Nenad Gračan (born 23 January 1962) is a Croatian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the coach of the Croatia women's national football team.
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. During his first match at Hajduk Gračan was injured while playing against his former club by Mladen Mladenović who nearly broke Gračan's leg. Because of this injury he appeared intermittently for Hajduk over the course of four full seasons.[1]
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.
Gračan made his debut for Yugoslavia in a March 1984 friendly match against Hungary and earned a total of 10 caps, scoring 2 goals. He never attended any major international tournament. In 1984, the then 21-year-old helped the Olympic squad win the bronze medal in Los Angeles, featuring in all games but one and scoring in the quarterfinals against West Germany (5–2).[2] His final international was a May 1986 friendly away against Belgium.[3]
| Yugoslavia national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1984 | 3 | 0 |
| 1985 | 4 | 0 |
| 1986 | 3 | 2 |
| Total | 10 | 2 |
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition[4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 April 1986 | Arruda, Recife |  Brazil
|
1 – 1
|
4 – 2
|
Friendly |
| 2 | 19 May 1986 | Heizelstadion, Brussels |  Belgium
|
0 – 2
|
1 – 3
|
Friendly |
In June 2001, he was named manager of Hajduk Split.[5] Gračan was dismissed as manager of Pula in May 2007 [6] and he took charge of Rijeka for a third time in November 2009.[7]
Gračan married former miss Croatia Daniela Mihalic in 1999. The couple have three daughters.[8]
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Yugoslavia | League | Yugoslav Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 1979–80 | NK Rijeka | Yugoslav First League | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | |
| 1980–81 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 1981–82 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | 11 | 4 | |||
| 1982–83 | 31 | 5 | 4 | 2 | — | 36 | 7 | |||
| 1983–84 | 31 | 8 | 3 | 1 | — | 34 | 9 | |||
| 1984–85 | 29 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 34 | 7 | ||
| 1985–86 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 0 | — | 31 | 7 | |||
| 1986–87 | NK Hajduk Split | Yugoslav First League | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 | |
| 1987–88 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| 1988–89 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 17 | 0 | |||
| 1989–90 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 7 | 1 | |||
| Spain | League | Copa del Rey | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 1989–90 | Real Oviedo | La Liga | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 23 | 1 | |
| 1990–91 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 26 | 0 | |||
| 1991–92 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | |||
| 1992–93 | 25 | 0 | 4 | 1 | — | 29 | 1 | |||
| Croatia | League | Croatian Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 1995–96 | HNK Rijeka | Prva HNL | 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | 13 | 1 | |
| Country | HNK Rijeka | 146 | 32 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 162 | 35 | |
| NK Hajduk Split | 25 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 2 | ||
| Real Oviedo | 90 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 94 | 2 | ||
| Total | 261 | 35 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 283 | 39 | ||
| Club | From | To | Competition | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| HNK Rijeka | 26 November 1995 | 22 May 1996 | Prva HNL | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 53.33 |
| Croatian Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | |||
| HNK Rijeka | 15 March 1998 | 11 November 2000 | Prva HNL | 87 | 43 | 16 | 28 | 49.43 |
| Croatian Cup | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 28.57 | |||
| UEFA Champions League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | |||
| UEFA Cup | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | |||
| HNK Rijeka Total | 116 | 55 | 21 | 40 | 47.41 | |||
| Hajduk Split | 25 July 2001 | 21 November 2001 | Prva HNL | 15 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 66.67 |
| Croatian Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50.00 | |||
| UEFA Champions League | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | |||
| UEFA Cup | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 | |||
| Hajduk Split Total | 23 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 56.52 | |||
| Sport Line Koper | 14 July 2002 | 30 March 2003 | PrvaLiga | 24 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 41.67 |
| Slovenian Cup | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| Sport Line Koper Total | 25 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 40.00 | |||
| NK Osijek | 10 May 2003 | 31 May 2003 | Prva HNL | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 |
| NK Osijek Total | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | |||
| NK Kamen Ingrad | 26 July 2003 | 28 August 2004 | Prva HNL | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 42.11 |
| Croatian Cup | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 50.00 | |||
| UEFA Cup | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | |||
| UEFA Intertoto Cup | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | |||
| Kamen Ingrad Total | 48 | 20 | 8 | 20 | 41.67 | |||
| Dinamo Zagreb | 11 September 2004 | 20 November 2004 | Prva HNL | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 50.00 |
| Croatian Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50.00 | |||
| UEFA Cup | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67 | |||
| Dinamo Zagreb Total | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 53.33 | |||
| Pomorac Kostrena | 21 August 2005 | 26 November 2006 | Druga HNL | 47 | 24 | 15 | 8 | 51.06 |
| Croatian Cup | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | |||
| Pomorac Kostrena Total | 49 | 24 | 15 | 10 | 48.98 | |||
| Pula Staročeško | 17 February 2007 | 12 May 2007 | Prva HNL | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 14.29 |
| Pula Staročeško Total | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 14.29 | |||
| NK Nafta Lendava | 1 March 2008 | 22 March 2008 | PrvaLiga | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.00 |
| NK Nafta Lendava Total | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.00 | |||
| NK Croatia Sesvete | 12 September 2009 | 7 November 2009 | Prva HNL | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 12.50 |
| Croatian Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | |||
| NK Croatia Sesvete Total | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 11.11 | |||
| HNK Rijeka | 21 November 2009 | 13 May 2010 | Prva HNL | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 31.25 |
| HNK Rijeka | 24 July 2010 | 6 November 2010 | Prva HNL | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 42.86 |
| Croatian Cup | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 | |||
| HNK Rijeka Total | 32 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 40.63 | |||
| Totals | 339 | 148 | 74 | 117 | 43.66 | |||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia U21 | 25 October 2013 | 12 September 2019 | 38 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 52.63 |
