Boris Smiljanić (born 28 September 1976) is a Swiss football coach and a former player of Croatian descent who played in defence. He last coached Swiss Challenge League side FC Aarau.
Club career
Grasshoppers
Smiljanić played his children's football with local club FC Neuenhof. During the summer of 1990 he moved to the youth department of FC Wettingen and in summer 1993 to the youth department of Grasshopper Club Zürich playing for their U-21 team. Towards the end of the 1994–95 league season he was called up into their first team for trials. He played in friendly games and had two appearances in the domestic league, as the team won the championship. Head coach Christian Gross then added Smiljanić perminantly into the first team squad and used him as a substitute after a number of injuries in the squad and the team won the championship for the second time in succession. From the 1996–97 Nationalliga A season Smiljanić played as regular starter. He was eventually made captain of the GC team and he made over 200 appearances for the club winning five championships.
During his time by GC, Smiljanić could not win the Swiss Cup. In 1995 they reached the final, but lost 4–2 against Sion. In 1999 they reached the final again, but this time lost 2–0 against Lausanne-Sport. In the 2001–02 season, GC had advanced to the final again. Here they played FC Basel. It came to extra time because the game had ended one goal a piece. In the 113th minute Basel's Scott Chipperfield played a high ball from the left, over goalie Fabrice Borer, which GC captain Smiljanic punched over the cross bar with his last effort, this because he assumed that Hervé Tum, who was positioned behind him, would nod the ball effortlessly into the goal. This opened the stage for the Basel captain, Murat Yakin ran-up and safely converted the penalty kick to win the final 2–1 and thus the Trophy.
Basel
In January 2003 Smiljanić signed for FC Basel. He joined Basel's first team during their 2002–03 season under head coach Christian Gross. His former manager by GC, Gross had remembered his no-nonsense defending techniques and bought him strengthen his Basel defence. After playing in seven test games. Smiljanić played his debut for his new team in the Swiss Cup away game as Basel won 3–0 against lower tier Yverdon-Sport on 22 February 2003. He played his domestic league debut for the club one week later in the away game in the Stade de la Maladière as Basel were defeated 3–1 by Xamax coming on as substitute. Basel advanced to the cup final and here they were matched against Xamax. Smiljanić scored his first goal for the team in the final, played in the St. Jakob-Park, as Basel won 6–0. Basel ended the league season as runners-up.
In their league season the team started well, winning their first 13 matches straight out. The first defeat came on matchday 24. Basel won the championship with 26 victories and seven draws, the team had suffered just three away defeats, and obtained 85 points. Smiljanić had 23 league appearances, scoring twice. However, in the cup they were eliminated in round three and in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup they reached only the second round.
As reigning Swiss champions, Basel entered 2004–05 UEFA Champions League in the third qualifying round, however, drawn against Internazionale, who won the qualifier 5–2 on aggregate. Basel subsequently dropped into the 2004–05 UEFA Cup. Beating Terek Grozny in the first round, Basel qualified for the group stage. A 1–1 draw away against Schalke 04 was followed by a home defeat against Hearts. But with two victories, 2–1 away against Ferencvárosi TC and 1–0 at home against Feyenoord, saw Basel rise to third place in the group table and advance to the knock-out stage. In the round of 32 in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, a home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 17 February 2005, Basel played a goalless draw against Lille OSC, but the return leg were defeated 2–0 and were eliminated. Smiljanić played eight of ten European matches He had 24 league appearances and won the championship for the second season running.