Željko Sopić (51) is the new coach of NK Osijek, the club confirmed on its social networks.
Sopic arrives as a replacement for Simon Rožman with whom the club terminated cooperation earlier on Wednesday. The Slovenian left Osijek in the penultimate place in the table with only nine points from 11 rounds, the same number as the last Vukovar in 1991.
As head coach, Sopić managed Rudeš, Dinamo II, Azerbaijan’s Sabah, Gorica, Rijeka and Poland’s Widzew, who replaced him in August 2025 due to poor results.
From August 2023 to August 2024 he was coach of Rijeka, with which he won second place in the Croatian championship, achieving 26 wins, ten draws and eight losses in 44 games. In July, in an interview with Polish media, he answered the question why he left Rijeka.
I didn’t want to put the sponsor’s son in the game. That was the first league, Rijeka. The best will always play. I can’t make fools of the players.
Let us recall that Sopić referred to Steven Juncaj. His father George Juncaj is an entrepreneur who in 2019 became the owner of 50 Michigan Stars, a soccer club from the Detroit area. Then he invested in Gorica, and last year he was mentioned as an investor, co-owner, and even a buyer of Mišković’s club.
Juncaj’s son came to Rijeka as part of the rapprochement between Mišković and Juncaj’s father, but he played only two games in the cup. He left Rijeka at the beginning of last year on loan to the Michigan Stars, his father’s club.
Sopić on the reasons for leaving Rijeka: I didn’t want to put my sponsor’s son in the game
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: Goran Kovacic/PIXSELL)
