Boris Smiljanić (born 28 September 1976) is a Swiss football coach and a former player of Croatian descent who played in defence.

In the 113th minute Basel's Scott Chipperfield played a high ball from the left, over goalie Fabrice Borer, which GC captain Smiljanic punched over the cross bar with his last effort, this because he assumed that Hervé Tum, who was positioned behind him, would nod the ball effortlessly into the goal.

This opened the stage for the Basel captain, Murat Yakin ran-up and safely converted the penalty kick to win the final 2–1 and thus the Trophy.

His former manager by GC, Gross had remembered his no-nonsense defending techniques and bought him strengthen his Basel defence.

Smiljanić played his debut for his new team in the Swiss Cup away game as Basel won 3–0 against lower tier Yverdon-Sport on 22 February 2003.

[4] He played his domestic league debut for the club one week later in the away game in the Stade de la Maladière as Basel were defeated 3–1 by Xamax coming on as substitute.

But with two victories, 2–1 away against Ferencvárosi TC and 1–0 at home against Feyenoord, saw Basel rise to third place in the group table and advance to the knock-out stage.

In the round of 32 in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, a home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 17 February 2005, Basel played a goalless draw against Lille OSC, but the return leg were defeated 2–0 and were eliminated.

Smiljanić played eight of ten European matches[7] He had 24 league appearances and won the championship for the second season running.

But then a last-minute goal from Zürich's Iulian Filipescu meant the final score was 1-2 in favour of the away team and it gave FCZ their first national championship since 1980–81.

[8] The last minute loss of the Championship and the subsequent riots, the so-called Basel Hooligan Incident, meant that the club would suffer the consequences.

[16] Following Rahmen's dismissal shortly after, on 21 February 2021, he asked for his contract with Basel to be cancelled for personal reasons.

[17] On 3 November 2022, he was announced as the new head coach of Swiss Challenge League side FC Aarau.

[18] At the time of his appointment, Aarau sat in sixth place with eight points deficit to a promotion spot.