Zajko Zeba (born 22 May 1983) is a Bosnian former professional footballer. He was part of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team from 2005 to 2007.

Zajko Zeba
Personal information
Date of birth (1983-05-22) 22 May 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
2000–2002 Željezničar
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2003 Olimpik
2003–2004 Brotnjo 14 (2)
2004Željezničar (loan) 14 (3)
2004–2005 Zrinjski Mostar 22 (6)
2005–2006 Maribor 43 (10)
2007–2009 KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny 83 (21)
2010 Alania Vladikavkaz 0 (0)
2010–2012 Željezničar 68 (20)
2012–2013 RNK Split 4 (0)
2013 Olimpija Ljubljana 8 (1)
2014 Olimpic 9 (1)
2014–2015 Shkëndija 17 (2)
2015–2016 Sloboda Tuzla 49 (16)
2016–2018 Željezničar 29 (5)
2019–2020 Olimpik 37 (8)
2020–2021 Igman Konjic 13 (2)
Total 410 (97)
International career
2005–2007 Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 (0)
Managerial career
2018 Željezničar (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

During late 2018, Zeba also worked as a manager, holding the role of assistant manager at Željezničar and then as the club's youth team coach, after which he came out of retirement.

Club career

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Born in Sarajevo, Zeba started his career at hometown club Željezničar. He played for the youth sides, but never got an opportunity to play for the first team, so he moved to Olimpik. His performances produced interest from stronger teams in Bosnia and Herzegovina and resulted in a transfer to Brotnjo. In 2004, Željezničar officials brought Zeba back to his childhood club on loan, but after only several months, as a result of new disagreements, he signed a contract with Zrinjski Mostar.[1]

His first foreign club was Slovenian PrvaLiga club Maribor. Then, he went to the Russian Football National League where he played for KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny. After a short period in Alania Vladikavkaz, Zeba came back to Željezničar, the club in which he had started his football career. In his third spell with Željezničar, Zeba won one league title, two cups and was named the 2011–12 Bosnian Premier League Player of the Season. In December 2012, he left Željezničar and went to RNK Split.[2]

After coming back to Bosnia in early 2015, and signing with Sloboda Tuzla, he became the team captain the following season, and helped the team in winning the autumn part of the 2015–16 Bosnian Premier League season. At the end of the season, Zeba was named as the best player of the 2015–16 season in the Bosnian Premier League.[3] In November 2016, he returned to Željezničar but he couldn't play for the club until 2017. In 2018, he won the Bosnian Cup with Željezničar and shortly after he retired at the age of 34.[4]

On 20 December 2018, Zeba came out of retirement and for the third time in his career signed with Olimpik.[5] He scored his first goal after coming back to Olimpik on 9 March 2019, in a 1–0 away win against Igman Konjic.[6] On 26 May 2020, the 2019–20 First League of FBiH season ended abruptly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, by default, Zeba with Olimpik were crowned league champions and got promoted back to the Bosnian Premier League.[7] He terminated his contract with the club on 22 September 2020.[8]

One day after leaving Olimpik, on 23 September, Zeba signed with Igman Konjic.[9] He made his debut only four days later, on 27 September, in a league match against Vis Simm-Bau.[10] Zeba scored his first for Igman in a league game against Zvijezda Gradačac on 24 October 2020.[11]

International career

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Zeba made his debut for Bosnia and Herzegovina in an August 2005 friendly game away against Estonia and has earned a total of 5 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a September 2007 European Championship qualification against Moldova.[12][13]

Managerial career

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Željezničar

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In June 2018, after announcing his retirement, Zeba was appointed as an assistant manager at Željezničar.[14] On 29 October 2018, after a string of poor results, it was announced that Zeba was dismissed of his position of assistant,[15] while a month later, on 21 November, was named as a coach of the youth selections at the club.[16]

In December 2018, Zeba left Željezničar after coming out of retirement and signing with Olimpik.[17]

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[18]
Club Season League League Cup Continental Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Brotnjo 2003–04 Bosnian Premier League 14 2 1 0 15 2
Željezničar 2003–04 Bosnian Premier League 14 3 0 0 14 3
Zrinjski Mostar 2004–05 Bosnian Premier League 22 6 5 1 27 7
Maribor 2005–06 Slovenian PrvaLiga 26 4 2 0 28 4
2006–07 Slovenian PrvaLiga 17 6 2 0 7 3 26 9
Total 43 10 4 0 7 3 54 13
KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny 2007 Russian Football National League 33 12 0 0 33 12
2008 Russian Football National League 25 6 0 0 25 6
2009 Russian Football National League 25 3 1 0 26 3
Total 83 21 1 0 84 21
Alania Vladikavkaz 2010 Russian Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0
Željezničar 2010–11 Bosnian Premier League 27 11 4 6 2 0 33 17
2011–12 Bosnian Premier League 29 7 6 1 4 0 39 8
2012–13 Bosnian Premier League 12 2 1 0 2 0 15 2
Total 68 20 11 7 8 0 87 27
RNK Split 2012–13 1. HNL 4 0 4 0
Olimpija Ljubljana 2013–14 Slovenian PrvaLiga 8 1 0 0 2 0 1[a] 0 11 1
Olimpik 2013–14 Bosnian Premier League 9 1 2 0 11 1
Shkëndija 2014–15 Macedonian First Football League 17 2 0 0 0 0 17 2
Sloboda Tuzla 2014–15 Bosnian Premier League 14 6 14 6
2015–16 Bosnian Premier League 27 10 5 1 32 11
2016–17 Bosnian Premier League 8 0 0 0 2 0 10 0
Total 49 16 5 1 2 0 56 17
Željezničar 2016–17 Bosnian Premier League 13 2 4 0 17 2
2017–18 Bosnian Premier League 16 3 1 0 4 0 21 3
Total 29 5 5 0 4 0 38 5
Olimpik 2018–19 First League of FBiH 15 1 15 1
2019–20 First League of FBiH 16 7 2 1 18 8
2020–21 Bosnian Premier League 6 0 0 0 6 0
Total 37 8 2 1 39 9
Igman Konjic 2020–21 First League of FBiH 13 2 1 0 14 1
Career total 410 97 37 10 23 3 1 0 471 110
  1. ^ Appearance in Slovenian Supercup

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year[13]
National team Year Apps Goals
Bosnia and Herzegovina
2005 1 0
2007 4 0
Total 5 0

Honours

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Zrinjski Mostar[18]

Željezničar[18]

Olimpik[18]

Individual

References

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  1. ^ Zajko Zeba at footballdatabase.eu
  2. ^ "Zajko Zeba potpisao za RNK Split" (in Bosnian). bljesak.info. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  3. ^ "Zajko Zeba najbolji igrač BH Telecom Premijer lige BiH" (in Bosnian). Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 22 May 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  4. ^ Zajko Zeba se oprostio od navijača Željezničara i završio karijeru at klix.ba, 19 May 2018
  5. ^ Zeba se vratio iz mirovine, po treći put obukao dres Olimpika at sportsport.ba, 20 December 2018
  6. ^ "(FOTO/VIDEO) Zeba eurogolom donio pobjedu Olimpiku u Konjicu" (in Bosnian). Sport1.ba. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  7. ^ A. Čaušević (26 May 2020). "Stigla je i službena odluka: Završena sezona u Prvoj ligi FBiH!" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  8. ^ K.H. (22 September 2020). "Zajko Zeba više nije igrač Olimpika" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  9. ^ E. Čaušević (23 September 2020). "Zeba i zvanično u Igmanu, klub iz Konjica angažovao i novog trenera" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  10. ^ S. Mlaćo (27 September 2020). "Zeba od prve minute, debituju dva trenera" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  11. ^ E. Škorić (24 October 2020). "Preokret Zvijezde, remi Slavena i Travnika" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Zajko Zeba". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  14. ^ "Krčmarević će iduće sedmice obaviti prozivku fudbalera Želje s pomoćnicima Zebom i Ljubičićem" (in Bosnian). scsport.ba. 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  15. ^ D.B. (29 October 2018). "UO FK Željezničar podržao Odovića, zamijenjeni Zeba i Karić, prekriženi Bogičević i Blagojević" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  16. ^ V. Vukmirović (21 November 2018). "Zeba i Karić dobili nove funkcije u Željezničaru" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  17. ^ "Zajko Zeba skinuo kopačke s klina i potpisao za Olimpik" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  18. ^ a b c d "Z. Zeba: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
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  NODES
Association 1
INTERN 6
Note 1