Aljosa Asanovic appointed Croatian Football Federation’s diaspora instructor 

Aljosa Asanovic during his playing days (photo credit imago sportfotodienst)

ZAGREB, 26 July 2020 – Former international and 1998 World Cup bronze medal winner Aljosa Asanovic (54) has been appointed the Croatian Football Federation’s instructor for the diaspora. 

Asanovic’s appointment was made on Thursday by the Executive Board and in his new role, the former Hajduk Split star will be involved in scouting players of Croatian descent from around the world. 

“Mr. Asanovic will work closely as an associate to Petar Krpan, who is the head of the technical department. He will support the Croatian Football Federation’s efforts in scouting, following and communicating with talented young Croatian players who live abroad, together with Mr. Krpan,” Tomislav Pacak, the federation’s spokesperson said. 

HNS is also starting with football camps in diaspora (USA, Australia, South America, Europe) where Asanovic will have an important role in organizing and delivering those camps.

Asanovic will also oversee teams from the diaspora who come to participate in different youth tournaments in Croatia, such as the Memorijal vukovarskih branitelja, Mijo Etlinger or Branko Čavlović – Ćavlek. 

Asanovic will also play an important role in organising football camps in which the Croatian Football Federation is starting up in the USA, Australia, South America, and Europe. 

“We have a lot of big projects, including organising camps and competitions for Croatian footballers in the USA, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Australia and other countries with a strong Croatian diaspora. Compared to Germany, Spain, France, Italy or England, we have a small population, so we need to identify all talented Croatian players, in all corners of the world, Suker said in an interview with Spanish sports newspaper Diario As this month. 

Asanovic’s career saw him play in Croatia, France, Italy and England, enjoying spells at Hajduk Split, Montpellier, Napoli, Panathinaikos, and Derby County. He won 62 caps for his country before moving into coaching.

He became one of Slaven Bilic’s assistant coaches of the Croatia national team in 2006, helping to take them to Euro 2008. He then followed Bilic to FC Lokomotiv Moscow. In 2017, Asanovic had a stint as manager of the Melbourne Knights Football Club in Australia.