Quick Facts
Biography
Zvonko Varga (Serbian Cyrillic: Звонко Варга; born 27 November 1959) is a Serbian football manager and former player.
Club career
Varga made his senior team debut with Crvenka in the Yugoslav Second League, before moving to Partizan without his club's permission. He then spent one year with lower league club Rad, before being able to debut for Partizan. Varga played eight seasons (1978–1986) with the Black-Whites, making 199 appearances and scoring 58 goals in the Yugoslav First League. He also won two national championship titles (1983 and 1986).
In 1986, Varga moved abroad to Belgium, spending the rest of his playing career at RFC Liège. He was the Belgian league's second highest scorer in the 1988–89 season with 22 goals, one less than Eddie Krncevic. Varga scored all six goals in his team's 6–1 home league win over Beerschot on 13 May 1989. He won the Belgian Cup in the following 1989–90 season.
International career
Varga represented Yugoslavia at the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. He played all three games, as the team exited the competition after group stage.
Managerial career
Varga started his managerial career at OFK Beograd in 2000. He was also manager of Rad for several months, before being named assistant manager to Lothar Matthäus at Partizan. After Matthäus left the club, Varga left his position and became manager of Sartid Smederevo in January 2004. He resigned from the club after only four games. In June 2004, Varga returned to Partizan to be assistant manager to Vladimir Vermezović. He was co-manager of Teleoptik alongside Blagoje Paunović between 2005 and 2006, before returning to Partizan as an assistant.
In the second part of 2007, Varga was assistant manager to Dimitri Davidovic at Qatar SC. He then returned to Serbia, taking charge of Teleoptik in early 2008. Varga led them to promotion to the Serbian First League in 2009. He was released in January 2011. Varga again moved to the Middle East and joined Davidovic at Saudi Arabian outfit Ittihad in the second part of 2011. He returned to Partizan in 2012, being an assistant in the following three years.
Statistics
| Club | Season | League | Continental | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Crvenka | 1976–77 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Partizan | 1978–79 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| 1979–80 | 30 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 9 | |
| 1980–81 | 29 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 9 | |
| 1981–82 | 34 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 8 | |
| 1982–83 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 3 | |
| 1983–84 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1984–85 | 30 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 12 | |
| 1985–86 | 32 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 36 | 17 | |
| Total | 199 | 58 | 10 | 1 | 209 | 59 | |
| Career total | 200 | 58 | 10 | 1 | 210 | 59 | |
Honours
- Partizan
- Yugoslav First League: 1982–83, 1985–86
- RFC Liège
- Belgian Cup: 1989–90