Siniša Oreščanin

He started his football career at a younger age in cadets and juniors at GNK Dinamo Zagreb as a central midfielder, and spent his senior career at several lower league clubs in Zagreb and the surrounding area. He also played for Croatian clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina for a while. On three occasions, he played for NK Maksimir and besides it, he played for NK Sesvete, NK Dugo Selo, NK ZET, NK TŠK, NK Sesvetski Kraljevec and NK Lučko, and during the 1990s he played for NK Ljubuški and HNK Sloga Uskoplje in the First League of Herzeg-Bosnia. Playing for Ljubuški he also won two Herceg-Bosna Cup titles.[2] He ended his playing career in 2006 as the captain of Maksimir.[3]

He started his coaching career as an active player, working in Sesvete from 1999-2007.[4] During this time he worked as a junior coach, manager of football academy and first team coach. After six years in junior section, in 2006 he got the opportunity to lead the first team and remained at the helm of the team until 2007.

After Sesvete, he went to NK Zagreb to coach the young players, where he stayed for two years before leaving for Dinamo, with which he achieved remarkable results in five years of work.[5] From 2009 to 2014, the young generations of Dinamo achieved great results, both domestically and internationally. In addition to winning several national championships, they also achieved great results at the Nike Premier Cup, a competition considered by many to be the strongest in that age category globally, winning the second place in Europe and the sixth in the world.[6] In his several years of work at Dinamo, numerous young and later senior national team players passed through his hands.

In parallel with his work at Dinamo from 2010 to 2011, he was hired as a coach in Croatian national teams up to 14 and 15 years old.

After leaving Dinamo, in 2015 he led the first team of Dugo Selo. He went to Saudi Arabia and worked there at one of the biggest clubs, Al Nassru, as the coach of the U-19 team with which he won the Cup Winner title and the second place in the Championship.

After the Saudi adventure, at the invitation of Krešimir Gojun, the head of the Hajduk Split Academy, he came to Split, where he became a cadet trainer in the first phase, and then of the second team of „Majstori s mora”. He led the second team in the Second HNL, and his tenure will remain marked by giving the opportunity to numerous young players who won their place in the first team of Hajduk with their games, and some of them very quickly achieved rich foreign transfers.

After a very poor Hajduk's starting the season under the leadership of Željko Kopić, the first team of Hajduk was taken over by Zoran Vulić, but he also failed to significantly improve the situation, so the management of the club decided to make another change and on November 27, 2018, Oreščanin was appointed coach.[7]

He took the team left in a very difficult situation, in the sixth place in the championship ranking, far from the positions leading to the European competitions, and he placed the ranking among the top four as a goal before the leaders of Hajduk.[8]

Under his leadership, Hajduk experienced a rebirth, joining the fight for the second position, and in his only complete half-season on the Hajduk bench, only Dinamo won more points than his team.

The team's great games also resulted in higher prices for some players, so his tenure will remain marked by the sales of two young footballers whose career originated from Poljud, under his leadership. Ante Palaversa was sold to Manchester City and Domagoj Bradarić to French Lille.[9]

Oreščanin's Hajduk was adorned with a great game, with Mijo Caktaš imposing himself as the creator, who exploded in the second part of the season after only three goals in the first part of the season and won the title of the top scorer of the First Croatian Football League, whose numerous attributes were owned precisely to Oreščanin's style of play.[10]

He was dismissed as Hajduk coach on July 19, 2019 as a victim of inner fights in the club, following the tragic relegation of Hajduk by Maltese Gzira United in the first round of UEFA Europa League qualifications.[11] [12]

In the Hajduk history books, Oreščanin will remain inscribed as the coach with the best average points earned in the First Croatian League (1.HNL) since independence.[13]

Oreščanin is married and has a son, and from his playing days he bears the nickname Six.

As of 18 July 2019