Kranjcar rejects Montenegro Federation head claim

ISNA – ESFAHAN, Iran’s Sepahan Coach Zlatko Kranjcar rejected claims of the Head of Montenegro Football Federation on alcohol addiction.

The Head of Montenegro Football Federation Dejan Savicevic claimed the former national coach Zlatko Kranjcar was fired because of alcohol addiction.

“What was mentioned by the Head of Montenegro Football Federation was a bid lie. He wants to justify what he did. There are many people in Montenegro who are against his chairmanship in the federation. I could not set foot in Iran if I was addicted to alcohol, due to rules in Iran,” he told ISNA.

“I spend my all days by Iranians. They would find out the issue if there was any problem with me. The reason that I left Montenegro’s national team is mainly related to disagreements with football federation officials of the country.”

Kranjcar born 15 November 1956 is a Croatian football manager and former striker. He is the currently head coach of Sepahan in Iran Pro League.

Kranjcar started to play for Dinamo Zagreb at the age of 10 in 1966 and stayed in the club until 1983. He appeared in a total of 556 matches for the club and scored 98 goals in the championship. Then he transferred to Austrian club Rapid Vienna for which he played until 1990. The last club in his playing career was VSE St. Polten for which he played for two months in late 1990.

Between 1977 and 1983, he collected 11 caps and scored 3 goals for Yugoslavia. He also has two caps and scored one goal for the Croatian national team and is notable as the first team captain of the Croatian team in their first international match against the United States on 17 October 1990 in Zagreb.