Željko Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Жељко Петровић; born 13 November 1965) is a Montenegrin professional football manager and former player.
[2] In Petrović's second and third season at Budućnost under manager Stanko Poklepović, the team included the likes of Dejan Savićević, Branko Brnović, Anto Drobnjak, Predrag Mijatović and Niša Saveljić.
[7] In spite of Petrović's goalscoring form, HAŠK were eliminated from the UEFA Cup losing to Trabzonspor on aggregate.
[9] HAŠK Građanski had agreed on Petrović's transfer as part of a package with Davor Šuker, who joined Sevilla simultaneously.
[11] With the addition of Šuker, Petrović was meant to be Sevilla's fourth foreign starter, although he initially enjoyed little playing time.
[11] Gradually, manager Víctor Espárrago began bringing him off the bench, and in a breakthrough performance, Petrović made an assist in Sevilla's 1–0 win against Real Murcia in the 1992 Copa del Rey Round of 16.
[13] This circumstance seemed to be a deciding factor in his move to Den Bosch, as it was widely regarded that he could have easily played for a more competitive team.
After a 5–0 loss against Feyenoord in May 1993, Den Bosch manager Hans van der Pluijm noted that "[Petrović] is playing three classes better than the rest of the team.
It was at this club which he excelled as an attacking right-back, and he scored 13 goals in total of 2 seasons before joining Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in 1996.
[14] In his second season at the club, however, he proved a difficult player to manage and he was also involved in a spat with team captain Arthur Numan.
[14] He played his last game for PSV on 5 November 1997, in a Champions League match against Newcastle United at St James' Park.
On 28 October 1997, the night before the first leg of the qualifying play-off against Hungary, Petrović received a death threat by an anonymous phone caller.
[21] The following 2007–08 season Petrovic managed RKC Waalwijk to a second place in the Dutch 2nd division and failed to gain promotion to the Eredivisie.
[32] In the last seconds of his first match as head coach against Oman, which ended in a 1–1 draw, Petrović entered the field to designate who would kick the penalty.
[35] He was victorious in his first match in charge as Zrinjski beat Slavija Sarajevo in the Bosnian Cup second round on 10 February 2024.
[38] On 23 May 2024, Petrović won his first major trophy as a manager after Zrinjski beat Borac Banja Luka 2–0 on aggregate in the Bosnian Cup final.