“I am rushing to get to St. Mary’s to watch the match between Southampton and Liverpool. I watched the first half-time of United-Arsenal, but I will not make it to the end because I have to go. I watch all matches I can and I simply do not miss any opportunity to watch the Premiership live,” said Ejdin Đonlić.
This Norwegian citizen of BiH origin found himself in the center of attention last week, after the Daily Mail published an article about him. At the age of 22, Đonlić is the youngest coach in Europe to obtain the UEFA “A” coaching license and is one of the most talented European young coaches.
Ejdin was born in 1994 in Gjøvik, Norway, where his parents found a refuge from war terrors in BiH. Precisely in this town the “little Mourinho” embarked on his football career.
“As a kid, I played a lot of football. I loved it, but around the age of 14 I realized that football is so much more than just the game. Coaches, referees, tactics… That is when I decided to start doing coaching,” said Ejdin, who became the youngest owner of UEFA “C” coaching license at the age of 15.
“Norwegians were delighted with me, they told me that I have potential and enabled me to prepare and obtain UEFA “B” license. I am endlessly thankful for that. I obtained that license when I was 18 years old, also as the youngest in Europe,” said Đonlić, who did testing for “A” license in BiH.
Đonlić is currently a senior year student at football studies at the Solent University in Southampton and he is the best student in his generation.
Apart from theoretical classes, Đonlić assists the main coaches of university team, consisted of players from English club academies, and they compete in lower leagues. Although he is young enough to be a son to many of them, Ejdin is an equal member of the coaching staff and he gets the opportunities to present his tactical visions and later analyze the results.
Although he is still very young, Ejdin has already made his first coaching steps – the virtual ones.
“Of course, I play Football Manager whenever I have time. I love taking a lower league team and take them to the top. It is interesting how complex that game is and a very faithful representation of the coaching job at times. of course, there are still many other details which are a whole another story in real world,” said Ejdin.
