became manager of Sanat Naft.[32]
On 6 February 2020, Skočić was named head coach of the Iran national team.[33] He managed to take Iran to the 2022 World Cup as the winner of Group A by scoring 25 points out of 10 matches in the third round of the World Cup qualifiers and set the best performance of the Iran national football team in the World Cup qualifiers.[34][35]
He was replaced as the Iranian national team manager on 7 September 2022.[36]
On 14 April 2023, Dragan Skočić was appointed as the manager of the Croatia national under-21 team.[37][38]
In July 2024 he became manager of Iranian club Tractor.[39][40]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Rijeka | 1987–88 | Yugoslav First League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |
| 1988–89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1989–90 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| 1990–91 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 0 | – | 23 | 2 | |||
| Las Palmas | 1991–92 | Segunda División | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | |
| 1992–93 | Segunda División B | 34 | 6 | – | – | 34 | 6 | |||
| SD Compostela | 1993–94 | Segunda División | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 9 | 0 | |
| 1994–95 | La Liga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1995–96 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | |||
| Rijeka | 1995–96 | Prva HNL | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | |
| Career total | 75 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 83 | 8 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| HNK Rijeka | 1 October 2005 | 30 September 2006 | 36 | 20 | 5 | 11 | 55.56 |
| NK Interblock | 3 March 2007 | 1 June 2008 | 49 | 20 | 11 | 18 | 40.82 |
| Al-Arabi SC | 1 August 2009 | 30 June 2010 | 36 | 23 | 9 | 4 | 63.89 |
| Al-Nassr FC | 11 January 2011 | 26 May 2011 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 44.44 |
| HNK Rijeka | 19 March 2012 | 30 April 2012 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 14.29 |
| Malavan | 28 May 2013 | 19 April 2014 | 29 | 13 | 6 | 10 | 44.83 |
| Foolad | 23 May 2014 | 30 June 2016 | 69 | 27 | 18 | 24 | 39.13 |
| Khooneh be Khooneh | 17 January 2018 | 12 October 2018 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 47.83 |
| Sanat Naft | 2 July 2019 | 3 February 2020 | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 52.63 |
| Iran | 6 February 2020 | 7 September 2022 | 18 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 83.33 |
| Total | 304 | 148 | 68 | 88 | 48.68 | ||
Tractor
