Zoran Vulić (Croatian pronunciation:[zǒranʋǔːlitɕ]; born 4 October 1961) is a Croatian professional footballmanager and former player who played as a defender. He is notable for having managed Hajduk Split five separate times between 1998 and 2018, which is a record among all Hajduk managers.
Playing career
Club
Vulić was born in Split. He is the son of Ante, a famous goalkeeper for Hajduk Split in the 1950s. Zoran Vulić joined Hajduk Split as a stopper with a powerful shot, and played for the club for nine seasons. He played a total of 167 league games and scored 25 goals. He successfully continued his career abroad, with stints at RCD Mallorca and FC Nantes in the following five years. He was instrumental in Mallorca's return to the La Liga during his debut season. He played 35 matches and scored five times.
Vulić returned to Hajduk in 1993 and retired after two years with the club, at age 34. In his first stint with the club, he conquered two Yugoslav Cups in 1984 and 1987, and in his second stint two Croatian Leagues in 1994 and 1995, and one cup in 1995.
International
Vulić won 25 caps for Yugoslavia, scoring once,[1] and participated at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where he played four of the team's five matches.[2] His national team debut was on 30 April 1986, when Yugoslavia lost 4–2 to Brazil in a friendly match.
He also played in three friendly matches for Croatia: in October 1990 against the United States and in June 1991 against Slovenia, both unofficial since Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia at the time, as well as against Ukraine in June 1993.[3]
International goals
Results list Yugoslavia's and Croatia's goal tallies first.
In 1998, Vulić continued his career as manager, with his first four spells all at Hajduk Split. His biggest success as Hajduk manager was winning the 2000–01 Croatian First League and the 2002–03 Croatian Cup. In 2004, he was sacked three rounds before the end of the 2003–04 Croatian First League season even though the team was sitting at the top of the table, and he was replaced by the new manager, Petar Nadoveza, who ended up winning that championship with Hajduk.
In 2015, he took over Sheriff Tiraspol and managed to win the 2015–16 Moldovan National Division.[8] He left the club in June 2016.[9] On 14 December 2016, Vulić was appointed as manager of FC Atyrau.[10] On 11 April 2017, the club announced a mutually agreed contract termination, as Vulić wanted to return to Croatia. He was then manager of Apollon Smyrni from September to December 2017, when he was sacked after a poor run of results.[11]
His final stint with Hajduk was from 9 September to 27 November 2018, when he was sacked after having won only 3 of the 9 league matches.[12][13] In February 2022 he was named manager of Greek second-tier side Xanthi,[14] but was relieved of his duties after only a month.[15]
