Dragan TalajiÃÂ (born 25 August 1965) is a Croatian former footballer who is the head coach of Bahrain national football team. TalajiÃÂ played as a goalkeeper and is a football manager who has managed many clubs in the Middle East, Thailand, and China.
He is the winning coach of the 2004 AFC Champions League with Al-Ittihad. For the 2010âÂÂ11 season Talajiàwas declared Best Coach of Asia and Best Coach of Arabic football world by Al Jazeera Sport TV, Best Coach of Arabic football world by MBC Sport TV and Best Coach of Jordan by votes of fans and press. In Croatia Football Federation-HNS, Talajiàis regarded as the prodigy of one of the most successful Croatian managers in history, Tomislav IviÃÂ.
Talajiàhad a spell with Zeytinburnuspor in the Turkish Süper Lig during the 1994âÂÂ95 season. Dragan started in FK Sarajevo and was one of the brightest young talents of Yugoslav football. As a junior player for FK Sarajevo, Dragan Talajiàbroke the record of the great Yugoslav goalkeeper Slobodan Janjuà ¡ by having received only one goal in the whole season. During the 1992âÂÂ93 season Talajiàwas a part of a historic Slovenian football story having played a UEFA Cup match against Benfica for Slovenian side Belvedur Izola. His performance in UEFA Cup, despite having conceded 8 goals in the UEFA competition, led to a transfer to Turkish Süper Lig. He played in Turkey for two seasons. After a short spell with NK Orijent in Croatia's Prva HNL, from 1997 to the end of his career Talajiàplayed for Tanjong Pagar United FC in Singapore's S-League. Talajiàleft a big mark in Singaporean football since he was twice selected as the player of the year.
Talajiàwon the 2004 AFC Champions League as manager of Saudi club Al-Ittihad. He won 0âÂÂ5 in Korea which is the biggest win in Asian Champions League final in the history of Asian football. It was Al Ittihad first Asian Champions League trophy in their history. It is till this day the biggest score in any AFC Champions League final, making Dragan Talajic the only coach in Asian history to win a final with five goals. He left the club within 6 months.
He led Al Riffa from Bahrain to the finals stage of the Gulf Cup in 2005âÂÂ2006. Talajiàled Saudi club Al Nahda to the final of the Prince Faisal Cup 2007/2008 entering in the history of Saudi football as the first team from the second league to play the finals of Prince Faisal Cup.
In the 2009âÂÂ10 season, Talajiàwas the coach of Shabab Al-Ordon (Jordan Youth Club) from Amman, Jordan. He led his team to a victory in AFC Cup in Yemen against Al-Ahli Sana'a', drew both home and away against Al-Karmah from Syria, then drew in Oman against Saham and won against Saham in Jordan and qualified to the next round of the AFC Cup, thanks to a win in Jordan against Al-Ahli Sana'a by 6âÂÂ1.
For the season 2010âÂÂ2011, Talajiàis the head coach of the biggest Jordanian side Al-Wahdat from Amman. His remarkable trophy run began on 6 August 2010 when Talajiàwon his first trophy of the season with Al-Wahdat winning 2âÂÂ0 in the finals of the Jordan Shield Cup.
On 13 August 2010, TalajiÃÂ won the Jordan Super Cup against Al-Wahdat's bitter rival Al-Faisaly. The title win was 10th Super Cup trophy that Al-Wahdat has won in the club's history.
At the end of the season, 2010-2011 Talajic's Al-Wahdat finished first winning the Jordan League with 17 point difference between them and Al-Faisaly who finished second. TalajiÃÂ's Al-Wahdat finished end of the season with 16 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Including their fixtures in the AFC Cup, where they are through to the quarter-finals, they have won 32 of their 39 games, drawn six and lost just one. In the process, they have racked up 82 goals and conceded just 23. TalajiÃÂ made a remarkable run with 46 games without defeat.
On 21 May, TalajiÃÂ won the Jordan League Cup as his fourth trophy of the season becoming the first coach in history to win all 4 trophies in one season.
In July 2011, Talajiàsigned a one-year contract with Kuwait SC club from Kuwait. Talajiàwas brought to Kuwait SC after his remarkable run with Al Wahdat in the season 2010âÂÂ2011. Talajiàled his club to victory at home against Muangthong United winning by 1âÂÂ0. In Thailand the score was 0-0 and Kuwait SC qualified to the semi-finals of the AFC Cup. Talajiàwas dismissed in the 65' minute in Thailand after entering the pitch to protest to the referee for his disgraceful performance after the Thai players injured 4 Kuwaiti players without receiving any cards for their dirty way of playing. Talajiàwas later suspended by the Asian Football Federation for one game due to his actions. In the semi-finals of AFC Cup TalajiÃÂ's Kuwait SC played against Iraqi's Arbil FC. Kuwait won in Iraq with the result 2-0 and played in Kuwait 3âÂÂ3 to qualify to the AFC Cup Finals. Their opponent in the finals was FC Nasaf Qarshi from Uzbekistan. The finals were played at Qarshi Stadium located in Qarshi, Uzbekistan. FC Nasaf Qarshi had to their advantage the home stadium and fans which led to a hell of an atmosphere for TalajiÃÂ's team. The game ended with 2-1 for FC Nasaf Qarshi. On 18 December, Dragan Talajiàwon the Kuwait Federation Cup beating in the finals Kazma with the result 4âÂÂ3, in the 50th minute the score was 0âÂÂ3 in favor of Kazma SC, but Talajiàbrought in two substitutes and changed the course of the game making the Kuwait Federation Cup finals 2011 more than spectacular. On 8 March 12, Dragan parted ways with the club.
He was the coach of Ittihad Kalba for a very short period of time. During his time with Ittihad Kalba he had to face many big defeats from the giants of UAE Arabian Gulf League. He managed the club for 6 matches, with bad results and Talajic just couldn't find the same language and vision with the club boss, Dragan Talajic left the club with a mutual agreement with the club.
In June 2013, the Omani club Dhofar appointed him as their coach. Dragan was in charge of Omani giant Dhofar who won Oman Professional League record 9 times. He continued the tradition of Dhofar being the biggest club in Sultanate of Oman.
On 2 July 2014, Muangthong United have announced that they have signed Talajiàas their head coach on a 3-year contract. On 30 July Talajiàled Muangthong United to a 1âÂÂ1 draw against La Liga side UD Almeria of Spain. Talajiàled the club to the 2nd place in Thai Premier League, 2nd place in Thai FA Cup and the qualification for the Asian Champions League 2016. On 19 January 2016 the agreement was reached between Coach Dragan and the board to end the contract with the club. Dragan Talajic left the club with 60% wins on a period of two seasons.
On 19 September 2017, TalajiÃÂ took helm of the most successful Jordanian football club, 2 times AFC Cup Champion, 19 times Jordan FA Cup Champion, 16 times Jordan Super Cup Champion, 7 times Jordan FA Shield Champion and 33 times Jordan League Champion Al-Faisaly.
On 18 December 2017, Talajiàwas appointed as the head coach of Henan Jianye of the Chinese Super League. On 11 March 2018, Talajiàled Henan Jianye to a 1âÂÂ0 victory against a favored side of coach Uli Stielike, Tianjin Teda, which is a jubilee 300th victory of Henan Jianye in Chinese Super League history. On 21 April 2018 after seven matches. Dragan Talajic parted company with Henan due to the club not being able to follow his attacking philosophy. He was a part of the coaching elite of Chinese Super League 2018 among coaches as: Fabio Capello, Bernd Schuster, Manuel Pellegrini, Paulo Sousa, Dragan Stojkovic, Vitor Pereira and Fabio Cannavaro.
On 10 December 2021, TalajiÃÂ was appointed as the head coach of Al-Khaldiya of the Bahraini Premier League. Al Khaldiya is a football club established in Bahrain by the Bahrain Royal Family in 2020. It is the newest Bahrain club but the most ambitious and financially the strongest Bahrain football team. With huge ambitions of the football club, TalajiÃÂ was appointed as the head coach and more than nine Bahrain National Team players were brought to the club. TalajiÃÂ started on the best way, beating Al Muharraq the 35 times Bahrain Football Champion and two times AFC Asian Cup Champions in Bahrain Federation Cup. On 10 February 2022, TalajiÃÂ took Al Khaldiya's side to the King of Bahrain Cup 2022 Final for the first time in the club's history. On 5 March 2022, he achieved the Bahraini King's Cup for the first time ever, by winning against East Riffa on penalties.
In 2022, Talajiàwas appointed as the Bahraini national team technical director. In February 2024, he became the head coach of the national team, and secured his first title in the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup. TalajiÃÂ, however, also led Bahrain to have their worst-ever final round performance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, with the team consigned at the bottom place of the table for the first time in the history, in part due to shock defeats to China and Indonesia, despite a memorable shock 1âÂÂ0 away win over Australia at the first matchday of the round.
A win or loss by the penalty shoot-out is counted as the draw in time.
Al-Ittihad
Al-Riffa SC
Al-Nahda
Al-Wehdat SC
Kuwait SC
Muangthong United
Al Khaldiya
Bahrain
Individual