Vahid Halilhodžić (; born 15 October 1952) is a Bosnian former professional football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the most controversially successful Bosnian football managers, due to his successful tenure in coaching various national teams yet having problematic relations with his teams and players due to different approaches.
Regarded as one of the best Yugoslav players, Halilhodžić had successful playing spells with Velež Mostar and French clubs Nantes and Paris Saint-Germain before retiring in 1987. During that time, he earned 15 full international caps for Yugoslavia and was part of national squads who won the 1978 European Under-21 Championship and played at the 1982 FIFA World Cup. He was top scorer of the French league in 1983 and 1985.
In the early 1990s, Halilhodžić turned to coaching and, after a short stint as a sporting director at Velež, permanently moved to France in 1993 after fleeing war-torn Bosnia with his family. Since then, he managed a number of teams in French-speaking countries and his achievements include winning the 1997 CAF Champions League with Moroccan side Raja Casablanca, leading French side Lille from second level to third place in Ligue 1 in less than three years, winning the 2003–04 Coupe de France with Paris Saint-Germain, and winning the Croatian league in 2011 with Dinamo Zagreb.
Halilhodžić also qualified for the 2010 World Cup with Ivory Coast (although he was sacked only months before the final tournament) and the 2014 World Cup with Algeria, with whom he reached the round of 16, Algeria's best result in history. Later, he qualified for the 2018 World Cup with Japan, but again was fired just prior to the tournament. After a short stint with Nantes in 2018, where he helped avoid relegation to Ligue 2, Halilhodžić became head coach of the Morocco national team, whom he qualified for the 2022 World Cup. Like with Ivory Coast and Japan, he was sacked by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation in August 2022, after Morocco's poor performance at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and his fallout with star player Hakim Ziyech.
Playing career Early life and Velež Born in Jablanica, Halilhodžić started playing football in his early teens at local minnows Turbina Jablanica, as the club's ground was located some 100 metres from his family home. According to his admission, he did not consider becoming a professional footballer at the time and instead chose to continue his formal education, moving to the nearby city of Mostar at age 14 to study at the local electrotechnical high school, without ever appearing for Turbina in an official match. Nevertheless, it was in Mostar that he first started taking football seriously as he went on to join Yugoslav First League side Velež Mostar academy at age 16, in part on the insistence of his brother Salem, who at the time played for the club as a striker. Halilhodžić then went on to play there at youth levels for the next two and a half years, and, upon signing a professional contract with the club, was sent on a six-month loan to second-level side Neretva Metković to gain some experience.
Upon his return from loan, he quickly broke into the first-team squad in the 1972–73 season, forming a successful attacking partnership with Dušan Bajević and helping Velež finish the season as league runners-up behind Red Star Belgrade. Halilhodžić then went on to become one of the club's key players throughout the 1970s, appearing in a total of 376 matches and scoring 253 goals for the club (including 207 appearances and 103 goals in the Yugoslav First League) before leaving the country in September 1981 to join French side Nantes. Earlier that year, he was instrumental in winning the club's first major silverware, scoring two goals in their 3–2 Yugoslav Cup final win against Željezničar.
Nantes and PSG At Nantes, he struggled in his first year although he quickly became a first-team regular, scoring 7 goals in 28 appearances in the 1981–82 season. He also got sent off in the first round of the UEFA Cup vs. Lokeren and received a 4 matches suspension from UEFA. The following season, he helped Nantes win their sixth French championship title and was the league's top scorer with 27 goals in 36 appearances. Halilhodžić went on to spend five years at La Beaujoire, appearing in a total of 163 league matches and scoring 92 goals for the club, also becoming league top scorer in the 1984–85 season with 28 goals.
In 1986, Halilhodžić decided to return to Mostar so he could spend more time with his father, who in the meantime fell seriously ill. While negotiating a new contract with Nantes, he intentionally asked for a salary bigger than anything the club could afford so that he could be released and return home. However, Francis Borelli, chairman of Paris Saint-Germain, stepped in and made him a "fantastic offer" to sign a one-year contract, with the intention of bringing Halilhodžić to Parc des Princes in order to strengthen the team for their upcoming 1986–87 European Cup campaign.
Halilhodžić accepted the offer and went on to appear for the club in the first 18 games of the 1986–87 season, scoring eight goals. However, his mother back home died during the season, and it was then that Halilhodžić decided to finally retire from active football.
International career Halilhodžić was capped 15 times for the Yugoslavia national team, scoring eight goals. After debuting as a full international in June 1976, he also appeared in a few matches for Yugoslavia under-21 team in 1978, helping them win the 1978 European Under-21 Championship where he claimed the Golden Player award for the best player in the tournament. Halilhodžić, who was 26 at the time, took advantage of the rule that allowed two players over the age of 21 to participate – hence him and Velimir Zajec (who had also already debuted for Yugoslavia full squad in 1977) were the two senior players brought in to strengthen the under-21 squad.
Spanning nine years, Halilhodžić's time with the national team was marked by frequently alternating ups and downs, periods of automatic inclusion followed by years-long omissions and frustrating substitute stints.
He made his debut as a substitute at UEFA Euro 1976 under head coach Biće Mladinić during the third place match versus Holland that Yugoslavia lost 2–3 at Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium. The 23-year-old Halilhodžić came on for Slaviša Žungul.
Over the next couple of years, he recorded two more substitute appearances – first in September 1976 in a friendly against Italy in Rome and in November 1977 at home against Spain (the infamously violent qualifying home loss at Belgrade's Marakana that ended Yugoslavia's chances of going to the 1978 World Cup).
Euro 80 qualifying It was not until October 1978 that now 26-year-old Halilhodžić (riding high from his under-21 European championship win) got his first national team start – the opening Euro 80 qualifying clash versus Spain at home in Maksimir. With his first inclusion in the starting lineup by returning coach Mladinić also came his first goal – Yugoslavia was down 0–2 in the first half when Halilhodžić pulled one back in the 44th minute for 1–2, which ended up being the final score as Yugoslavia again lost at home to Spain. With his performance versus Spain, Halilhodžić's stock was somewhat raised and as a result he got to start the next qualifier away at Romania that Yugoslavia also lost, this time 2–3. The second consecutive qualifier loss prompted the end of Biće Mladinić's time as head coach – he got replaced by interim coach Dražan Jerković. Halilhodžić played the next friendly match under Jerković, scoring a hat-trick against Greece.
The resumption of Euro 1980 qualifying five months later in April 1979 saw the return of Miljan Miljanić to the Yugoslav bench as the FA's permanent solution at the head coaching position. Miljanić made major changes to the team he inherited from Mladinić with Halilhodžić one of the many casualties. The changes worked as Yugoslavia won its remaining four qualifiers (including a win away at Spain) as well as its two friendlies versus Italy and Argentina (none of the six matches featured Halilhodžić), but the opening two losses still proved too much to overcome as Plavi finished a point behind Spain in the group and did not progress to Euro 1980.
1982 World Cup Halilhodžić made two substitute appearances at the 1982 World Cup: playing the last 15 minutes of the controversial group match versus Spain as well as the entire second half against Honduras. For the position of forward at the tournament, Miljanić preferred Safet Sušić, and in his later interviews, Halilhodžić often expressed dismay and disappointment with head coach Miljanić for not giving him a more prominent role in the Yugoslav team at the 1982 World Cup.
On multiple occasions in the 2000s and 2010s, looking back on his playing days, retired-from-playing-football Halilhodžić expressed bitterness over not getting a bigger part in the national team during the 1970s and 1980s, sarcastically citing his surname being "too long for Belgrade scoreboards" as the reason, thus insinuating that discrimination against Muslims was behind his lack of playing time in the Yugoslavia national team.Vahin rat i dalje traje;mondo.rs, 7 February 2011Halilhodžić: Robi će imati problem zato što je Hrvat;Press, 6 February 2011 In a 2023 interview, Halilhodžić claimed that Yugoslav politics had a strong influence on the country's 1982 World Cup squad selection, adding non-specifically that "certain players had to make that team" and that "Hajduk Split and Red Star Belgrade players were privileged" over those from comparatively smaller sides.
Managerial career Raja Casablanca In July 1997, he signed with Moroccan side Raja Casablanca. In his first season with the club, he won the 1997 CAF Champions League in December 1997, and the 1997–98 Moroccan Championship in May 1998. These successes raised his international profile.
Lille
In October 1998, he returned to France to coach Lille, which at the time was struggling to survive in the French Division 2. His first season at the club ended with Lille finishing fourth, missing a promotion spot on goal difference. In the 1999–2000 season, Halilhodžić's club dominated the competition and finished top of table, 16 points clear of second-placed Guingamp, earning promotion to the French Ligue 1.
Lille's strong performances on the pitch continued the following season, and they finished third in the 2000–01 French Division 1, only seven points behind champions Nantes, thus qualifying for the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League for the first time in club's history. The following season, after knocking out Parma in qualifying, Lille finished third in group stage behind Deportivo de La Coruña and Manchester United, progressing to the 2001–02 UEFA Cup where they reached the Round of 16 before being knocked out by Borussia Dortmund on away goals.
Rennes On 14 October 2002, he was hired by another Ligue 1 club, Rennes, to save them from relegation after the club had picked up only eight points in the opening ten matches of the season under Philippe Bergeroo. Halilhodžić then managed to take the club to a 15th-place finish in the 20-club league, avoiding relegation zone by two points. After his successes with Lille and Rennes, he started to become one of the most sought after coaches in Europe, and whilst receiving offers from several German and Spanish clubs, he joined Paris Saint-Germain in June 2003.
Paris Saint-Germain During his first season at the helm of PSG, the club won the 2003–04 Coupe de France and arrived second in the 2003–04 Ligue 1, just three points behind Lyon, qualifying for the 2004–05 Champions League.