# Miodrag Ješić

Miodrag Ješić (Serbian Cyrillic: Миодраг Јешић, pronounced; 30 November 1958 – 8 December 2022) was a Serbian football manager and player.

## Playing career

Born in Osečenica, Ješić played for Partizan between 1974 and 1985, taking part in 342 matches and scoring 81 goals in all competitions.
Between 1985 and 1989 he represented Altay SK, where he recorded 136 matches and 29 goals, and finished his career at Trabzonspor in 1989–90 with 37 matches and 9 goals in total.
Ješić was immensely disliked amongst the Fenerbahçe supporters because they viewed him as responsible for an injury suffered by Rıdvan Dilmen in 1990 during a league match between Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor. Dilmen never fully recovered despite undergoing sixteen operations, and eventually had to retire in 1995 at Fenerbahçe after painful years of injuries. Ješić had also accumulated a record number of bookings in his tenure in Süper Lig. Opponents claimed that he also injured many players in Turkey and gave him the nickname of "Kasap Yeşiç", which means "Ješić the Butcher."
For the Yugoslavia national team, he played in eight games and scored twice.

## Coaching career

As a manager, Ješić began his career at FK Obilić in 1994, earning promotion to the First League of FR Yugoslavia, and then managed several other Serbian teams, including OFK Beograd and his native Partizan, that, during his period at the helm, scored 111 goals in a single season, a club record. He also recorded wins over Flora (6–0, 4–1) and Rijeka (3–1, 3–0) in UEFA Champions League qualifiers.
After coaching Tunisian side CS Sfaxien in 2000–01 and winning the Arab Champions League, he was at the helm of Turkish club Altay in 2002 and moved to Bulgaria in 2002 to manage Slavia Sofia and then Iranian Pegah Gilan, after which he became the manager of CSKA Sofia. During this period he became a Champion of Bulgaria and recorded a win over Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase, also eliminating Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Cup. Voted coach no. 1 for season 2004–05 by Bulgarian sport newspaper.
In May 2006 he became the coach of Partizan for the second time in his coaching career. However, following a disappointing first half of the season, he left the club in January 2007. Since November 2007 he was coaching Litex Lovech. With him Litex won the Bulgarian Cup.
In June 2008, he signed with Romanian Liga I newcomers CS Otopeni and following a series of defeats his agreement was terminated early on 18 August 2008.
In September 2008, he signed a one-year contract with Montenegrin First League team FK Budućnost Podgorica.
In July 2009, he signed a one-year contract with Libyan First League team Al-Ittihad Tripoli. On 22 September 2009, Al Ittihad won the Libyan Super Cup, beating Tarsana 3–2.
On 16 June 2010, Ješić was appointed to the manager of Changsha Ginde replacing Hao Wei.
On 19 June 2011, he was named as Shahrdari Tabriz F.C.'s new head coach replacing Hamid Derakhshan but he was sacked by the club on 24 December 2011.
On 24 June 2012, he was named as Saudi Professional League side Najran's new head coach. On 7 January 2013, Ješić was reappointed CSKA Sofia manager, replacing Stoycho Mladenov, but was surprisingly released from his duties on 11 March 2013, after just two games in charge of the team, one of which was won.
In late 2013, he was close to becoming the new Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coach.
On 31 March 2014 Ješić was appointed head coach of Litex Lovech and was assisted by Darko Obradović.
On 14 June 2017, he was named as Saudi Professional League side Al-Ettifaq's coach. He was fired on 10 December 2017.
On 31 August 2019, the Egyptian club Ismaily SC appointed Ješić as the team's new head coach, succeeding Mahmoud Gaber.
On 7 July 2022, Saudi First Division League side Al-Shoulla appointed Ješić as the team's new manager. On 29 September 2022, he was sacked after five matches.

## Personal life and death

Ješić was married to Irena, with whom he had a daughter named Tara. In 2001, while coaching CS Sfaxien, his daughter Jelena died in a traffic collision at the age of nineteen.
Ješić, aged 64, died on 8 December 2022 in a car accident near the town of Ruma.

## Career statistics

| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1. | 15 December 1982 | City Stadium, Titograd | Wales | 4–2 | 4–4 | UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying |
| 2. | 7 June 1983 | Stade Municipale, Luxembourg | West Germany | 1–2 | 2–4 | Friendly |

## Managerial statistics

Managerial record by team and tenure :
| Team | From | To | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Team | From | To | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Radnički Niš | 11 April 1998 | 20 May 1998 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| OFK Beograd | 2 September 1998 | 30 June 1999 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 21 | +3 | 035.29 |
| Partizan | 1 July 1999 | 20 May 2000 | 50 | 37 | 4 | 9 | 133 | 43 | +90 | 074.00 |
| CS Sfaxien | 1 July 2000 | 30 April 2001 | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 32 | 24 | +8 | 050.00 |
| Altay | 20 July 2002 | 9 August 2002 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| Slavia Sofia | 15 December 2002 | 20 August 2003 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 11 | +16 | 069.23 |
| Pegah Gilan | 2004 | 2004 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| CSKA Sofia | 23 February 2005 | 5 April 2006 | 46 | 37 | 5 | 4 | 111 | 29 | +82 | 080.43 |
| Partizan | 18 May 2006 | 8 January 2007 | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 37 | 20 | +17 | 054.55 |
| Shirin Faraz | 2007 | 2007 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| Litex Lovech | 6 November 2007 | 20 May 2008 | 21 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 39 | 14 | +25 | 066.67 |
| CS Otopeni | 1 July 2008 | 16 August 2008 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 13 | −9 | 000.00 |
| Budućnost Podgorica | 15 September 2008 | 2 June 2009 | 28 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 68 | 33 | +35 | 067.86 |
| Al-Ittihad Tripoli | 3 June 2009 | 15 May 2010 | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 42 | 21 | +21 | 068.18 |
| Changsha Ginde | 16 June 2010 | 1 October 2010 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 19 | −5 | 030.77 |
| Al Tahaddy | 2011 | 2011 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| Shahrdari Tabriz | 1 June 2011 | 5 December 2011 | 16 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 18 | +0 | 025.00 |
| Najran | 31 May 2012 | 7 January 2013 | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 21 | −1 | 035.71 |
| CSKA Sofia | 7 January 2013 | 11 March 2013 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 050.00 |
| Litex Lovech | 31 March 2014 | 31 May 2014 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 9 | +7 | 040.00 |
| Yangon United | 2 January 2015 | 20 September 2015 | 17 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 47 | 20 | +27 | 088.24 |
| Sarajevo | 23 September 2015 | 16 March 2016 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 33 | 17 | +16 | 056.25 |
| Al-Arabi SC | 12 November 2016 | 12 May 2017 | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 39 | 25 | +14 | 068.42 |
| Ettifaq | 14 June 2017 | 10 December 2017 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 19 | +1 | 042.86 |
| Khor Fakkan | 4 June 2018 | 26 August 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| Ismaily SC | 31 August 2019 | 2 December 2019 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 050.00 |
| Al-Ahly | 11 July 2021 | 21 July 2021 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 066.67 |
| Maziya | 4 February 2022 | 24 July 2022 | 22 | 19 | 0 | 3 | 79 | 10 | +69 | 086.36 |
| Al-Shoulla | 25 July 2022 | 29 September 2022 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 040.00 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 406 | 249 | 66 | 91 | 826 | 405 | +421 | 061.33 |

## Honors
### Player

Partizan
* Yugoslav First League: 1982–83

### Manager

CS Sfaxien
* Arab Champions League: 2000
CSKA Sofia
* Bulgarian First League: 2004–05
* Bulgarian Cup: 2006
Litex Lovech
* Bulgarian Cup: 2008
* Bulgarian Supercup: 2007, 2008
Al-Ittihad Tripoli
* Libyan Premier League: 2008–09, 2009–10
* Libyan Cup: 2009
* Libyan Super Cup: 2009, 2010
Yangon United
* Myanmar National League: 2015