Nenad Bjelica is no longer the coach of Osijek

After two years of cooperation, Nenad Bjelica is no longer the coach of Osijek, the Croatian club announced.

Osijek had a desperate start to the season - it was eliminated in the second round of qualification for the Conference League by Kazakhstan's Kizližar, while in the Croatian Football League (HNL) it is currently in 5th place with eight points.

Osijek beat Hajduk Split 2:1 in the derby yesterday and escaped from the bottom of the table.

"The president of the Osijek football club management, Mr. Ferenc Sakalj, dismissed Mr. Nenad Bjelica from the duties of sports director and coach of the club. In the coming days, the Osijek football club will make a decision on the appointment of a new coach, about which he will inform the public in a timely manner. The Osijek football club thanks Mr. Nenad Bjelica for his cooperation through the past two years", it was announced from Osijek.

By the way, after the elimination from Kizližar, the fans demanded that Bjelica leave, but he refused. Two weeks ago, the club, led by president Sakaljo, supported Bjelica. At the time, it was said that the 51-year-old expert would remain the coach of the team.

"Nenad Bjelica, as a key person in the sports segment, has the maximum support of the NK Osijek Administration to continue leading this project along the path we have set out and on which, I firmly believe, we will have many more successful moments. Finally, I would like to emphasize that the termination of cooperation was not an issue of our conversations", Osijek announced at the time, among other things.

However, today the situation has changed by 180 degrees...

Bjelica has been Osijek's coach since September 2020. Previously, he managed Dinamo Zagreb, and was the coach of Lech from Poznań, Spezia, Austria from Vienna...

Montenegrin footballers - Nikola Janjić and Ognjen Bakić - also play in Osijek.