Zvonimir Soldo

Zvonimir Soldo
Zvonimir Soldo (2010)
Personnel
birthday	November 2nd, 1967
place of birth	Zagreb ,  SFR Yugoslavia
size	189 cm
position	Defensive Midfield
Juniors
Years	station
	Inter Zaprešić
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1987-1990	Dinamo Zagreb	36 0(0)
1990-1991	NK Zadar	26 0(2)
1991-1994	Inter Zaprešić	55 0(2)
1994-1996	Croatia Zagreb	51 0(3)
1996-2006	VfB Stuttgart	301 (15)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1994-2002	Croatia	61 0(3)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
2007-2008	Dinamo Zagreb U19
2008	Dinamo Zagreb
2009-2010	1. FC Cologne
2017	Shandong Luneng Taishan (Assistant Trainer)
2020–	FC Admira Wacker Mödling
1 Only league games are given.

Zvonimir Soldo says goodbye to the fans

Zvonimir Soldo (born November 2, 1967 in Zagreb ) is a former Croatian football player and now coach .

Career

As a player

society

Soldo began playing football as a teenager at the NK Zagreb district club . In 1988 he moved to the Croatian first division club Dinamo Zagreb , where he could not prevail. After two years he left Dinamo and came back to Dinamo Zagreb via the stations NK Zadar and Inter Zaprešić in 1994, which was now called Croatia Zagreb , but this time he made his breakthrough. During his time with Croatia, Soldo was also appointed to the Croatian national football team for the first time .

In 1996 Soldo moved to VfB Stuttgart , for which he was active for ten years. With VfB Stuttgart he won the DFB Cup in 1997 and reached the final of the European Cup Winners ' Cup in 1998 , which his team lost 1-0 to Chelsea . For the 2006/07 season Soldo received no new contract and then ended his career.

National team

Zvonimir Soldo played his first game for the Croatian national team on April 20, 1994 in the 1: 4 defeat against Slovakia . With this he was able to qualify for the 1996 European Football Championship , for which he was also nominated in 1996. At the European Football Championship in 1996, the Croatians made it to the quarter-finals, where they failed because of the eventual tournament winners Germany (1: 2). Zvonimir Soldo only made three appearances in that tournament.

Just one year later, qualification for the 1998 World Cup was achieved by relegation . Soldo also made a contribution to qualification with seven missions. Zvonimir Soldo was nominated for this tournament as well and made six appearances at the 1998 World Cup. He was able to surprisingly achieve third place in the world championship with the checkers .

Another year later, qualification for the European Football Championship 2000 was missed. Despite eight appearances, Soldo couldn't do anything about missing out on qualifying. Two years later, however, he contributed to Croatia's qualification for the 2002 World Cup with five appearances . There the Croatians were eliminated after the group stage, with Soldo being used in two games.

Croatia's second group game at the 2002 World Cup on June 8, 2002 against Italy , which surprisingly won 2-1, was Soldo's last international match. In eight years as a national player he made 61 appearances, scoring three goals.

Style of play

Soldo was best known for eliminating the opposing playmakers in defensive midfield. So he was able to take Zinédine Zidane out of the game in the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup , so that the future world champions France were on the verge of defeat. The Bundesliga playmakers also often had a hard time against Soldo. Sebastian Deisler writes in his biography, for example, that Soldo was his toughest opponent. However, he rarely set offensive accents, although for a tall player he was quite technically adept.

As a trainer

In July 2007 Soldo became a youth coach at Dinamo Zagreb . In January 2008 he moved to the post of head coach of the professional team of Dinamo, with whom he won the championship in the Croatian league and also the Croatian Cup in April, six game days before the end of the season . After these successes, he announced his resignation. On June 12, 2009 Soldo became the head coach of 1. FC Cologne , inheriting Christoph Daum . Soldo signed a two-year contract in Cologne and reached 13th place in the German Bundesliga with the club in the 2009/10 season. This season he operated a clearly defensive style of play based on consistently keeping the opponent away from his own penalty area. As a result, his team was able to collect surprising points, especially away from home. It was criticized that this tactic often led to low-event and low-chance games, which were not very attractive for the stadium and television audience. After a poor start to the 2010/11 season, he was released early on October 24, 2010, when the club was in 17th place on the ninth matchday.

After his engagement at 1. FC Köln he returned to Croatia and opened a restaurant in his hometown Zagreb . From February 6, 2017, he was assistant coach at the Chinese first division club Shandong Luneng Taishan at Felix Magath's side . After the 2017 season, he left the Chinese with Magath.

In February 2020 he became the coach of the Austrian Bundesliga club FC Admira Wacker Mödling .

Web links

• Zvonimir Soldo in the database of weltfussball.de
• Zvonimir Soldo (players) in the database of transfermarkt.de
• Zvonimir Soldo (trainer) in the database of transfermarkt.de
• Zvonimir Soldo in the database of fussballdaten.de
• Zvonimir Soldo in the database of the Croatian Football Association (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Soldo: 'Ich bin ein Arbeiter'" , article in the online edition of kicker from June 12, 2009, accessed on June 12, 2009.
2. ↑ That's what ex-FC coach Zvonimir Soldo is doing today , in: express.de, from March 26, 2016.
3. ^ Co-Trainer - Shandong: Soldo supports Magath , in: transfermarkt.de, from February 5, 2017
4. ↑ Zvonimir Soldo new head coach of FC Flyeralarm Admira flyeralarmadmira.at, on February 25, 2020, accessed on February 25, 2020