Biography
Bosnian head coach Sergej Jakirovic, who also holds Croatian citizenship, was appointed by Hull City chairman Acun Ilicali in June 2025 to take over from Ruben Selles and propel the Tigers back up the Championship table. His impressive win rate at several clubs in the Balkan and Mediterranean leagues suggested he had a chance of delivering on his brief. He set about making his City side bigger, more aggressive and harder to beat, a task hampered by the transfer restrictions placed on the club shortly after his arrival. Nevertheless his teams exhibited these qualities as they began the Championship season by winning a battling point at Coventry City and claiming early season wins against Oxford United and Southampton, scoring plenty of goals and conceding at a similar, occasionally alarming, rate.
Sergej Jakirovic was born in Mostar, a historic city in Bosnia that at the time was part of the Yugoslavian state. A tall centre back and defensive midfielder, Jakirovic had a remarkable peripatetic playing career that started as a teenager at Croatian side Neretva and over the next twenty years took in RNK Split (Croatia), Spartak Trnava (Slovakia), NK Istra (Croatia), Korotan Provalje (Slovenia), Kamen Ingrad (Croatia), NK Zagreb (Croatia), CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria, the club where he tasted most success as a first team player and earned five international caps for Bosnia & Herzegovina), FC Superfund (Austria), HNK Rijeka (Croatia), Austrai Kamtan (Austria), Spittal/Drau (Austria), NK Lucko (Croatia), NK Sesvete (Croatia), Sloga Gredelj Zagreb (Croatia), Dugo Selo (Croatia) then NK Sesvete again and Dugo Selo again – he ended his playing career in October 2014. In September 2005 Sergej was part of the CSKA Sofia side that dumped German side Bayer Leverkusen out of the UEFA Cup and qualified for the group stage, then ended the 2005/06 season as League runners-up and winners of the Bulgarian Cup before lifting the Bulgarian Super Cup in July 2006. His later seasons after his spell at Rijeka were spent in the Austrian and Croatian lower leagues while he studied for his coaching qualifications.
Jakirovic made his senior international debut for Bosnia-Herzegovina in August 2005 against Estonia, after further caps against Belgium, Lithuania and Serbia-Montenegro he won the last of his five caps against Japan in February 2006.
In July 2017 Jakirovic was handed his first managerial appointment when he took the reins at NK Sesvete, a Croatian second tier club based in the eastern suburbs of capital city Zagreb that he had served twice during his senior playing days. In his only season in charge at Sesvete he guided the side for 26 matches and fourth place in the Second Division table. The side that topped the table that season, HNK Gorica from Velika Gorica a few miles south of Zagreb, were sufficiently impressed with Jakirovic to hand him the job of managing their return to the Croatian top flight and he moved clubs in July 2018. In his first season at Gorica, Jakirovic’s side finished in a secure mid-table position and they maintained the same fifth place in the table for much of the 2019/20 season before a run of one win in seven league matches ended with a February 2020 drubbing against Hadjuk Split that led to Sergej’s dismissal. He managed Gorica for 62 matches.
By April 2020 Jakirovic was back in work, appointed head coach at Slovenian PrvaLiga club NK Maribor following the resignation of legendary boss Darko Milanic a month earlier. The COVID19 pandemic meant that Sergej’s first match in charge was delayed until June 2020, after which he guided the side to eight wins in 11 matches and a third place finish. Maribor’s 2020/21 season began in September 2020 with a League victory over NK Aluminij and a Europa League penalty shoot-out defeat to Northern Irish side Coleraine – this defeat led to Jakirovic’s dismissal after just 13 matches in charge.
In December 2020 Sergej was appointed head coach at his home town club Zrinjski Mostar and he guided his side to fifth place at the end of his first season, missing out on European qualification due to an inferior head-to-head record against fourth placed side Siroki Brijeg. The 2021/22 season proved to be Sergej’s breakout season as his Mostar side dominated the Bosnian Premier League, lifting the title thanks to a massive 27 point margin ahead of runners-up Tuzla City that was aided by a run of fourteen consecutive league victories and only one defeat all season. His side was similarly successful at the start of the 2022/23 season and entered the winter break top of the table, having also played eight European competition ties. Jakirovic left Mostar in November 2022 having led the side for 77 matches.
In November 2022 Sergej was appointed head coach at Croatian top fllght side HNK Rijeka, replacing Italian Serse Cosmi who had been in charge for only two months before being sacked after a heavy defeat to league rivals Dinamo Zagreb. In January 2023 Jakirovic took the helm for the first time as his side drew against Osijek and he lifted his side from the lower reaches of the table to a fourth place finish with just five defeats in 19 matches. Rijeka started the 2023/24 season strongly, winning two qualifying rounds in the UEFA Conference League and winning three of four League games. In August 2023 Jakirovic left Rijeka after just 27 matches in charge.
A day later in August 2023 Jakirovic was appointed head coach at Rijeka’s arch rival, Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb. His first League game in charge a week later saw Zagreb defeat his former club Rijeka and his side went on to lift the Croatian League title, ending the season eight points ahead of Rijeka and also defeating the same side in the Croatian Cup final to claim a domestic double. A promising start to the 2024/25 season was bought to a shuddering halt when Dinamo were hammered 9-2 in a Champions League tie against German giants Bayern Munich – this was Dinamo Zagreb’s heaviest ever defeat and precipitated Sergej’s dismissal two days later after 60 matches in charge. In January 2025 Jakirovic was appointed head coach at Turkish Super Lig strugglers Kayserispor, his arrival sparked a revival that saw only four defeats in 17 League matches and lifted the side into a mid-table finish. It was this continued success that attracted the attention of Hull City owner Acun Ilicali, who in June 2025 paid a release clause to prise Jakirovic from Kayserispor, much to the anger of the Turkish side’s supporter base.
Details
Nationality: Bosnia & Herzegovina (and Croatia)
Date/Place of Birth: 23 December 1976, Mostar, Yugoslavia
Appointed by Hull City: 11 June 2025; 48 years, 170 days old
Left Hull City: Incumbent
Tenure: Incumbent
Clubs Managed
NK Sesvete (2017-2018), HNK Gorica (2018-2020), NK Maribor (2020), Zrinjski Mostar (2020-2022), HNK Rijeka (2022-2023), Dinamo Zagreb (2023-2024), Kayserispor (2025), Hull City (2025-current)
Hull City Record
Managerial Record: Played 10, Won 3, Drawn 4, Lost 3, Goals For 17, Goals Against 19
Achievements: to follow