Ljubiša Tumbaković

Ljubiša Tumbaković (Serbian Cyrillic: Љубиша Тумбаковић, pronounced [ʎǔbiʃa tumbȃːkoʋitɕ, - tǔː-]; born 2 September 1952) is a Serbian professional football manager.

Ljubiša Tumbaković

Tumbaković as Montenegro manager in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Ljubiša Tumbaković
Date of birth	(1952-09-02) 2 September 1952 (age 72)
Place of birth	Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1962–1964	Radnički Belgrade
1964–1970	Partizan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1970–1976	Partizan	0	(0)
1971–1972	→ Vardar (loan)
1972–1973	→ Radnički Sombor (loan)	29	(3)
Managerial career
1980–1985	Radnički Belgrade (youth)
1985–1987	Obilić (youth)
1989–1990	Khaitan
1990–1992	Partizan (youth)
1992–1999	Partizan
1999–2000	AEK Athens
2000–2002	Partizan
2003–2004	Al Nassr
2004–2009	Shandong Luneng
2010	Steel Azin
2013	Wuhan Zall
2016–2019	Montenegro
2019–2020	Serbia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He is the most successful coach in the history of Serbian powerhouse Partizan which he led to six national championship titles and three national cup wins during his two spells at the club between 1993 and 2001.

He was most recently the manager in the Serbia national team.

Playing career

Born in Belgrade's urban neighborhood of Dorćol, Tumbaković started out in the youth categories of Radnički Beograd in 1962.^[1] Two years later, he joined the youth ranks of Partizan. In 1970, with Tumbaković turning 18, he joined the senior squad. Although he didn't appear in any domestic league matches for Partizan, he did appear in 45 friendlies, scoring 6 goals.^[2]

Managerial career

Partizan

Tumbaković started his management career with Partizan in 1992. Partizan were in the doldrums when Tumbaković took control, however he immediately brought success to Partizan by winning the league with them in his debut season.^[3] This was a feat that he would repeat five times during his first time with Partizan as well as winning three Yugoslav Cups. These achievements caught the eye of AEK Athens F.C. who finished third in the league under Tumbaković's management.^[4]

Return to Partizan

Tumbaković returned to Partizan at the beginning of the 2000/01 league season after a season away from the club and with the NATO attacks on Yugoslavia firmly behind the league, Tumbaković would continue establishing Partizan as one of the strongest teams in the league.^[5] However, despite more domestic success with Partizan where they won the 2001/02 league title European success was far more difficult to achieve. He would stand down from his position after almost a decade in charge of FK Partizan where he was one of the most successful coaches in Yugoslavian football history.^[3]

Shandong Luneng

In 2003, he would coach Saudi team Al Nassr for a short period. However, he quickly moved to Chinese team Shandong Luneng at the beginning of their 2004 league season. Tumbaković who was the second Serbian to manage Shandong after Slobodan Santrač, was to make a quick impression at the club when he won the Chinese FA Cup and took them second in league.^[6] Ljubiša would continue to establish Shandong as genuine title contenders throughout the 2005 league season despite them coming third within the league and being unable to retain their FA Cup.^[7] It was within the 2006 league season which established Shandong as a significant force within the Chinese Super League when they won the league by 17 points and FA cup. Their dominance was repeated when they again won the league title in 2008.

Montenegro

Tumbaković was appointed head coach of the Montenegro national team on 19 January 2016 and was sacked on 7 June 2019^[8] after refusing to take charge of a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying game against Kosovo and abandoning the staff on the match day.^[9]

Serbia

He was appointed as the manager of the Serbia national team on 1 July 2019.^[10] After Serbia finished third in their UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying group, he left the position in December 2020 after not qualifying for Euro 2020, being eliminated by Scotland on penalties in the qualifying play–offs, after star striker Aleksandar Mitrović failed to convert his spot kick in the shootout.^[11]

Managerial statistics

Only league games are counted

As of 18 November 2020^[12]

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Khaitan	August 1989	May 1990	21	6	10	5	028.57
Partizan	July 1992	June 1999	295	214	46	35	072.54
AEK Athens	June 1999	January 2000	26	14	5	7	053.85
Partizan	May 2000	December 2002	110	80	15	15	072.73
Al Nassr	July 2003	December 2003	13	8	2	3	061.54
Shandong Luneng	January 2004	November 2009	203	118	47	38	058.13
Steel Azin	July 2010	October 2010	10	3	3	4	030.00
Wuhan Zall	April 2013	August 2013	15	2	3	10	013.33
Montenegro	January 2016	June 2019	27	7	8	12	025.93
Serbia	July 2019	December 2020	14	6	5	3	042.86
Total			734	458	144	132	062.40

Honours

Manager

Partizan

• FR Yugoslavia First League (6): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2001–02
• FR Yugoslavia Cup (3): 1993–94, 1997–98, 2000–01

Shandong Luneng

• Chinese Super League (2): 2006, 2008
• Chinese FA Cup (2): 2004, 2006

Individual

• Serbian Coach of the Year: 2006

References

1. Samo Partizan by Vojkan Kostić and Vladimir Niškanović (2000-09-03). Samo Partizan issue #1, pgs. 14-17.
2. FK Partizan (3 January 2016). "Igrači Partizana 1945. – 2015. – FK Partizan". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
3. Tumbakovic resigns from Partizan
4. "Greece 1999/00".
5. "Yugoslavia 1998/99".
6. "China 2004". Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
7. "China 2005". Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
8. "Crna Gora dobila selektora, Tumbaković jednoglasno! - Vijesti.me". Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
9. Montenegro sack Ljubisa Tumbakovic for missing Kosovo match BBC Sport. 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
10. Sportski žurnal (1 July 2019). "Ljubiša Tumbaković novi selektor Srbije!" (in Serbian). Retrieved 1 July 2019.
11. B92 (14 December 2020). "Tumbaković više nije selektor Srbije!" (in Serbian). Retrieved 27 July 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
12. Ljubisa Tumbakovic at footballdatabase.eu