Croatian football manager (born 1966)
Petar ?egrt
(born 8 May 1966) is a Croatian
football
coach and former player. He was most recently the
head coach
of the
Tajikistan national team
.
Early life
[
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]
Petar ?egrt was born in the town of
đurđevac
in
SR Croatia
in 1966. His parents immigrated to
Germany
with ?egrt's older brother in the 1970s, leaving ?egrt behind to be raised by his grandmother.
[1]
Playing career
[
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]
A
defender
, ?egrt started his senior career in 1984 playing for FV Calw. He also played for FV Plochingen, TSV Schwaikheim, SV Allmersbach, FC Walldorf and
Waldhof Mannheim
Amateure. After his first injury, while he was recovering from the operation, he started as junior coach of FV Calw, while he was only 17 years old. Because of his second knee injury, he had to finish playing at 1993, while he was 27 years old. The same year ?egrt graduated for UEFA 'B' Coaching Licence in Ruit, Germany, and started his coaching career.
Coaching career
[
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]
After four years honorary working as youth coach in Amateur club FV Calw, ?egrt started his professional coaching career and he worked for various clubs in Germany. At
Bundesliga
clubs
VfL Bochum
and
MSV Duisburg
he worked as U-19 youth coach, as second team assistant coach and also as part of the first team coaching staff. In 2000, he go back to the club where he once played
SV Waldhof Mannheim
in
2. Bundesliga
to work as assistant coach and as head coach of the second team. After he graduated his
UEFA Pro Licence
in 2001 he started to work as head coach in some professional clubs in Austria like
DSV Leoben
,
SV Ried
and
Wiener Sportklub
. In this 14 years of coaching experience ?egrt was remembered as the coach who develop many young players into National team players and he earned himself a nickname "Architect".
[2]
Georgia national team
[
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]
In 2006, ?egrt start working as a part of
Georgia national team
coaching team together with
Klaus Toppmoller
. Between 2006?2008, ?egrt also accept the role as the head coach of
Georgia U-21 national team
where in a very short time he developed more than 18 players who played or still playing for
Georgia national team
. With ?egrt as coach,
Georgia U-21
make one of the biggest success in Georgian National team football history with a 2?0 victory against
Russia U21
in 2007 European U-21 Cup qualification. After
Klaus Toppmoller
left the
Georgia A-national team
on 1 April 2008, ?egrt was appointed as first Technical Director in history of
Georgian Football Federation
. He was also leading
Georgia A-national team
as head coach in friendly games against
Estonia
and
Portugal
in May 2008, before
Georgian Football Federation
appointed
Hector Cuper
as head coach on 1 August 2008.
In addition to his coaching skills, ?egrt gained large popularity in Georgia during the Georgia-Russia war conflict in 2008, after his famous speech
[3]
at Rustaveli square in Tbilisi, where he promised to the thousands of Georgian people gathered, that he would not leave their country despite the war.
After his great work in Georgia, in December 2008 Germany's leading sports magazine
Kicker
announced that
German Football Association
choose ?egrt as one of the candidates for taking over
Germany U-21
.
[4]
Bali Devata
[
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]
Petar ?egrt as
Bali Devata
manager in 2011
In the end of 2010, Konsorsium Liga Premier Indonesia invited ?egrt to be a part and help them with his coaching and managing experience to build a new club in Indonesian professional football based in Bali, so ?egrt approached to
Bali Devata
which competed in
Liga Primer Indonesia
. After he finished his job with
Bali Devata
the same consortium offered him a new job as head coach of former Indonesian champion
PSM Makassar
.
PSM Makassar
[
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]
In October 2011 ?egrt was appointed as head coach of
PSM Makassar
. Very popular club
[5]
and a very successful club in Indonesia and now compete in Liga 1, the men's top professional football division of the Indonesian football league system. After only one season in
Indonesian Premier League
?egrt developed 10 new Indonesian national players, six players were invited for
Indonesia A-national team
and four players were invited for
Indonesia U-23 national team
. After success ?egrt achieved that season, in July 2012
PSM Makassar
club boards offered him 5 years contract extension,
[6]
which is very uncommon for Indonesian clubs. ?egrt also have unbeaten home record in
Indonesian Premier League
, which is the first time for
PSM Makassar
in the club's 97 years history, although he had youngest team in the
Indonesian Premier League
as average age of the players was 22. In December 2012, ?egrt lead the team winning the Walikota Cup in
Ternate
.
[7]
That was the first trophy for
PSM Makassar
after almost 12 years. Although he had contract until 2017, after his team winning game in Jun 2013 ?egrt decided to leave
PSM Makassar
for private reasons.
[8]
The club's supporters showed their disappointment
[9]
by decision of their favorite coach, but together with president and club's management they invited ?egrt to attend the next home game in July 2013. They filled the stadium and prepared official goodbye in front of the game, which is very unusual for Indonesian supporters.
Zvijezda Grada?ac
[
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]
After leaving
PSM Makassar
, ?egrt was a candidate to coach
Indonesia national football team
. In September 2014, he accepted the offer from
Bosnian Premier League
club
Zvijezda Grada?ac
.
[10]
Although ?egrt brought Zvijezda in the middle of the ranking, in April 2015 the club got a new management and they decided to appoint a new coach. That ended up being a poor decision as the club got relegated from the Premier League shortly after ?egrt left.
Afghanistan national team
[
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]
In November 2015,
Afghanistan Football Federation
announced that they appointed ?egrt as the new head coach. ?egrt promised he will use his experience and knowledge to develop football in Afghanistan.
[11]
?egrt won six from eight official matches with Afghanistan. He won four South Asia Cup matches and one lost in overtime against home team India in final 1?2. In World Cup qualification for Russia 2018 ?egrt lost only in Japan and he won two other matches. He achieved the biggest success of Afghanistan in Asia Cup with the direct and first time in history of Afghanistan the Final Asia Cup Qualification. After that the
Afghanistan Football Federation
surprisingly decides to appoint new coach.
Maldives national team
[
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]
In March 2018
Football Association of Maldives
signed a two-year contract with ?egrt as the head coach. He won his first official match In AFC Qualifications with convincing 7?0 against Bhutan.
[12]
That was the first win for Maldives after 288 days. In September 2018, the Maldives made a big surprise by winning the SAFF Suzuki Cup 2018 in Bangladesh against any odds. In the final they won 2?1 against favorite India. For ?egrt that was the second final of the SAFF Suzuki Cup as he led Afghanistan until the final 2 years earlier, which he lost to India 1?2. On 7 January 2020 head coach ?egrt and the Maldivian association agreed on a mutually agreed termination of the contract.
Tajikistan national team
[
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]
On 27 January 2022, the
Tajikistan Football Federation
announced ?egrt as their new Head Coach.
[13]
Under ?egrt, Tajikistan managed to achieve a historic feat, qualified for the
2023 AFC Asian Cup
, which is also the country's first-ever appearance in a major continental football competition in history, having failed to qualify for the Asian Cup five times before. ?egrt also guided Tajikistan to win the
2022 King's Cup
in Thailand and the
2023 Merdeka Tournament
in Malaysia where he had an average squad age of 21.1.
In the 2023 Asian Cup itself, Tajikistan achieved a draw (0?0, against
China PR
[14]
), and after a 0?1 defeat to
Qatar
[15]
and a further 2 ? 1 victory against heavily favored
Lebanon
,
[16]
Tajikistan qualified for the
Round of 16
.
Tajikistan upset the UAE 5-3 in a penalty shootout on 28 January 2024 to advance to the 2023 Asian Cup quarter-finals after the game ended 1-1 after extra time.
[17]
Managerial statistics
[
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]
- As of match played 2 February 2024
[18]
Team
|
Nat.
|
From
|
To
|
Record
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DSV Leoben
|
|
1 September 2001
|
7 January 2003
|
25
|
13
|
4
|
8
|
45
|
31
|
+14
|
0
52.00
|
SV Ried
|
|
1 July 2003
|
11 November 2003
|
21
|
10
|
5
|
6
|
36
|
27
|
+9
|
0
47.62
|
WSC
|
|
1 July 2004
|
1 November 2005
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
4
|
7
|
?3
|
0
50.00
|
Georgia U-21
|
|
6 February 2007
|
31 December 2008
|
8
|
2
|
0
|
6
|
6
|
22
|
?16
|
0
25.00
|
Georgia
|
|
1 April 2008
|
31 July 2008
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
?2
|
00
0.00
|
Zvijezda Grada?ac
|
|
5 September 2014
|
19 April 2015
|
21
|
5
|
6
|
10
|
28
|
36
|
?8
|
0
23.81
|
Afghanistan
|
|
1 November 2015
|
13 February 2017
|
10
|
6
|
1
|
3
|
23
|
12
|
+11
|
0
60.00
|
Maldives
|
|
11 March 2018
|
19 December 2019
|
11
|
5
|
1
|
5
|
18
|
16
|
+2
|
0
45.45
|
Tajikistan
|
|
27 January 2022
|
16 February 2024
|
24
|
9
|
10
|
5
|
30
|
20
|
+10
|
0
37.50
|
Total
|
124
|
51
|
28
|
45
|
191
|
174
|
+17
|
0
41.13
|
Honours
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Managerial
[
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]
Maldives
Tajikistan
References
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]
External links
[
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]
Current managers of
AFC
national teams
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