Vladimir Petrović

This article is about the Serbian football manager and former player. For other people with the same name, see Vladimir Petrović (disambiguation).

Vladimir Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Владимир Петровић, pronounced [ʋlǎdimiːr pětroʋitɕ]; born 1 July 1955) is a Serbian former football manager and player.

Vladimir Petrović

Petrović as Serbia manager in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Vladimir Petrović
Date of birth	(1955-07-01) 1 July 1955
Place of birth	Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1972–1982	Red Star Belgrade	257	(49)
1982–1983	Arsenal	13	(2)
1983–1985	Royal Antwerp	48	(10)
1985–1986	Brest	37	(5)
1986–1987	Standard Liège	31	(5)
1987–1988	Nancy	29	(1)
Total		415	(72)
International career
1973–1982	Yugoslavia	34	(5)
Managerial career
1992	Radnički Beograd
1993	Borac Banja Luka
1996–1997	Red Star Belgrade
1999–2000	Atromitos
2000–2001	Slavia Mozyr
2002–2004	Serbia and Montenegro U21
2004	Vojvodina
2005–2006	Dalian Shide
2007–2008	China
2009–2010	Red Star Belgrade
2010	Timișoara
2010–2011	Serbia
2013	Iraq
2013–2014	Yemen
2015	OFK Beograd
Medal record Men's football Representing Serbia and Montenegro (as manager) UEFA European Under-21 Championship Runner-up 2004
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

He is widely known domestically by his nickname Pižon (Serbian: Пижон), after the French for pigeon.

Club career

During his playing career, he mostly played for Red Star Belgrade and is one of the five Zvezdine zvezde (The Stars of Red Star) — the legends of the club.

He started out at Red Star making his debut in 1971, at the age of 16. With the team, he won four Yugoslav First League titles, one Yugoslav Cup and reached the 1979 UEFA Cup final, losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach. In 1980, he was named the Yugoslav Footballer of the Year.

In 1982, he moved abroad, and briefly played for Arsenal; he joined the London side in December 1982 and made 22 appearances in the 1982–83 season. At Arsenal he had a brief but memorable career and helped them reach the semi-finals of both domestic cups (losing both to Manchester United). He scored twice in the league against Stoke City and West Ham United and once in the FA Cup quarter final against Aston Villa. In June 1983 he left Arsenal and subsequently played for Brest and AS Nancy in France, and Royal Antwerp (1) and Standard Liège (16) in Belgium. In all he played 526 matches for the clubs.

International career

Petrović represented Yugoslavia 34 times and played in the 1974 World Cup and 1982 World Cups. His final international was an October 1982 European Championship qualification match away against Norway.

Managerial career

Petrović as Serbia manager during a friendly match against Bulgaria in Sofia on 17 November 2010

As assistant coach, Petrović won the 1990–91 European Cup with Red Star, and as head coach when they won the 1996–97 FR Yugoslavia Cup. He guided the Serbia and Montenegro national under-21 football team to a runners-up finish at the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

In 2005, Petrović managed the Chinese Dalian Shide team to the double. On 14 September 2007, Petrović was named as coach of the Chinese national team. After China failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, he was sacked.

On 2 June 2009, Petrović returned to Red Star Belgrade. As manager, Petrović was part of takeover of Red Star by the club's veterans, replacing caretaker/interim coach Siniša Gogić. On 21 March 2010, Red Star officials unexpectedly sacked Petrović after a league defeat against Metalac.

On 4 June 2010, he was named the manager of Romanian club Politehnica Timișoara.

On 15 September 2010, Petrović was named the new head coach of Serbia. On 14 October 2011, the Football Association of Serbia announced they had terminated their contract with Petrović.

In 2013, he was the head coach of the Iraq national team. On 13 December 2013, he was named the head of coach of the Yemen national team. In May 2014, he resigned following the expiration of the contract. In 2015, Petrović managed OFK Beograd.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League		Cup		Continental		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Red Star Belgrade	1972–73	27	2			2	0	29	2
	1973–74	31	7			6	1	37	8
	1974–75	26	5			6	1	32	6
	1975–76	12	1			4	0	16	1
	1976–77	10	0					10	0
	1977–78	28	9			4	0	32	9
	1978–79	27	5			10	1	37	6
	1979–80	28	5			4	1	32	6
	1980–81	23	6			5	2	28	8
	1981–82	29	3			5	3	34	6
	1982–83	16	6					16	6
	Total	257	49			46	9	303	58

Managerial statistics

As of 22 August 2015

Team	From	To	Record
			Played	W	D	L	GF	GA	±	Win %
Red Star Belgrade	July 1996	August 1997	46	31	7	8	91	37	+54	067.39
Atromitos	September 1999	January 2000	0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—
Slavia Mozyr	July 2000	August 2001	41	24	7	10	88	34	+54	058.54
Serbia and Montenegro U21	July 2002	June 2004	16	8	2	6	25	31	−6	050.00
Vojvodina	December 2004	December 2004	0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—
Dalian Shide	July 2005	December 2006	26	21	2	3	57	18	+39	080.77
China	September 2007	July 2008	18	6	7	5	28	16	+12	033.33
Red Star Belgrade	June 2009	March 2010	25	20	1	4	47	18	+29	080.00
Politehnica Timișoara	June 2010	September 2010	11	3	6	2	33	8	+25	027.27
Serbia	September 2010	October 2011	13	5	3	5	13	14	−1	038.46
Iraq	February 2013	September 2013	7	1	0	6	2	12	−10	014.29
Yemen	December 2013	May 2014	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	033.33
OFK Beograd	July 2015	August 2015	7	2	0	5	11	9	+2	028.57
Total			230	127	41	62	400	230	+170	055.22

Honours

Player

Red Star Belgrade

• Yugoslav First League: 1972–73, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1980–81
• Yugoslav Cup: 1981–82
• UEFA Cup runner-up: 1978–79

Manager

Red Star Belgrade

• FR Yugoslavia Cup: 1996–97

Dalian Shide

• Chinese Super League: 2005
• Chinese FA Cup: 2005

Serbia and Montenegro U21

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship runner-up: 2004

External links

• Vladimir Petrović at Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian)
• Vladimir Petrović at WorldFootball.net
• Vladimir Petrović at National-Football-Teams.com