Igor à  timac (; born 6 September 1967) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Bosnian Premier League club Zrinjski Mostar.
In his playing career, à  timac had three spells with Hajduk Split and also played for Cádiz in Spain, and for Derby County and West Ham United in England. He represented the Croatia national team 53 times, playing at Euro 1996 and at the 1998 World Cup, when Croatia finished third. He also represented Yugoslavia when they won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship.
As a manager, Ã Â timac was in charge of the Croatia national team from 2012 to 2013. In club football, he has had brief spells in charge of Hajduk Split, Cibalia, NK Zagreb, Zadar, Iranian club Sepahan and Qatari club Al-Shahania. On 15 May 2019, he was appointed as the head coach of the India national football team on a two-year contract, where he served as the head coach until 2024. Ã Â timac then became manager of Bosnian Premier League side Zrinjski in 2025.
At the club level à  timac played for his local Croatian club Hajduk Split and, most notably, the English club Derby County. à  timac arrived at the Baseball Ground on 31 October 1995 for a fee of ã1.5 million from Hajduk Split. He scored a goal on his debut for the Rams away at Tranmere, but the Rams fell to a heavy 5âÂÂ1 defeat. The rest of the season was more successful, as Derby gained promotion and remained unbeaten in 20 consecutive matches. During this time he formed a strong partnership with Dean Yates in the centre of Derby's defence.
à  timac played nearly four years with the Rams, and made 84 league appearances for the Rams, in addition to seven FA Cup appearances and two League Cup appearances. He was sold on 29 August 1999 to West Ham United for ã600,000, where he scored once, against Newcastle United.
à  timac played for the Croatia national team, winning 53 caps and scoring two goals, and formed part of a Croatia squad that won the bronze medal at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. His final international was a February 2002 friendly match against Bulgaria.
Previously, Ã Â timac was a member of the highly talented Yugoslavia under-20 team that won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, playing four games and scoring two goals in the tournament.
à  timac started his managerial career in 2001, taking charge of the Hajduk Split football academy and also acting as the club's sport director. Hajduk won two championships during this time (2003âÂÂ04 and 2004âÂÂ05). In 2004âÂÂ05 season he took managerial position for the last 10 games after replacing Blaà ¾ Slià ¡koviÃÂ. With many difficulties he managed to win championship but lost the cup final to HNK Rijeka. In the spring of 2006, he also spent a few months coaching Croatian first division side Cibalia, saving them from relegation. On 14 September 2009, he was appointed as the new NK Zagreb manager after they lost the first seven games of the season, replacing Luka PavloviÃÂ. However à  timac managed to save NK Zagreb from relegation and left the club at the end of the season.
On 5 July 2012, à  timac was appointed as the new Croatia national football team manager, after the departure of his former national team teammate Slaven BiliÃÂ. His first match as Croatia manager came in a friendly game against Switzerland at Poljud Stadium, which ended in a disappointing 2âÂÂ4 loss. Despite that loss, Croatia entered the 2014 World Cup qualifies in decent fashion, taking 16 points from first six games. However, the results were not representative of Croatia's form on the pitch, as the team only had a goal difference of +7 from those six matches and scored the majority of their goals from set pieces, counterattacks, and defensive errors by their opponents. Then started a period of very poor results starting with a 0âÂÂ1 loss to Scotland at Maksimir on 7 June 2013. Following this Croatia lost 0âÂÂ1 in a friendly match to Portugal on 10 June 2013 and then barely beat 148th ranked Liechtenstein 3âÂÂ2 in a friendly match thanks to an 86th-minute goal by Eduardo on 14 August 2013.
In their next world cup qualifying match, Croatia drew 1âÂÂ1 against rivals Serbia in Belgrade, despite only having one shot on target and two shots overall. This was followed by another loss at home at Maksimir, this time to eventual group winners Belgium with a result of 1âÂÂ2. With only one World Cup qualifying match to go, à  timac had become widely unpopular in Croatia with one poll conducted by popular domestic newspaper 24sata resulting in 98% of voters in favor of sacking à  timac. On 15 October 2013, Croatia lost their final World Cup qualifying match 0âÂÂ2 against Scotland. After the 0âÂÂ2 loss to Scotland, à  timac tendered his resignation to the HNS president, former star footballer and national team teammate of à  timac, Davor à  uker. The following day, à  uker accepted his resignation. Croatia ending qualifying as the second to last ranked second place team, having only one more point than last placed Denmark, thus taking the final play-off round spot.
Despite some criticism à  timac managed to take the FIFA Ranking of Croatia to 4th position just behind Spain, Germany and Argentina, respectively. Players like Mateo KovaÃÂiàand Alen Haliloviàalso made their debuts for the Croatia national team during à  timac's stint.
In the beginning of 2015, à  timac was named as new manager at Prva HNL club Zadar. à  timac quit after only six months in charge, as club was administratively relegated to second division by the licensing board of the HNS due to financial irregularities 3 games before the league ended. Following à  timac's resignation, Zadar club president Josip Bajlo said, "I would like to thank Mr. à  timac for the five months that he has worked in Zadar, and he has still done the best in such situation".
On 12 November 2015, Ã Â timac became manager of Sepahan, replacing Hossein Faraki. He resigned as Sepahan head coach on 20 April 2016, after a run of unsuccessful results which led Sepahan in the 11th place and out of both season's cups, Hazfi Cup and AFC Champions League.
On 15 May 2019, the All India Football Federation announced à  timac as the country's head coach after the departure of Stephen Constantine. His first campaign with India was 2019 King's Cup where his first match as head coach was against Curaçao, which ended up as a 3âÂÂ1 loss where he gave six players their international debut but in the next match against the host Thailand he managed the team to a 1âÂÂ0 victory earning third place in the tournament and his first win as head coach.
For 2022 World Cup qualification, à  timac's campaign with India started with a 1âÂÂ2 home loss to Oman, but he steered the team to a respectable draw against the 2019 Asian Champion and 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar. Despite this, India only managed draws against much lower ranked teams, Bangladesh at home and Afghanistan away. India were beaten by Oman and Qatar, gained only a draw with Afghanistan, and their only win in qualification came with a 2âÂÂ0 victory over neighbour Bangladesh. A third place finish with only six points meant India did not qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. However, it was India's highest position since the 2002 qualification and guaranteed India a place in the upcoming 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification.
Under à  timac, India reached the 2023 AFC Asian Cup finals in Qatar after a 2âÂÂ0 victory over Cambodia, a 2âÂÂ1 victory over Afghanistan and a 4âÂÂ0 victory over Hong Kong, on 8, 11 and 14 June 2022 respectively, at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan stadium in Kolkata. This was the first time India qualified twice in a row for the AFC Asian Cup.
As coach of the India national team, à  timac achieved 12 victories (up to 9 June 2023) when India overcame Mongolia 2âÂÂ0 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. This surpassed his previous best of 11 wins as coach for NK Zagreb.
On 22 and 28 March 2023 respectively, à  timac led India to a 1âÂÂ0 victory over Myanmar and a 2âÂÂ0 victory over Kyrgyzstan at the Khuman Lampak in Imphal. These were the first internationals to be played in northeast India and culminated in India winning the 2023 Tri-Nations Series Trophy, under à  timac's guidance.
On 18 June 2023, under à  timac's leadership, India won a second Intercontinental Cup after overcoming Lebanon 2âÂÂ0 in the final at the Kalinga Stadium.
Under à  timac, on 24 June 2023 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, India achieved eight consecutive clean sheets with a 2âÂÂ0 victory over Nepal, breaking the previous record of seven between 3 June 1948 and 23 March 1952. It was also India's ninth consecutive clean sheet at home (stretching back to the 4âÂÂ0 victory over Hong Kong on 14 June 2022), the 11th of an undefeated run (from the 22 March 2023 victory over Myanmar), and the 15th undefeated at home (since a 15 October 2019 draw with Bangladesh). The latter run includes 10 wins, three draws and two draws that ended as penalty shoot-out wins - the last being an extended penalty shoot-out victory at home against Kuwait on 4 July 2023 in the 2023 SAFF Championship Final.
à  timac became the first foreign head coach to win back-to-back SAFF Championship titles. The 2023 SAFF Championship was the first time India had defeated two West Asian countries in back-to-back matches, after winning the semi-final against Lebanon, also on penalties.
India lost all matches in the group stage, against Australia (0âÂÂ2), Uzbekistan (0âÂÂ3), and Syria (0-1). India was the worst-ranked according to points table and goal difference in the competition. Following the poor run of results during the AFC Asian cup and India's second round exit during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, à  timac was sacked by the AIFF on 24 June 2024.
On 1 August 2025, à  timac was appointed as the new manager of Bosnian Premier League club Zrinjski Mostar. He debuted as manager on 7 August in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round first leg against Icelandic side Breiðablik, drawing 1âÂÂ1. In October 2025, he courted controversy by using the acronym of the World War II Ustasha salute Za dom spremni (ZDS) in a social media post.
Hajduk Split
Derby County
Yugoslavia U-20
Croatia
Hajduk Split
India
Zrinjski Mostar