Željko Buvač

Željko Buvac
Buvač sitting between Stephan Kuhnert and Jürgen Klopp as part of the Mainz 05 coaching staff in May 2006.
Personal information
Full name Željko zlatan Buvač
Date of birth (1961-09-13) 13 September 1961
Place of birth Omarska, SFR Yugoslavia
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1986 Rudar Ljubija 2 (8)
1986–1991 Borac Banja Luka 100 (14)
1991–1992 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 21 (80)
1992–1995 Mainz 05 90 (13)
1995–1998 Neukirchen 98 (11)
Teams managed
1998–2001 Neukirchen
2001–2008 Mainz 05 (assistant manager)
2008–2015 Borussia Dortmund (assistant manager)
2015–2018 Liverpool (assistant manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Željko Buvač (Serbian Cyrillic: Жељко Бувач; born 13 September 1961) is a Bosnian Serb football coach and former professional player. He is the assistant manager of Premier League club Liverpool, a role he took in 2015, and from which he is currently on a personal leave of absence.[1]

Current Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp labelled Buvač as "the brain" in his coaching team, while describing himself as "the heart" and the second assistant coach, Peter Krawietz, as "the eye". Buvač has been credited with developing the high-speed attacking style that brought success at Borussia Dortmund.[2]

Club career

Buvač was born in Omarska,[3] PR Bosnia-Herzegovina within Yugoslavia to ethnic Serb parents. He played for Borac Banja Luka[3] in the Yugoslav First League. While playing for this club, in 1988, he won the Yugoslav Cup.

In 1991, he moved to Germany and played with FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt and 1. FSV Mainz 05 in the 2. Bundesliga[4]

Management career

After retiring, he became a manager. Buvač finished his playing career with SC Neukirchen in 1998, and he took charge of the club soon after hanging up his boots. In 2001, after three seasons at SC Neukirchen, he became assistant manager of another of his former clubs, 1. FSV Mainz 05, where he joined friend, former teammate, and Mainz manager Jürgen Klopp. During his seven years at the club they achieved promotion to the Bundesliga, and later earned European qualification.

In 2008, he moved with Klopp to become assistant manager at Borussia Dortmund.[5] Described by Klopp as his "right hand" Buvač helped lead Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga wins in 2011 and 2012, as well as the DFB-Pokal in 2012, the DFL-Supercup in 2008, 2013 and 2014, and their second appearance in a Champions League final in 2013.[6] In 2013, while still at Dortmund, Buvač also became the head coach of Republika Srpska.[3]

In October 2015 he joined newly appointed manager Klopp, and took up the role of assistant manager at Premier League club Liverpool.[7][2]

On 30 April 2018 Liverpool announced that Buvač was to take a leave of absence for the rest of the 2017–18 season due to personal reasons.[1][8]

References

  1. 1 2 "Jurgen Klopp loses Liverpool assistant Zeljko Buvac for rest of season". The Guardian. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Jurgen Klopp assistant Zeljko Buvac joins coaching staff at Liverpool". 14 October 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "A" national team at Football Association of Republika Srpska official website, Retrieved 26 May 2015 (in Serbian)
  4. ↑ Željko Buvač at fussballdaten.de (in German)
  5. ↑ "Željko Buvač". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Borussia Dortmund" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Klopp dines out with staff after signing three-year deal". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp's assistant manager Zeljko Buvac 'spending time away' from club". BBC Sport. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2018.


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