[1] Zmijavci-bred Gudelj started his player career in a club from the neighbouring village of Runovići – NK Mračaj.
He quickly marked himself out as a dependable and elegant defensive midfielder, earning the moniker "Beckenbauer from Zmijavci" in the Yugoslav press.
Later that summer in August 1979, Gudelj made the Yugoslavia squad that participated at the FIFA World Youth Championship held in Japan.
Playing in a tough group featuring Argentina with 18-year-old Diego Maradona, Yugoslavia failed to progress to the next stage.
Because of his excellent games, French magazine L’Équipe put him on their list of ideal team of 1982 World Cup.
He also led Uskok from Klis, Zadar, Dubrovnik, Austrian club Vorwärts Steyr[4] and Hajduk (replacing Miroslav Blažević in 2005).
[5] Before taking charge at Hajduk, Gudelj was manager of the Croatia U17 National Team and successfully led them to a 4th-place finish in the 2005 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Italy.