{"id":39176,"date":"2026-07-13T14:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T14:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:40:30","slug":"slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Slaven Bilic returns to Croatia to replace &#8216;great&#8217; Zlatko Dalic as coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) \u2014 Slaven Bilic returns as Croatia&#8217;s coach, following the team&#8217;s most successful coach. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Zlatko Dalic<\/span> Follow to the left <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">world cup<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Bilic, who has previously coached West Ham and West Bromwich in the Premier League, as well as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, returns to the job he left 14 years ago after six years at the helm.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really happy to take on this challenge and feel that I&#8217;m well-prepared for it, as a more mature and experienced manager than I was in 2006, with the same motivation and desire to see Croatia continue to be strong, bold and successful,&#8221; Bilic said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>He takes over a Croatia team that was eliminated from the World Cup. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">blizzard of blame<\/span>. The last-gasp equalizer was ruled offside with the lightest touch detected by a sensor inside the ball. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Lost to Portugal 2-1<\/span> In the round of 32.<\/p>\n<p>This marks the end of Dalich&#8217;s nine-year term. Dalic led Croatia to their only World Cup final in 2018, where they lost to France and finished third in 2022. When he resigned last week, the national football federation hailed Dalic as &#8220;the greatest Croatian coach of all time&#8221; in a graphic on social media. <\/p>\n<p>Bilic was the team&#8217;s outstanding defender and finished third at the 1998 World Cup, a landmark achievement for the then newly independent country. His last coaching job was with Saudi club Al Fateh from July 2023 to August 2024.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">See more of AP&#8217;s World Cup coverage here<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/slaven-bilic-croatia-world-cup-4cdb553c052c9030cef653b2b10c8426\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) \u2014 Slaven Bilic returns as Croatia&#8217;s coach, following the team&#8217;s most successful coach. Zlatko Dalic Follow to the left world cup. Bilic, who has previously coached West Ham and West Bromwich in the Premier League, as well as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, returns to the job he left 14 years ago after<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Slaven Bilic returns to Croatia to replace &#039;great&#039; Zlatko Dalic as coach - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Slaven Bilic returns to Croatia to replace &#039;great&#039; Zlatko Dalic as coach - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) \u2014 Slaven Bilic returns as Croatia&#8217;s coach, following the team&#8217;s most successful coach. Zlatko Dalic Follow to the left world cup. Bilic, who has previously coached West Ham and West Bromwich in the Premier League, as well as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, returns to the job he left 14 years ago after\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T14:40:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/\",\"name\":\"Slaven Bilic returns to Croatia to replace 'great' Zlatko Dalic as coach - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fba2F892F970f7ba888b67a525f20fad89f6c2F538aa848e632493aa019e6b01bc1275d.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T14:40:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fba2F892F970f7ba888b67a525f20fad89f6c2F538aa848e632493aa019e6b01bc1275d.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fba2F892F970f7ba888b67a525f20fad89f6c2F538aa848e632493aa019e6b01bc1275d.jpeg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":653},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/13\/slaven-bilic-returns-to-croatia-to-replace-great-zlatko-dalic-as-coach\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Slaven Bilic returns to Croatia to replace &#8216;great&#8217; Zlatko Dalic as coach\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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