Veljko Paunovic is the current manager of Serbia.
Veljko Paunovic (Strumica, 1977) made history at Oviedo in spectacular fashion. After being a player, the Balkan coach returned to lead it back to the first division 24 years later. With ten games remaining in the 2024-2025 season, he took charge of the Carbayón team and, after qualifying for the promotion playoffs, he achieved the dream of reaching the top division for a club that had suffered so many bad times in the past.
The coach instilled his winning character and ambition in a squad that knew how to put Paunovic’s methods into practice, competing at the highest level in moments of extreme tension despite the obstacles he encountered along the way. In this way, after winning the affection of the city and repaying the trust they had placed in him in a highly demanding situation, Veljko began the Oviedo project on his return to elite football in Spain.
But before achieving success in Asturias, Paunovic’s coaching career had already gone through some brilliant stages. After hanging up his boots in 2012 following a career that had taken him through Spanish, German, Russian and American football, he prepared to make the move to the dugout, and his start could not have been better. In the youth ranks of his country’s national team, he won the Under-20 World Cup in 2015 after beating Brazil in the final.
After propelling players of the calibre of Jovic, Maksimovic and Milinkovc Savic to stardom, it was time to pursue a career on the club bench, and he joined Chicago Fire, where he transformed the team’s approach and led the American franchise to the MLS playoffs for the first time in five years. His successes did not go unnoticed, and he was able to make the leap to English football. Reading came knocking on his door and, despite the difficult situation the British club was going through with various fines due to its financial situation, he kept the team at the top of the table and was named Championship Manager of the Month.
After making his mark in England, he crossed the Atlantic again to take over at Chivas de Guadalajara. He managed to get the team into the Liga MX title playoffs every season and came close to success by reaching the final in 2023. Finally, before moving to Spanish football, he managed Tigres, a team he also kept in the upper-middle part of the table.
Now, Paunovic has answered his country’s call to help secure qualification for the next World Cup. Ten years after winning the U-20 World Cup, Veljko returns home with the goal of inspiring a nation as the new head coach of Serbia.
Career as a coach
- 2012-2015. Serbia youth teams – Under-20 World Cup champion
- 2015-2019. Chicago Fire (USA)
- 2020-2022. Reading (England)
- 2022-2023. Chivas (Mex)
- 2024-2025. Tigres (Mex)
- 2025. Oviedo – Promotion to La Liga.
- 2025-present. Serbia National Team manager