Introduction
Igor Štimac ([îgor ʃtǐːmats]; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian football manager and former professional footballer, who currently manages the India national team. In his playing career, Štimac played as a centre back. He had three spells with Hajduk Split and also played for Cádiz in Spain and for Derby County and West Ham United in England. He represented the Croatia national team 53 times, playing at Euro 1996 and at the 1998 World Cup, when Croatia finished third. He also represented Yugoslavia when they won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship.
As a coach, Štimac was in charge of the Croatian national team from 2012 to 2014. In club football, he has had brief spells in charge of Hajduk Split, Cibalia, NK Zagreb and Zadar, Iranian club Sepahan and Qatari club Al-Shahania. On 15 May 2019, Štimac was appointed as the head coach of India national team on a two-year contract.
Playing career
At the club level Štimac played for his local Croatian club Hajduk Split and, most notably, the English club Derby County. Štimac arrived at the Baseball Ground on 31 October 1995 for a fee of £1.5 million from Hajduk Split. He scored a goal on his debut for the Rams away at Tranmere, but the Rams fell to a heavy 5–1 defeat. The rest of the season was more successful, as Derby gained promotion and remained unbeaten in 20 consecutive matches.
Štimac played nearly four years with the Rams, and made 84 league appearances for the Rams, in addition to seven FA Cup appearances and two League Cup appearances. He was sold on 29 August 1999 to West Ham United for £600,000, where he scored once, against Newcastle United.
Štimac played for the Croatia national football team, winning 53 caps and scoring two goals, and formed part of a Croatia squad that won the bronze medal at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Previously, Štimac was a member of the highly talented Yugoslavia under-20 team that won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, playing four games and scoring two goals in the tournament.
International goals
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 September 1995 | Maksimir, Zagreb |  Estonia
|
Euro 1996 Qualifying | ||
| 2 | 26 March 1996 | Stadion Varteksa, Varaždin |  Israel
|
Friendly |
Coaching career
Early days
Štimac started his managerial career in 2001, taking charge of the Hajduk Split football academy and also acting as the club's sport director. Hajduk won two championships during this time (2003–04 and 2004–05). In 2004–05 season he took managerial position for the last 10 games after replacing Blaz Sliskovic. With many difficulties he managed to win championship but lost the cup final to HNK Rijeka. In the spring of 2006, he also spent a few months coaching Croatian first division side Vinkovci, saving them from relegation. On 14 September 2009, he was appointed as the new NK Zagreb manager after they lost the first seven games of the season, replacing Luka Pavlović. However Štimac managed to save NK Zagreb from relegation and left the club at the end of the season.
Croatia national team
On 5 July 2012, Štimac was appointed the new Croatia national football team manager, after the departure of his former national team teammate Slaven Bilić. His first match as Croatia manager came in a friendly game against Switzerland at Poljud Stadium, which ended in a disappointing 2–4 loss. Despite that loss, Croatia entered the 2014 World Cup Qualifications in decent fashion, taking 16 points from first six games. However, the results were not representative of Croatia's form on the pitch, as the team only had a goal difference of +7 from those six matches and scored the majority of their goals from set pieces, counterattacks, and defensive errors by their opponents. Then started a period of very poor results starting with a 0–1 loss to Scotland at Maksimir on 7 June 2013. Following this Croatia lost 0–1 in a friendly match to Portugal on 10 June 2013 and then barely beat 148th ranked Liechtenstein 3–2 in a friendly match thanks to an 86th-minute goal by Eduardo on 14 August 2013.
In their next world cup qualifying match, Croatia drew 1–1 against rivals Serbia in Belgrade, despite only having one shot on target and two shots overall. This was followed by another loss at home at Maksimir, this time to eventual group winners Belgium with a result of 1–2. With only one world cup qualifying match to go, Štimac had become widely unpopular in Croatia with one poll conducted by popular domestic newspaper 24sata resulting in 98% of voters in favor of sacking Štimac. On 15 October 2013, Croatia lost their final World Cup qualifying match 0–2 against Scotland. After the 0–2 loss to Scotland, Štimac tendered his resignation to HNS president, former star footballer and national team teammate of Štimac, Davor Šuker. The following day, Šuker accepted his resignation. Croatia ending qualifying as the second to last ranked second place team, having only one more point than last placed Denmark, thus taking the final playoff round spot.
Despite of some criticism Štimac managed to take the FIFA Ranking of Croatia to 4th position just behind Spain, Germany and Argentina respectively. Players like Mateo Kovačić and Alen Halilović also made their debuts for the Croatia national team during Štimac's stint.
Zadar
In the beginning of 2015, Štimac was named as a new coach of 1.HNL club Zadar. Štimac quit after only six months in charge, as club was administratively relegated to second division by the licensing board of HNS (CFF) due to financial irregularities 3 games before the league ended. Following Štimac's resignation, Zadar club president Josip Bepo Bajlo said, "I would like to thank Mr Stimac for the five months that he has worked in Zadar, and he has still done the best in such situation".
Sepahan
On 12 November 2015, he became head coach of Sepahan, replacing Hossein Faraki. He resigned as Sepahan head coach on 20 April 2016, after a run of unsuccessful results which led Sepahan in the 11th place and out of both season's cups, Hazfi Cup and AFC Champions League.
India national team
On 15 May 2019, the All India Football Federation announced him as the country's head coach after the departure of Stephen Constantine. His first campaign with India was 2019 King's Cup where his first match as head coach was against Curaçao, which ended up as 3−1 loss where he has given six players their international debut but in the next match against the host Thailand he managed the team to a 1−0 victory acquiring the third place in the tournament and his first win after his appointment as the head coach.
For 2022 World Cup qualification, his campaign with India started with a heartbreaking 1–2 home loss to Oman. but steered the team to earn a respectable point after managing a draw against the 2019 Asian Champion and 2022 FIFA World Cup host Qatar. Despite this, India only managed draws against much lower ranked teams, Bangladesh at home and Afghanistan in away.
Other
In May 2018 the official fan group of Derby County asked for Štimac to replace Gary Rowett as the club's manager.
Honours
As a player
Hajduk Split
- Croatian First Football League: 1992, 1994-95
- Croatian Cup: 1995
- Croatian Super Cup: 1994
- Yugoslav Cup: 1991
Yugoslavia U-20
- FIFA U-20 World Cup: 1987
As a manager
Hajduk Split
- Croatian First Football League: 2004–05
- Croatian Football Cup runners-up: 2004–05
Orders
