The king of Champions League qualification
He certainly hasn't left his mark on world football, nor has he even left his mark on the top five leagues. But in one respect, Red Star Belgrade coach Vladan Milojevic is unrivaled.
He wants to keep his clean sheet in Champions League qualification: Vladan Milojevic. IMAGO/MN Press Photo
Gurban Gurbanov, who has been in charge of Qarabag Agdam for 17 years, has by far the most Champions League qualifying matches as a coach. During this time, he has played 51 qualifying matches with the Azerbaijani club – and qualified for the Champions League for the only time to date in 2017/18. He's naturally back in action this year, with the first leg of the second round against Shelbourne FC in Ireland on Wednesday (8:45 p.m.).
Vladan Milojevic , however, has a very different record. He and Red Star Belgrade won the first leg of their match against Lincoln Red Imps in Gibraltar 1-0 on Tuesday and certainly hopes this will lay the foundation for another successful qualification campaign. The match in Gibraltar was the 55-year-old's 19th match in the Champions League qualification campaign.
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What's special about this is that Milojevic has qualified for the main round every time he's played. In 2018/19, he led Red Star Belgrade to the Champions League for the first time ever and repeated this feat the following year. After leaving Belgrade and then returning, he led the Serbian record champions back to the elite level last season.
Only Lobanovskyi and Wenger keep upAnd 2025/26? That remains to be seen. So far, however, Milojevic has a spotless record when it comes to qualifying. Besides him, there are only two other coaches who have played more than 14 qualifying matches and then qualified for the main round every time – and those are two true greats of world football: Ukrainian coaching legend Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who died in 2002 (16 qualifying matches), and none other than Arsene Wenger (14).
While there have been other big names like Alex Ferguson , Hector Cuper , and Erik ten Hag , who have a 100 percent record when it comes to successful Champions League qualification, the trio have played far fewer games in the competition. Ten Hag is the only one to have reached double figures, with ten appearances. Ferguson has eight, and Cuper six.
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