Boštjan Cesar

Boštjan Cesar

Cesar with Chievo in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Boštjan Cesar[1]
Date of birth	(1982-07-09) 9 July 1982 (age 42)
Place of birth	Ljubljana, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Maribor (head coach)
Youth career
	Olimpija
	Dinamo Zagreb
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2005	Dinamo Zagreb	58	(3)
2001	→ Croatia Sesvete (loan)	7	(0)
2005	→ Olimpija (loan)	9	(0)
2005–2009	Marseille	24	(0)
2007–2008	→ West Bromwich Albion (loan)	20	(1)
2009–2010	Grenoble	40	(1)
2010–2020	Chievo	236	(7)
Total		394	(12)
International career
1997	Slovenia U15	2	(0)
1998	Slovenia U16	4	(0)
2000–2001	Slovenia U20	3	(0)
2001–2003	Slovenia U21	15	(1)
2003	Slovenia B	1	(0)
2003–2018	Slovenia	101	(10)
Managerial career
2021	Slovenia U18
2021	Slovenia U19
2022–2024	Slovenia (assistant)
2024–	Maribor
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Boštjan Cesar (born 9 July 1982) is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Since October 2024, he is the manager of Slovenian PrvaLiga club Maribor.

Besides Slovenia, Cesar played in Croatia, France, England and Italy.^[2] With 101 international appearances, he is Slovenia's most capped player of all time,^[3] and represented them at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Cesar joined Marseille from Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb in 2005 for a reported transfer fee of 2.5€ million.^[4] He then joined West Bromwich Albion on a season-long loan in August 2007, with an option for a permanent move.^[5] Cesar made his debut for West Bromwich in a 1–0 League Cup victory over Bournemouth on 14 August 2007.^[6] His league debut came more than two months later when West Bromwich defeated Blackpool 2–1 on 23 October 2007.^[7] He scored his only West Bromwich goal on 2 February 2008 in a 2–1 win against Burnley.^[8] Overall, he made 24 appearances for West Bromwich in all competitions, but returned to Marseille at the end of the season after the manager Tony Mowbray decided against pursuing a permanent deal for the player.^[9]

Cesar left Marseille in January 2009 and joined fellow French club Grenoble.^[10] He scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance in a 1–1 draw against Bordeaux. In May 2010, Chievo announced the capture of his signature on a free transfer; he officially joined the club on 1 July.^[11] On 31 May 2011, he signed a new two-year contract.^[12]

International career

Cesar made his international debut on 12 February 2003, playing the entirety of a 5–1 friendly defeat to Switzerland in Nova Gorica.^[13] On 9 October 2004, he scored his first international goal to defeat Italy in a World Cup qualifier; it was Italy's only defeat as they went on to win the World Cup.

On 15 November 2014, he made his 81st appearance for the national team, surpassing Zlatko Zahovič as their most capped player of all time.

On 8 October 2017, Cesar became the first Slovenian player to earn 100 national team caps, in a 2–2 home draw with Scotland in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. He was sent off at the end of the match.^[14] Cesar retired from the national team on 27 March 2018 in a home match against Belarus.^[15]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19]

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Dinamo Zagreb	2000–01	1. HNL	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	2001–02		18	0	0	0	4	0	22	0
	2002–03		11	0	0	0	2	0	13	0
	2003–04		11	0	0	0	5	0	16	0
	2004–05		11	1	0	0	0	0	11	1
	2005–06		5	2	0	0	0	0	5	2
	Total		58	3	0	0	11	0	69	3
Croatia Sesvete (loan)	2000–01	Druga HNL	7	0	0	0	—		7	0
Olimpija (loan)	2004–05	1. SNL	9	0	1	0	—		10	0
Marseille	2005–06	Ligue 1	17	0	1[a]	0	6	1	24	1
	2006–07		7	0	3[b]	0	5	0	15	0
	Total		24	0	4	0	11	1	39	1
West Bromwich (loan)	2007–08	Championship	20	1	4[c]	0	—		24	1
Grenoble	2008–09	Ligue 1	15	1	2[a]	0	—		17	1
	2009–10		25	0	0	0	—		25	0
	Total		40	1	2	0	0	0	42	1
Chievo	2010–11	Serie A	32	3	0	0	—		32	3
	2011–12		29	0	2	1	—		31	1
	2012–13		22	0	1	0	—		23	0
	2013–14		32	1	2	0	—		34	1
	2014–15		28	0	1	0	—		29	0
	2015–16		31	1	1	0	—		32	1
	2016–17		17	1	3	1	—		20	2
	2017–18		10	0	0	0	—		10	0
	2018–19		14	1	1	0	—		15	1
	2019–20	Serie B	21	0	0	0	—		21	0
	Total		236	7	11	2	0	0	247	9
Career total			394	12	22	2	22	1	438	15

1. Appearance(s) in Coupe de France
2. One appearance in Coupe de France and two appearances in Coupe de la Ligue
3. Two appearances in FA Cup and two appearances in EFL Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Slovenia	2003	3	0
	2004	6	1
	2005	7	0
	2006	4	1
	2007	6	0
	2008	6	0
	2009	9	0
	2010	11	2
	2011	8	0
	2012	6	1
	2013	8	1
	2014	7	0
	2015	8	3
	2016	6	1
	2017	5	0
	2018	1	0
Total		101	10

Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cesar goal.

List of international goals scored by Boštjan Cesar

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	9 October 2004	Arena Petrol, Celje, Slovenia	Italy	1–0	1–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	11 October 2006	Dinamo Stadium, Minsk, Belarus	Belarus	1–1	2–4	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
3	3 March 2010	Ljudski vrt, Maribor, Slovenia	Qatar	2–0	4–1	Friendly
4	17 November 2010	Bonifika, Koper, Slovenia	Georgia	1–0	1–2	Friendly
5	15 August 2012	Stožice, Ljubljana, Slovenia	Romania	1–0	4–3	Friendly
6	7 June 2013	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Iceland	3–2	4–2	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	5 September 2015	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	2–0	2–3	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
8	12 October 2015	San Marino Stadium, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
9	17 November 2015	Ljudski vrt, Maribor, Slovenia	Ukraine	1–0	1–1	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
10	4 September 2016	LFF Stadium, Vilnius, Lithuania	Lithuania	2–2	2–2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb

• Prva HNL: 2002–03;^[16] runner-up: 2000–01, 2003–04^[16]
• Croatian Cup: 2001–02, 2003–04^[16]
• Croatian Supercup: 2002, 2003

Marseille

• Ligue 1: runner-up 2006–07^[20]
• Coupe de France: runner-up 2006, 2007^[16]

West Bromwich Albion

• Football League Championship: 2007–08^[16]

See also

• List of footballers with 100 or more caps

Notes

1. "FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010: List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 4 June 2010. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
2. Plestenjak, Rok (26 September 2020). "Poglejmo Hrvate! Slovenci bi morali biti bolj prepotentni." (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
3. "Appearances for Slovenia National Team". RSSSF. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
4. "Ime koga ali česa je Boštjan Cesar". maribor24.si (in Slovenian). 14 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
5. "Baggies sign Marseille defender". BBC Sport. 2 August 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
6. "WBA vs Bournemouth". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 14 August 2007. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2007.
7. "WBA vs Blackpool". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 23 October 2007. Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2007.
8. "WBA vs Burnley". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 2 February 2008. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
9. "Boss won't pursue Cesar deal". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
10. "Cesar iz Marseilla v Grenoble". 24ur.com (in Slovenian). 12 January 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
11. "CESAR BOSTJAN: UN ALTRO NAZIONALE SLOVENO PER IL CHIEVO". AC ChievoVerona (in Italian). 21 May 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2010. ^{[dead link‍]}
12. "Cesar e Chievo insieme fino al 2013". AC ChievoVerona (in Italian). 31 May 2011. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
13. "Slovenia 1–5 Switzerland". eu-football.info. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
14. Plestenjak, Rok (8 October 2017). "Kaj car ... Kaj kralj ... Cesar!" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
15. M. L.; A. V. (27 March 2018). "Ob slovesu Cesarja trpek poraz Slovenije z Belorusijo" (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
16. "Slovenia – B. Cesar – Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
17. "Boštjan Cesar". national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
18. "Boštjan Cesar". hrnogomet.com (in Croatian). Retrieved 9 July 2020.
19. "Boštjan Cesar – Nogometna zveza Slovenije". nzs.si (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
20. "Bostjan Cesar – footballdatabase.eu". footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 9 July 2020.

External links

• Player profile at Olympique de Marseille
• Player profile at NZS (in Slovene)
• Player profile at LFP
• Boštjan Cesar at Soccerway.com
• Boštjan Cesar at WorldFootball.net
• Boštjan Cesar at Soccerbase.com
• Boštjan Cesar at National-Football-Teams.com
• Boštjan Cesar at kicker (in German)