Ante Čačić

Ante Čačić
Čačić as manager of Dinamo Zagreb in 2011
Personal information
Date of birth (1953-09-29) 29 September 1953 (age 71)
Place of birth Zagreb, FPR Yugoslavia
Managerial career
Years Team
1986–1987 Prigorje Markuševec
1988–1989 TPK
1989–1992 Zadar
1992–1993 Dubrava
1993–1995 Inter Zaprešić
1994–1998 Croatia U21 (assistant)
1995–1996 Osijek
1996–1997 Zadar
1998 Slaven Belupo
1998–2000 Croatia Sesvete
2002–2003 Inter Zaprešić
2005–2006 Libya (assistant)
2005 Libya U23
2006–2007 Kamen Ingrad
2007 Inter Zaprešić
2011 Lokomotiva Zagreb
2011–2012 Dinamo Zagreb
2013 Radnik Sesvete
2013 Maribor
2014–2015 Slaven Belupo
2015 Lokomotiva Zagreb
2015–2017 Croatia
2019–2020 Pyramids FC
2022–2023 Dinamo Zagreb
Medal record
 Libya
Mediterranean Games
Third place 2005 Almería U20

Ante Čačić (Croatian pronunciation: [ǎːnte tʃâtʃitɕ];[1][2] born 29 September 1953) is a Croatian professional football manager who was most recently manager of Croatian Football League club Dinamo Zagreb.

Čačić graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education at the University of Zagreb. He was one of the first ten football coaches in Croatia to get the UEFA Pro Licence.[3]

Managerial career

During his career, Čačić successfully achieved promotion to the top division with Inter Zaprešić and Dubrava. He also managed Zadar, Osijek, Slaven Belupo, Kamen Ingrad, Croatia Sesvete and Lokomotiva Zagreb.[4]

Inter Zaprešić

In the 2002–03 season, Čačić was at the helm of Inter Zaprešić in the south division in Druga HNL. In March 2003, he resigned after losing to the first-placed team Uljanik, leaving Inter at the second place in the table and five points behind the leaders. He was replaced with Ilija Lončarević, who achieved promotion to Prva HNL.[5]

Libya

When Lončarević was appointed manager of the Libya national football team, he named Čačić as his assistant. During his time at Libya, he was chosen to lead their under-20 squad at the 2005 Mediterranean Games held in Spain. After losing to the hosts in the semi-finals, they won the bronze medal after defeating Morocco in the penalty shoot-out.[6]

Kamen Ingrad

In June 2006, Čačić returned to Croatia and was appointed manager of Kamen Ingrad, but after only three months he terminated his contract.[7]

Return to Inter Zaprešić

In October 2006, he again took over the helm of Inter Zaprešić after they sacked Srećko Bogdan.[8] Čačić led Inter to the first place in the 2006–07 Druga HNL and the team was promoted to Prva HNL. After a disappointing start in the following season, he was sacked in August 2007.[9]

Lokomotiva

In October 2011, Čačić was appointed manager of Lokomotiva Zagreb.[10] They finished in the sixth place at the winter break, undefeated in four games led by Čačić.[11]

Dinamo Zagreb

On 23 December 2011, it was announced that Čačić had signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Dinamo Zagreb.[12] He was sacked from Dinamo in November 2012.[13]

Radnik Sesvete

Čačić was without assignment until April 2013 when he took over as manager of Radnik Sesvete.[14]

Maribor

Čačić left Radnik Sesvete in early June 2013, when he accepted an offer from Slovenian champions Maribor.[15]

Slaven Belupo

Čačić became manager of Slaven Belupo on 4 November 2014[16] and the club finished sixth in his only season at the helm of the club.

Return to Lokomotiva

Čačić again became manager of Lokomotiva on 3 June 2015[17] and was with the club for only three months before being selected as head coach of the Croatia national football team.

Croatia

Euro 2016: Qualifying and finals

Following the sacking of Niko Kovač,[18] which was caused due to a poor run in the Euro 2016 qualifying, Ante Čačić was appointed as head coach of the Croatia national team.[19] His appointment was very controversial and left fans of the national team in shock.[20] Croatia finished second in their qualifying group, securing a place in the group stages of Euro 2016 in France. Croatia enjoyed a memorable group stage run, topping their group after beating European champions Spain by a scoreline of 2–1 on 21 June,[21] despite key-player Luka Modrić not playing due to injury problems.[22] However, Croatian fans had earlier sparked controversy during a match against the Czech Republic, which finished 2–2, when flares were lit at the near end of the match.[23] After beating Spain, Croatia were tipped as one of the favorites to win the tournament,[24] but they were knocked out by future winners Portugal in the round of sixteen.[25]

Čačić was voted as the 7th Best National Team Coach by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.[26]

FIFA World Cup 2018: Qualifying and sacking

Čačić took Croatia to a strong start in their qualifying campaign, with Croatia leading their group and remaining undefeated. However, defeats to Iceland and Turkey,[27][28][29] as well as a draw to Finland[30] threatened their progression and caused a public outcry against Čačić, who was criticized for his poor team selection, decreasing player morale and losing support from players and fans.[31] Čačić was also criticized by former Croatia head coach Miroslav Blažević.[32]

He was sacked on 7 October 2017, with Zlatko Dalić being named as his successor.[33][34]

Pyramids

On 27 December 2019, he was appointed manager of Egyptian club Pyramids FC.[35] He led his team to reach the 2020 CAF Confederation Cup Final, which they lost 0–1 against RS Berkane.[36] Later on, Pyramids decided to find a new coach, after they finished third in the 2019–20 Egyptian Premier League.[37]

Return to Dinamo Zagreb

On 21 April 2022, Čačić became the manager of Dinamo Zagreb by the end of the 2021–22 season,[38] in which he eventually led them to win their 23rd league title.[39]

Čačić successfully guided Dinamo back into the Champions League group stages the following season, beating Shkupi, Ludogorets and Bodø/Glimt in the qualification rounds. Dinamo won their opening match in the group stage against Chelsea at the Maksimir, thanks to a goal from Mislav Oršić. Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was subsequently sacked the following day.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 5 April 2023
Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Libya U23 23 June 2005 3 July 2005 5 1 2 2 020.00
Inter Zaprešić 28 October 2006 18 August 2007 5 0 1 4 000.00
Lokomotiva Zagreb 31 October 2011 23 December 2011 4 3 1 0 075.00
Dinamo Zagreb 23 December 2011 26 November 2012 54 32 12 10 059.26
Radnik Sesvete 14 April 2013 5 June 2013 7 3 1 3 042.86
Maribor 5 June 2013 29 September 2013 22 10 6 6 045.45
Slaven Belupo 4 November 2014 3 June 2015 22 9 6 7 040.91
Lokomotiva Zagreb 3 June 2015 21 September 2015 15 6 3 6 040.00
Croatia 21 September 2015 7 October 2017 25 15 6 4 060.00
Pyramids 26 December 2019 1 November 2020 36 23 5 8 063.89
Dinamo Zagreb 21 April 2022 5 April 2023 50 30 10 10 060.00
Total 245 132 53 60 053.88

Honours

Manager

Dinamo Zagreb

Maribor

Pyramids

Libya U20

Individual

References

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