Slaven Bilić

Slaven Bilić

Slaven Bilić (born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Hajduk Split, West Ham United and Everton. He won 44 caps for Croatia between 1992 and 1999, and played in UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. After his playing retirement in 2001, he coached the team in the second half of the 2001–02 season. Between 2004 and 2006, he managed the Croatia national under-21 team before taking over the senior national side. He led the team to the quarter-finals of the 2008 European Championship and left after the next edition four years later. He left for the Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow in 2012 and then spent two years apiece

About Slaven Bilić in brief

Summary Slaven BilićSlaven Bilić (born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Hajduk Split, West Ham United and Everton. He won 44 caps for Croatia between 1992 and 1999, and played in UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. After his playing retirement in 2001, he coached the team in the second half of the 2001–02 season. Between 2004 and 2006, he managed the Croatia national under-21 team before taking over the senior national side. He led the team to the quarter-finals of the 2008 European Championship and left after the next edition four years later. He left for the Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow in 2012 and then spent two years apiece managing Turkish club Beşiktaş and West Ham. During the 2018–19 season he was head coach of Al-Ittihad, and on 13 June 2019 he became the manager of West Bromwich Albion. He is the son of former Croatian international footballer Zvonimir Bili Bilić and his wife, Ljubljana. He has a son, Zlatan, and a daughter, Zoraida, who is also a professional footballer. Biličić is a member of the Croatian Football Federation’s Executive Committee. He was awarded the Golden Shoe award for his performances for Croatia at the 1998 World Cup in South Africa. He also won the Golden Ball award for best player in the 1998 European Championships. He retired from football in 2001 and is now a coach at the Croatian national team.

He currently manages the Croatian Under-21 side and the Croatia Under-23 team. In 2012, he was appointed as the new coach of the Croatia U21 team. His father was the dean of Split’s Economics School. He graduated from high school in Split with the highest grades, so he graduated with Matura. He helped his club win the 1990–91 Yugoslav Cup before the dismantling of the Yugoslav league. In January 1996, Harry Redknapp brought him to the club for a fee of £1.3 million, setting the club’s record for highest fee paid for an incoming player. In March 1997, Everton manager Joe Royle brokered a £4.5 million move, with West Ham claiming he had a debt of loyalty to West Ham until the end of the season. He scored three goals in his time with the club, against Liverpool and Sunderland, and one in the League Cup against Barnet, his first for the club. After missing the first quarter of the 1997 season with a nagging groin strain, he took back to the field in August 1997. He made his debut on 12 February 1996 in a 0–1 away win against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. In August 1997, he played 13 games in the 1995–96 season and 41 in the 1996–97 season, a season which also saw him voted a runner-up, to Julian Dicks, for the 2014 PFA Player of the Year award.