Slavoljub Muslin

Slavoljub Muslin
Cлaвoљуб Mуcлин
Muslin with Krasnodar in 2011
Personal information
Full name Slavoljub Muslin
Date of birth (1953-06-15) 15 June 1953
Place of birth Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
?–? OFK Beograd (0)
1972–1973 BASK Beograd (0)
1973–1975 Rad Beograd (0)
1975–1981 Red Star Belgrade 140 (3)
1981–1983 Lille (0)
1983–1986 Brest (0)
1986–1987 Caen
Teams managed
1989–1991 Brest
1992–1995 Pau FC
1995–1996 Bordeaux
1996–1997 Lens
1997–1998 Le Mans
1998 Raja Casablanca
1999–2001 Red Star Belgrade
2002–2003 Levski Sofia
2003–2004 Red Star Belgrade
2004–2005 Metalurh Donetsk
2005 Lokeren
2005–2006 FC Lokomotiv Moscow
2006–2007 Lokeren
2007–2008 FC Khimki
2008–2009 FC Dinamo Minsk
2009–2010 Anorthosis Famagusta
2010–2013 FC Krasnodar
2014 FC Amkar Perm
2015 Standard Liège
2016–2017 Serbia
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Slavoljub Muslin (Serbian Cyrillic: Славољуб Муслин, pronounced [slǎʋoʎub mǔslin]); born 15 June 1953) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He worked as a head coach of the Serbian national football team. He began his head coaching career in 1988 and has since had stints in France, Morocco, Serbia-Montenegro, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belgium, Cyprus, Belarus and Russia. On 5 May 2016 he became the head coach of the Serbian national football team until October 2017. Prior to that, Muslin was a notable football player. He played as a defender for several clubs, being the most important Red Star Belgrade and later Lille OSC.

His son Marko is also a professional footballer.

Playing career

Born to Croatian father Duje Muslin (from Split) and Serbian mother Danica (from Kragujevac), Slavoljub Muslin was born and raised in Belgrade where he started playing football with OFK Beograd, continuing on in BASK, and FK Rad before transferring to Red Star Belgrade.

Muslin was a defensive stalwart for Red Star Belgrade in the 1970s. Throughout his six years at Marakana he played alongside some of the club's biggest stars like Dragan Džajić, Vladislav Bogićević, Jovan Aćimović, Vladimir Petrović, Dušan Savić, among others. He has won three championship titles with Red Star and finished as runner up in the UEFA Cup in 1978-79 losing the final to Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In 1981, he moved on to Lille OSC, then to Stade Brestois 29 and finished his playing career with SM Caen.

Coaching career

Stade Brestois

Muslin began coaching in 1988 at the club where he spent some playing years earlier - Stade Brestois 29 - staying there until 1992. For the last two years of his tenure he had David Ginola in the squad.

Pau and Bordeaux

Muslin spent the next three seasons at Pau FC before moving on to Girondins de Bordeaux in summer 1995. With a potent squad of quality up-and-coming players like Bixente Lizarazu, Christophe Dugarry as well as superstar-in-the-making Zinedine Zidane, Muslin led the team on a great run in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup ensuring progression to the quarterfinals before winter break 1995–96. He was sacked during spring 1996 due to poor domestic league form, which meant that he didn't get to lead the team in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals where the Girondins eliminated the favourites AC Milan and later made it to the final where they lost to a Bayern Munich team featuring the likes of Lothar Matthäus, Jürgen Klinsmann, Oliver Kahn, Markus Babbel, etc.

Lens

RC Lens became Muslin's home in the summer of 1996. He coached the team in 1996–97 season before getting the axe on 11 March 1997.

Le Mans

He went to Le Mans UC72 in the summer of 1997, but got the axe there couple of months into the season during November 1997.

Raja Casablanca

He changed clubs during the 1998–99 season, moving to coaching the Moroccan side Raja Casablanca.

Red Star Belgrade

His old club Red Star Belgrade came calling in late summer 1999. Muslin took over the reins on 20 September, in difficult circumstances after Miloljub Ostojić got sacked because of poor league form and embarrassing 0–1 first leg "home" loss (match was played in Sofia due to air traffic embargo imposed on FR Yugoslavia following the NATO bombing that ended a couple of months earlier) to Montpellier HSC in UEFA Cup first round. Though he couldn't lead his squad past the French team in the second leg (his first match in charge), Muslin won the domestic double (league & cup) at the end of the season in an impressive fashion.

He won the league again next season, but lost in the cup final to bitter rivals FK Partizan.

He resigned his post on 30 September 2001, six weeks into the 2001–02 league season. The specific reason was never given, but it is widely believed it had to do with the ongoing simmering row with striker Mihajlo Pjanović that came to a head during the Champions League 3rd round qualifying tie when Muslin dropped the 24-year-old forward and Red Star ended up losing 0–3 to Bayer Leverkusen.

Levski

Muslin was not without a job for too long as in late March 2002 Levski Sofia sacked their coach Rüdiger Abramczik mid-season and offered the job to the Serbian who promptly steered the team to the league and cup double in May. He was sacked in April 2003 as Levski was trailing the leaders by 8 points in the domestic league. The team went on to win the National Cup under the management of Georgi Todorov.

Red Star, again

In June 2003, Red Star came calling again after two seasons under coach Zoran Filipović. By the following spring Muslin brought his second domestic double to the club as a coach. The split from Red Star was again full of controversy. After winning the title, Muslin reportedly wanted more say in the club's transfer policy, essentially calling for his coaching role to be expanded into what club managers in England do. Red Star president Dragan Džajić would have none of it and a huge row erupted. At one point, usually calm and collected Džajić exploded in the media calling Muslin "the worst person he's ever met".

Metalurh

The next stop for Muslin in summer 2004 became Ukraine's Metalurh Donetsk, which he coached fairly successfully for the better part of 2004–05 domestic league season. He resigned his post on 8 March 2005, citing differences in opinion over the vision for the team's immediate future as the reason. His departure came after league matchday 17 with Metalurh occupying the 3rd spot in Vyscha Liha. Simultaneously, Muslin also led the team in 2004/05 UEFA Cup - with much less distinguished outcome - after successfully overcoming the qualifying stage, Metalurh was demolished by SS Lazio (0-6 on aggregate).

Lokeren

Then came Belgian side Lokeren between May and December 2005.

Lokomotiv

In December 2005, Muslin was appointed as coach of Lokomotiv Moscow. With star forward Dmitri Sychev as the team's undisputed leader on the pitch, Lokomotiv started the Russian League 2006 season in great fashion, jumping ahead early to the top of the table and going on an 18-match unbeaten streak at one point. Closely pursued by CSKA Moscow, Lokomotiv kept holding on to the top league spot until mid-October when a string of indifferent results saw them surrender it. Muslin was already under the gun following his team's elimination in UEFA Cup's first round to Belgian side S.V. Zulte Waregem, and after giving up the league leading position, he was promptly fired in October 2006.

Lokeren, again

On 26 November 2006, Muslin's return to Lokeren bench was announced. He arrived at the club in the middle of a bad run of results that prompted previous coach Ariël Jacobs' departure with Lokeren in 13th league spot. However, Muslin failed to raise the team's form and Lokeren barely avoided relegation, finishing the Belgian Jupiler League 2006/07 campaign in 16th spot (out of 18 teams). During the summer 2007, Muslin was replaced with Georges Leekens.

Khimki

On 7 September 2007, Muslin was announced as the new coach of FC Khimki. At the time of his arrival following matchday 23 of the 2007 season, the team was occupying 11th league spot, only three points out of the relegation zone. Under his guidance, Khimki finished the season in 9th spot, five points out of the relegation zone. In the 2008 season after matchday 5 Khimki occupied the 16th spot out of 16 after 0-4 defeat from Rubin Kazan. On 14 April 2008, Muslin was fired.

Minsk

On 17 September 2008, he was named as the new Head Coach of Dinamo Minsk. But just ten months later on 27 July 2009 was fired again from the Belarusian club.

Anorthosis Famagusta

On 7 August 2009, he signed a contract with the Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta, a year after the team's appearance in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League 2008-2009. The Serbian replaced German coach Ernst Middendorp. He was released in 2010, due to the elimination of team in the quarterfinals of the cup, although the team was second in the Championship.

Amkar Perm

On 17 June 2014, Muslin was announced as a new head coach of FC Amkar Perm in Russian Football Premier League.[1] But after the end of the first part of 2014-15 season, he was sacked for unsatisfactory results.[2]

Standard Liège

Muslin was announced as a new head coach of Standard Liège on 5 June 2015.[3] His departure was announced on 28 August 2015.[4]

Serbia

Muslin became Serbia manager in 2016. During his time their Serbia finished top of their 2018 World Cup qualifying group ahead of the Republic of Ireland. Despite this his time in charge of Serbia was ended in October 2017.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 9 October 2017
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
Brest July 1989 June 1991 81 28 24 29 034.57
Pau June 1992 May 1995 100 37 33 30 037.00
Bordeaux July 1995 February 1996 42 19 8 15 045.24
Lens July 1996 March 1997 33 9 7 17 027.27
Raja Casablanca September 1998 June 1999 47 25 15 7 053.19
Red Star Belgrade September 1999 September 2001 101 75 17 9 074.26
Levski Sofia March 2002 April 2003 47 32 8 7 068.09
Red Star Belgrade June 2003 May 2004 41 31 7 3 075.61
Metalurh Donetsk July 2004 March 2005 24 15 2 7 062.50
Lokeren May 2005 December 2005 16 7 3 6 043.75
Lokomotiv Moscow December 2005 October 2006 27 13 7 7 048.15
Lokeren November 2006 July 2007 20 2 8 10 010.00
Khimki September 2007 April 2008 12 4 2 6 033.33
Dinamo Minsk September 2008 July 2009 25 14 7 4 056.00
Anorthosis August 2009 February 2010 31 21 3 7 067.74
Krasnodar January 2011 August 2013 83 31 20 32 037.35
Amkar Perm June 2014 December 2014 17 3 4 10 017.65
Standard Liège June 2015 August 2015 9 5 1 3 055.56
Serbia May 2016 October 2017 15 8 5 2 053.33
Total 771 379 181 211 049.16

References

  1. ↑ "Славолюб Муслин – новый главный тренер "Амкара"" (in Russian). FC Amkar Perm. 17 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "Информационное сообщение" (in Russian). FC Amkar Perm. 9 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Muslin: "Standard zal offensief voetbal brengen"" [Muslin: "Standard will play attacking football"] (in Dutch). sporza.be. 5 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "Slavo Muslin" (in French). Standard de Liege. 28 August 2015. Archived from the original on 31 August 2015.
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