Samir Toplak
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 23 April 1970 | ||
| Place of birth | Varaždin, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Inter Zaprešić (manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1998 | Varteks | ||
| 1998–2002 | VfL Bochum | 69 | (3) |
| 2002–2005 | Varteks | ||
| 2005–2006 | Graničar Tučenik | ||
| National team | |||
| 1994 | Croatia | 2 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2003–2005 | Varteks (youth coach) | ||
| 2005–2007 | Varteks (assistant manager) | ||
| 2009–2010 | Varteks (director of football) | ||
| 2010–2011 | Varaždin | ||
| 2011–2012 | Cibalia | ||
| 2012–2013 | Gorica | ||
| 2013–2014 | Zelina | ||
| 2014– | Inter Zaprešić | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only | |||
Samir Toplak (born 23 April 1970) is a Croatian football manager and a former professional player. He currently manages Inter Zaprešić.[1]
Toplak was born in Varaždin and spent most of his playing and managerial career in his hometown club NK Varteks.
Playing career
Toplak started his career in NK Varteks and spent the first ten seasons of his career there. After proving himself to be one of the best defenders in Croatian first division, Toplak transferred to Bundesliga team VfL Bochum.[2] He spent four seasons in Germany, floating between first and second division. Toplak returned to Varteks in summer of 2002, for the last season of his top level football career.[2] In 2003, he moved to lower league side Graničar Tučenik and stayed there until the summer of 2006.[2]
Career statistics
Updated 28 September 2014."[3][4]
| Club performance | League | Cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Croatia | League | Croatian Cup | Total | |||||
| 1992–93 | NK Varteks | Prva HNL | 27 | 0 | ||||
| 1993–94 | 28 | 1 | ||||||
| 1994–95 | 29 | 0 | ||||||
| 1995–96 | 24 | 0 | ||||||
| 1996–97 | 14 | 0 | ||||||
| 1997–98 | 28 | 1 | ||||||
| Germany | League | DFB-Pokal | Total | |||||
| 1998-99 | VfL Bochum | Bundesliga | 23 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 1 |
| 1999-00 | 2. Bundesliga | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 1 | |
| 2000-01 | Bundesliga | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2001-02 | 2. Bundesliga | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 1 | |
| Croatia | League | Croatian Cup | Total | |||||
| 2002–03 | NK Varteks | Prva HNL | 22 | 0 | ||||
| 2003–04 | NK Varteks | Prva HNL | ||||||
| 2004–05 | NK Varteks | Prva HNL | ||||||
| 2005–06 | Graničar Tučenik | Četvrta HNL | ||||||
| Total | Croatia | |||||||
| Germany | 65 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 69 | 3 | ||
| Career total | ||||||||
Managerial career
Four years after retirement Toplak took over as NK Varaždin manager, previously working as youth coach, assistant manager and club director. He led the young team, consisted mainly from Varaždin's home grown players, to a successful Europa League campaign beating FC Lusitanos and Iskra-Stal before they were stopped in the third qualifying round by Romanian powerhouse Dinamo Bucureşti in a narrow two leg encounter. But the nice European story eventually led to misery as the club went bankrupt and was dissolved.
In August 2011 Toplak took over another Croatian first division club, HNK Cibalia. In 2011–12 Prva HNL Toplak led Cibalia to a top table position and semifinals of Croatian Cup. However, due to disagreements with Cibalia's Ultras, Toplak chose to leave Vinkovci in July 2012.
In December 2012 Toplak was appointed as a manager of the ambitious second division HNK Gorica. HNK Gorica's first half of the season was disastrous, and they finished in relegation zone. Toplak was given an assignment to bring the club back to the top of the chart. After failing to move Gorica out of the relegation zone, Toplak resigned on April 20, six rounds before end of the season.
After leaving Gorica, Toplak took over the managerial position in another second division side, NK Zelina. After a disastrous 2013-14 season during which Zelina struggled on the bottom of the table, Toplak resigned in April 2014.
Two unsuccessful spells in Gorica and Zelina did not leave Toplak without a job for a long time, as he was appointed Couch of another second division team, NK Inter Zaprešić. Inter and Toplak's primary goal was to secure promotion to 1. HNL and this goal was accomplished by winning a title in 2014–15 Druga HNL. They played in the 1. HNL the following season, their only goal being to stay in the 1. HNL. However, they did better than anyone would've expected, securing the 5th spot on the chart. Since then, they have managed to stay in the 1. HNL.
Personal life
In 1994 Samir married his girlfriend of two years, Vesna. Two years later they had their first daughter, Lana. Their second daughter, Bianka, was born three years later in Bochum, Germany. In 2004 Samir settled down with his family in a small village outside of Varaždin.
References
- ↑ Strahija, Ivana (25 March 2010). "Samir Toplak". Sportnet.hr (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
- 1 2 3 "Toplak, Samir". Kicker (in German). Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ↑ "Samir Toplak". Fussball Daten (in German). Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ↑ "Samir Toplak". National Football Teams. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
External links
- Samir Toplak at National-Football-Teams.com
- Samir Toplak at WorldFootball.net