In Russian football, there is currently a demand for foreign coaches. Many top clubs in the country sign multi-million dollar contracts with foreign specialists. Ten years ago, middle-class RPL teams could not afford such a luxury. However, the Perm "Amkar" in 2008 managed to sign an experienced foreign specialist. It was Miodrag Bozovic.
The name of Miodrag Bozovic is well known to the general public of Russian football fans. The mention of this coach evokes associations with a highly qualified specialist in his field, who has worked for the benefit of the development of football for many years, including in seven Russian clubs.
Bozovic was born in Montenegro on June 22, 1968. He has four citizenships at once (Yugoslav, Serbian, Montenegrin and Dutch). He began his career in football as a player, only then completely focused on his career as a coach.
Player playing career
The Balkan countries are consistently suppliers of talented footballers who have made a name for themselves in world football over the course of their careers. However, Miodrag did not become one. Acting as a defender, Bozovic did not gain the fame of a top defender, although his club career is replete with various teams, including foreign ones.
The player's career for Bozovic began in 1986 in the Yugoslavian club "Buduchnost". Subsequently, he played for the famous "Crvena Zvezda" (perhaps the most famous Balkan team that has won the European Cup). At Crvena Zvezda, Miodrag played 52 matches and even scored one goal. And his main achievement in club football is the victory in the Yugoslav Cup in 1993. Bozovic made a significant contribution to winning the Red Star trophy with his game.
Foreign clubs also appear in Bozovic's career as a player. So, he performed in Japan, Cyprus and even Indonesia.
The last club of Bozovic-player was the Dutch team "Rosendal".
It is worth noting that Miodrag Bozovic was called up to the national team of Yugoslavia, but played only in a single match.
Miodrag Bozovic in Russia
Bozovic began his coaching career shortly after completing his playing career. In 2000 he became the head of Belgrade. Over the next years, up to 2008, he worked with footballers from Japanese, Cypriot and Dutch clubs. But he gained fame in Russia only in 2008 - when he headed the Perm "Amkar".
In the 2007 season, the team from Perm suffered a disaster on the domestic arena, fighting for survival in the elite. When the club accepted Bozovic, Amkar's affairs changed significantly. Already in the first season, under the leadership of a new coach, the Permians took the fourth line in the standings, and in the Russian Cup they reached the final, where they lost to the Moscow army team.
Such productive work contributed to the transfer of Bozovic to a new coaching post. In 2009 he became the head of FC Moskva. In 34 games against Muscovites, Bozovic lost nine times and drew, and in 16 cases he celebrated victory.
It should be noted that Bozovic did not stay for many seasons in Russian teams. The famous Yugoslavian specialist had the largest number of meetings as a coach of Rostov from 2012 to 2014 (74 matches with 20 wins, 19 draws and 35 defeats).
In the career of Bozovic the coach also includes other clubs from Russia: Dynamo (Moscow), Lokomotiv (Moscow), Arsenal (Tula).
Since 2018, the specialist has been the head of Wings of the Soviets in Samara.
The sports biography of Bozovic is very remarkable and fruitful, which cannot be said about family life. The personal life of a specialist did not work out. He was married, but due to frequent travel and, possibly, other personal reasons, his wife left her husband. It is also known that Bozovic has two sons. They both do not live with their father.
