PRESENTATION OF BRANKO ZUPAN ~ PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL COACH

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1 PRESENTATION OF BRANKO ZUPAN ~ PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL COACH Football plays a very important role in Branko Zupan s life. As a professional football coach he has been developing an original and innovative approach to integrated, holistic training for professional football teams and individual players for over two decades. Branko Zupan has an incredible insight into and ability to evaluate whole teams and each professional player s realistic potential. As a result, he can achieve amazing results with his completely individualised and very focused integrated training which can be used fully and most effectively. Photo 1: Branko Zupan as Head Coach of the Slovenian U-21 national team Zupan s special work method, the use of his own method ACE in the game and his perfected training approach can bring a professional player as an individual and a team as a whole into better shape in a remarkably short time. Building on his vast experience (see Key Information below) he started the independent football project As v nogah ( An Ace in the Feet ) in 2008 find out more at or on request. Key Information: Branko Zupan was a professional football player and a member of the Slovenian national football team in the period. In 1995 he was goalkeeper, playing for the Slovenian national football team in the EURO 1996 qualifying campaign against Italy in Udine (Arrigo Sacchi was then the manager of the Italian national team) He was a football manager Head Coach of young Slovenian national teams (U-15 to U-21) in the period. He led national teams at 150 qualifying games (eight different qualifying campaigns for EURO), tournaments and friendly matches. His U-19 team played in the second round of the qualifying campaign against the British national team and won, finishing second in their qualification group and coming very close to qualification for EURO. His U-21 team finished second in its qualification group (which included Italy) and was classified for an additional qualifying game playing against the Netherlands. 1

2 His coaching experience began in 1989 when he was in charge of the young football players of FC Koper and also when for one year he led the Slovenian football team in the inter-republic league (during the time of Yugoslavia) as both a coach and player. In 1991 he graduated (in Football) from the Faculty of Sport of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He started his professional coaching career in 1996 and between 1997 and 2000 he was the head of different first division football clubs (FC Gorica and FC Koper). PERSONAL DETAILS: Name: Branko Zupan Date of birth: Nationality: Slovenian Address: II. Prekomorske brigade 39 c, Koper 6000 Phone number: zupy.sport@siol.net Website: EDUCATION: EXPERIENCE: Faculty of Sport of the University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana Diploma of Physical Education, UEFA PRO Coaching Licence (2010) Playing Career: Professional Football Player, Goalkeeper Slovenian National Team, Publikum Football Club ( FC ) Celje, Slovenia Gorica FC, Nova Gorica, Slovenia Olimpija FC, Ljubljana, Slovenia Koper FC, Koper, Slovenia Koper FC, Koper, Slovenia Coaching Career: 2008 Branko Zupan s independent international football project An Ace in the Feet (the project has so far involved 13 football training centres (camps) for young talented footballers (9 camps in Slovenia and 4 camps abroad England, the Netherlands) and 6 special camps for young goalkeepers etc Professional football coach Head coach of the Slovenian under-21 national team Head coach of the Slovenian under-19 national team 2

3 Head coach of Izola FC, Izola, Slovenia (qualified for the 2nd Division) Branko Zupan Professional Football Coach Head coach of Koper FC, Koper, Slovenia (1 st Division) Triglav FC, Kranj, Slovenia (1 st Division) National Football Association of Slovenia (trained goalkeepers) HIT Gorica FC, Nova Gorica, Slovenia (1 st Division) 1996 Koper FC, Koper, Slovenia (1 st Division) Koper FC (Youth Director), Koper, Slovenia AWARDS : As a Player: 1993/94 Best Goalkeeper in the Slovenian Championships, EKIPA Sports Newspaper 1994/95 Best Goalkeeper in the Slovenian Championships, EKIPA Sports Newspaper 1993 Best Player of the Match (UEFA CUP), Publikum FC, Celje 1992/93 Best Player of the Primorska First Division, TV Koper As a Coach: Head coach of the Slovenian under-21 national team 2005 Team placed 2nd in UEFA Qualifications for U European Championship (Zupan coached the following players: Handanovič, Brečko, Birsa, Kirm, Jokič, Šuler, Matavž, Radosavljevič, Ljubijankič, Stevanovič, Ilič, Vršič and many others) qualified to play against the Netherlands Team placed 1st in the U-19 UEFA Qualifications in Belfast qualified to play in the next round of qualifications in Team placed 1st in the U-19 UEFA Qualifications in Slovenia qualified to play in the next round of qualifications in Team won 3rd Division Championship, Izola FC Team won Koper International Football Tournament, Koper FC Team won 2nd Division Championship, Koper FC 1997 Team won 1 st place in Slovenian Spring Championship, Gorica FC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Participated in the FUTURO II football education programme, organised by FIFA; Bled, April

4 Basic Juventus University Course, San Marino; 7 9 March 2008 UEFA Study Group Scheme Coach Education (as a coach representative of the Football Association of Slovenia); Italy (Coverciano), 1 4 December 2008 UEFA Study Group Scheme Coach Education (as a coach representing the Football Association of Slovenia); Belgium 1 4 March 2010 UEFA Study Group Scheme Grassroots Programme (as a coach representing the Football Association of Slovenia); Finland, March 2010 UEFA Study Group Scheme Coach Education (as a coach representing the Football Association of Slovenia); Netherlands 1 4 November 2010 Professional exchange with the Netherlands, Coerver s Football Coaching Technique Roger Bonagerts at Zupan s Football Summer Campus (Slovenia, Rogla, July 2010) Professional exchange as a lecturer at APPORTGARDA 2011 Italy, Peschiera del Garda, 9 12 June 2011 Attends coaching seminars annually Takes English courses to improve the level of his English Does research on creativity in football training and undiscovered reserves and potential, as well as the investigation of players psychological condition. OTHER ACTIVITIES / INTERESTS: Individual trainings for young talented football players and professional players Team trainings focused on the expression of individuals and the whole team Club counselling on work strategy for an efficient professional team Member of expert commission at the Football Association of Slovenia Collaborating with the Slovenian Coach Organisation as an instructor of coaches (education and training), giving lectures at Coaching Licence Seminars, lecturer at seminars for professional Licence B football coaches (individual and collective team tactics) Responsible for Goalkeeper Coaching Education at the Football Association of Slovenia Professional, expert commentator for Slovenian national TV broadcaster for qualifying campaigns of Slovenian national team and World Championship in South Africa in 2010 Prepares training videos/dvds for players and coaches who focus on creating strategy and tactics for games Photo 2: Branko Zupan interviewing captain of the Slovenian team Robert Koren at the World Championship in South Africa 4

5 Edited his own DVD Creation of the Football Game. Most of the exercises shown on this DVD are originally designed by Zupan and have been practically tested in different activities and matches on the national level. All exercises correspond to national-level demand, where a team must be synchronised and coordinated in a very short period. Exercises are adapted to both phases of the game continuous attack and counterattack. As part of Zupan s An Ace in the Feet project we traditionally organise Football Training Centres for young talented football players (8 19 years) and special camps for young goalkeepers called Lock your gate twice a year (in summer and winter). We are now monitoring the development of 40 young Slovenian football players some of whom are very talented In October 2012 he started a football programme in cooperation with the high school centre in Koper for those students who want to become professional football players From his camps he has selected several talented young players with whom Zupan also works individually Representing some special young talents (U-11 16) in cooperation and agreement with their parents Working with parents of young talented footballers so they can give their children proper support Branko Zupan has made two of his own innovations to improve football training: 1. A multi-purpose football training device which offers many possibilities for focused and specialised football training Photo 3: Multi-purpose football trainer device Photo 4: Practising headers Photo 5: Practising volleys 5

6 Zupy Gym: A multi-functional modular sports hall with a special programme for football players Photo 5: Outside appearance of the hall Photo 6: Part of the hall interior Zupan carries out and develops his work in three important areas: 1. HIGH QUALITY PHYSICAL AND TECHNICAL PREPARATION, in Slovenia he cooperates with various experts from this area Faculty of Sport of the University of Ljubljana, Institute of Kinesiology - University of Primorska) Zupan has investigated and developed various football game systems and models. Technical practices contain many elements of Coerver s work method, because that method can bring a player s technical preparation close to the level of South American technical skills. 2. HIGH QUALITY TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC PREPARATION FOR THE TEAM AND SELECTED INDIVIDUALS: In the area of tactics Zupan has developed an interesting football game model for U-19 and U-21 national teams in Slovenia. In designing the football game, he applied a work method that encourages the tactical and technical progress of players. His work method has produced very good results. He has developed the special strategic and tactical preparation of individual players and the whole team. Such strategic preparation seeks to activate sensory energetic processes within an individual, facilitating their much better sense of the whole space (field) and their enhanced cooperation with other players during a game. This form of strategic preparation should occur before training with the intention of ensuring the most effective tactical part of training. In the tactical part of training, Zupan synchronises the team in a way that enables players to change their playing positions and become ever more universal. He practises this tactical form through the 1: 4: 3: 3 system, which can be modified during a game depending on the opponent's weaknesses or playing style. 3. THE HIGH QUALITY REGENERATIVE PREPARATION OF FOOTBALL PLAYERS is the third area of Zupan s work, striving to make the best of an individual s regenerative training. 6

7 Branko Zupan s professional work is based on an approach that enables the high quality development of a player s true potential throughout the training process, and above all an extremely good analysis of an individual and his skills and therefore a quality selection process. Zupan s complete system of work yields excellent results because he is able to achieve a very high level of synchronisation of all players of a team within the optimal time and therefore improve the the way they play football and match results. Photo 7: Zupan s Slovenian U-21 national team celebrating after they defeated Scotland in 2005 Branko Zupan wishes to work with very ambitious professionals who want to learn how to adopt a winning mentality and achieve their best! References: Available upon request (Dr Zdenko Verdenik, former Head Coach of the Slovenian national team and Professor at the Faculty of Sport of the University of Ljubljana) 7