Veljko Paunović facts for kids
Paunović managing Chicago Fire in 2017
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 21 August 1977 | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Strumica, SFR Yugoslavia | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m | |||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Attacking midfielder, striker | |||||||||||||||
| Club information | ||||||||||||||||
| Current club | Tigres UANL (head coach) | |||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1994 | Partizan | |||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Partizan | 13 | (1) | |||||||||||||
| 1995–2002 | Atlético Madrid | 52 | (9) | |||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | → Marbella (loan) | 20 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | Atlético Madrid B | 22 | (11) | |||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | → Mallorca (loan) | 24 | (5) | |||||||||||||
| 2001 | → Oviedo (loan) | 22 | (4) | |||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | → Mallorca (loan) | 33 | (3) | |||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | Tenerife | 38 | (18) | |||||||||||||
| 2003–2005 | Atlético Madrid | 35 | (6) | |||||||||||||
| 2005 | Hannover 96 | 6 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| 2005–2007 | Getafe | 44 | (10) | |||||||||||||
| 2007 | Rubin Kazan | 16 | (1) | |||||||||||||
| 2008 | Almería | 7 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| 2008 | Partizan | 9 | (1) | |||||||||||||
| 2011 | Philadelphia Union | 17 | (3) | |||||||||||||
| Total | 358 | (76) | ||||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2004 | Serbia and Montenegro | 2 | (1) | |||||||||||||
| Teams managed | ||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2014 | Serbia U18 | |||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Serbia U19 | |||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Serbia U20 | |||||||||||||||
| 2015–2019 | Chicago Fire | |||||||||||||||
| 2020–2022 | Reading | |||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Guadalajara | |||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Tigres UANL | |||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Veljko Paunović (born August 21, 1977) is a Serbian football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach for the Liga MX club Tigres UANL.
Veljko was a very flexible attacking player. He could play as an attacking midfielder or a striker. He spent most of his career in Spain, playing for eight different clubs. He played 212 matches and scored 38 goals in La Liga over 11 seasons. He also played for Atlético Madrid several times. Besides his home country, he also played football in Germany, Russia, and the United States.
Paunović started his coaching career in 2012. He began by coaching Serbia's youth teams. Later, he managed teams like Chicago Fire, Reading, Guadalajara, and Tigres UANL.
Contents
Veljko Paunović's Club Career
Veljko Paunović was born in Strumica, which was part of Yugoslavia at the time. He started his professional football journey at age 17 with FK Partizan. The next summer, he moved to Spain. He stayed there for most of the next ten years.
Playing in Spain
Paunović played for many clubs in Spain. He started with CA Marbella in the 1995–96 season. He even reached the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final with RCD Mallorca. He scored five goals for Mallorca in that season, helping them finish third. He also had three different times playing for Atlético Madrid.
His best year was in 2002–03 with CD Tenerife in the Segunda División. He scored 18 goals in 38 games. After returning to Atlético and a short time in Germany with Hannover 96, he joined Getafe CF for the 2005–06 top league. This was his best season in La Liga, where he scored ten goals in 30 league matches. He helped Getafe finish ninth. Because he spent so many years in Spain, he received a Spanish passport in 2006.
Playing in Russia and Later Years
In March 2007, FC Rubin Kazan in the Russian Premier League signed Paunović. He joined them after not being a favorite with Getafe's coach. The next year, in January, he signed a deal with UD Almería. His first game was tough; he played 20 minutes and got two yellow cards quickly, which meant he was sent off. He scored two goals later that season.
On July 12, 2008, Paunović signed a two-year deal with his old club, Partizan. On August 13, he scored in a 2–2 game against Fenerbahçe SK in the Champions League qualifying round. However, he decided to retire from playing football before the end of that year.
After almost three years away from football, Paunović, then 33, signed with another American club, Philadelphia Union, in June 2011. He scored his first goal with them later that month in a 3–2 win. He officially announced his retirement for the second time on January 19, 2012.
International Career
Paunović played his first game for Serbia and Montenegro on February 13, 2002. It was a 2–1 friendly win against Mexico. His only other game for the national team was two years later against Northern Ireland. This was another friendly match, and he scored in the 1–1 draw in Belfast.
Coaching Career
Veljko Paunović earned a special UEFA PRO coaching license. He also got a degree in being a sporting director from the Royal Spanish Football Federation. For nine months, he worked as an analyst for UEFA Champions League games on Spanish TV.
Coaching Serbia's Youth Teams
Paunović started his coaching journey with the Serbia national team. He was in charge of their under-18, under-19, and under-20 teams. While coaching the under-20 team, he led them to win the 2015 FIFA World Cup. This was a huge achievement!
Coaching Chicago Fire
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On November 24, 2015, Paunović became the head coach of Chicago Fire FC in Major League Soccer. He helped the team reach the playoffs in 2017. This was the first time they made it to the playoffs in five years! In the same year, he coached in the All-Star Game against Real Madrid.
Paunović also led the Fire to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open Cup in 2016 and 2018. He and the Chicago Fire team decided to part ways on November 13, 2019.
Coaching Reading F.C.
Paunović took over as manager of Reading on August 29, 2020. In his first game in the EFL Championship on September 12, his team won 2–0. He was even named the division's Manager of the Month for September because his team won all three games. They just missed out on a playoff spot with two games left in the season.
In November 2021, during his second season, Reading's team received a six-point penalty. This was because they broke some financial rules over the past three seasons. The following January, Reading was knocked out of the FA Cup by a lower-league team. On February 19, 2022, after a 3–2 win, Reading announced that Paunović had left his role.
Coaching Guadalajara and Tigres UANL
On October 31, 2022, Paunović was named manager at Liga MX club C.D. Guadalajara in Mexico. He won his first game with them on January 7, 2023. He left Guadalajara in December 2023.
On June 9, 2024, Paunović became the head coach of Tigres UANL, another club in the same Mexican league.
Personal Life
Veljko Paunović faced challenges when he was training for football. He sometimes walked for hours to practice and even went without food. His father, Blagoje, was also a football player. He was a defender who played for Partizan and represented Yugoslavia. His father later became a manager, too, and inspired Veljko.
Paunović is married and has four children. He can speak six different languages fluently: English, Spanish, Serbian, Macedonian, Russian, and German.
Honours
As a Manager
Serbia
- FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2015
Individual Awards
- EFL Championship Manager of the Month: September 2020
See also
In Spanish: Veljko Paunović para niños
