Soccer runs through Veljko Paunovic's veins, a passion inherited from his father, which made him overcome all the challenges he faced until he became a professional player and later a coach. During his professional career, the Red-and-White colors have been very present and we are pleased to present 46 facts about the life of the Rebaño's tactician on the occasion of his 46th birthday.
Veljko is the son of Blagoje Paunovic (rtd), a former defender who had an outstanding career with Partizan and played with Yugoslavia in the Eurocup Final in 1968.
2. In his formative years he walked up to 4 hours to attend a training session, because sometimes there was no gasoline for transportation in the former Yugoslavia.
Pauno' played as an attacker with the ability to play in different positions, as he could play as a midfielder, center forward or on both wings.
4. Veljko's footballing reference was the Dutch striker Marco Van Basten, who played for AC Milan in the late 80s and early 90s.
5. He made his debut as a professional player at the age of 16 with Partizan Belgrade.
6. After his first season in Serbian soccer he was signed by Atletico Madrid, who loaned him to their subsidiary in Marbella.
7. In his second year in the Colchoneros' youth Academy he coincided in Atletico Madrid B with Quinton Fortune, who has been his assistant coach at Reading and Guadalajara.
8. In the Spanish League he made his debut under Radomir Antic on January 5, 1997 in Atletico Madrid's 4-2 win at home to Extremadura.
9. Just a week after his official presentation with 'Atleti' he scored his first goal, as he scored the second goal in a 5-1 thrashing against Real Zaragoza.
10. In his third match in La Liga, he faced Fernando Hierro and Real Madrid, a duel that was tied 1-1 until 81', but ended with a 4-1 win in favor of the Merengues.
11. He was part of a historic campaign for Mallorca, which finished in third place in the standings in the 1998-1999 season. "Pauno" scored 5 goals in 24 games.
12. Malaga was the rival he scored the most goals in the Spanish League, scoring 5 goals, one with Real Oviedo and 4 with Getafe.
13. The dorsal number he used the most in his career was 12; he wore it with Atlético de Madrid, Tenerife, Almería and Partizán.
14. He made his debut with the Serbian National Team on February 13, 2002 in a 2-0 win against Mexico in Phoenix, when he came on at 70' for Slavisa Jokanovic.
15. The only goal he scored with his country's national team was in the 1-1 draw against Northern Ireland in Belfast. Pauno' opened the scoring at 7' with a left-footed shot, which sent the ball into the net between the goalkeeper's legs.
16. He also has a Spanish passport, a document that allowed him to play as a community player in Almeria and with which he added his second surname: Solarov.
17. In the 2002-2003 season he scored 18 goals with Tenerife in the Second Division, a record that allowed him to return to Atlético de Madrid, which exercised the repurchase option.
18. The first time he visited Mexico in his professional career he was on tour with Atlético de Madrid in August 2003. On that occasion he played in the match in which the Colchoneros defeated Monterrey 3-0 in the now defunct Tecnológico Stadium.
19. He also played for Hannover 96 (Germany) in 2005 and Rubin Kazan (Russia) in 2007.
20.After a semester with Partizan, Veljko announced his retirement as a player at Christmas 2008 when he declared: "I have decided to hang up my boots because in the first part of the season I have suffered from injuries and there is no reason to go on".
21. After 2 and a half years off the field, 'Pauno' signed on June 13, 2011 with the Philadelphia Union of the MLS to resume his playing career.
22. His first goal in MLS was against Chivas USA, after scoring the partial equalizer with a right-footed shot inside the area.
23. With Philadelphia Union he played 18 matches, 17 of them as a starter, accumulated 1,303 minutes, scored 3 goals and gave 3 assists.
24. After finishing his time as a player, he immediately began his coaching career with his country's Under 18 National Team in 2012.
25.Paunovic carried out a successful process in the youth categories of the Serbian National Team, which culminated with the conquest of the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 after defeating Brazil in the Final.
26. The title with Serbia had a very special dedication, "I want to dedicate this trophy to my father, who died six months ago. This is for him," he said.
27. In that championship, the team coached by Veljko defeated Mexico in the group stage by 2-0, which had in its lineup Víctor Guzmán and Erick Gutiérrez.
28. At the end of 2013 he was close to becoming coach of FK Vojvodina, but the contract did not materialize and he decided to continue his process in the lower categories of the Serbian National Team.
29. Radomir Antic (rtd) was the technical director who marked Veljko's career, as he took him from Partizan to Atletico Madrid, coached him at Real Oviedo and above all shared his experience as a coach to encourage him to follow that profession.
30. Another strategist who inspired Paunovic is an old acquaintance of the Mexican fans: 'Bora' Milutinovic, whom he knows because of the friendship he had with his father, as the former Mexico national team coach was Blagoje's teammate at Partizan. "He pushed me to become a professional," he often emphasizes.
31.Pauno' also recognizes Diego Simeone as someone who influenced him to become a technical director after sharing a room with 'Cholo' in the 'Aleti' training camps, as they used to discuss the training sessions.
32.After his time in Serbia's youth national teams, on November 24, 2015 he was announced as the new coach for Chicago Fire of the MLS, to lead a project that would lift the team from the bottom of the table.
33. In his presentation as Fire DT, the club's general manager, Nelson Rodríguez, stated, "We are fortunate to have signed our first choice". The same consideration was expressed by Fernando Hierro when announcing him as coach of the Rebaño: "He was my first choice during all the negotiations".
34. Veljko's best sporting year at the helm of the North American side was 2017, when he led them to the playoffs after being the third team with the most points that year, only behind Toronto FC and New York City.
35. In that same 2017, he was chosen as the coach to lead the MLS All-Star against Real Madrid, a duel that ended 1-1 in regular time. The Spanish team won the penalty shootout series 4-2.
36. In 2020, he was hired by Reading in English Championship and although at the beginning the club's fans did not trust him, he soon reversed the situation by putting the team in the fight for promotion to the Premier League for most of the campaign.
37. In October of that year, he was named Coach of the Month in the Championship after four wins in a row.
38. In his second season with Reading, he managed under adverse circumstances, as the League imposed sanctions on the club for not complying with the economic control that caused the departure of players, together with multiple departures due to injuries that further reduced his squad.
39. Veljko's first family history with Chivas took place on January 20, 1970 in the Mexico 1970 Pentagonal, when his father Blagoje (deceased) faced Partizan against the Rebaño Sagrado, a match that ended with a 2-1 victory for Belgrade.
40. He is the ninth European coach to coach Guadalajara; his predecessors from that continent were: Nemesio Tamayo and Xabier Azkargorta (Spain); William Reaside (Scotland), György Orth and Árpád Fekete (Hungary); Leo Beenhakker, Hans Westerhof and John van't Schip (Netherlands).
41. He was the second coach in the history of Chivas to reach a Final in his first tournament in charge of the team. Before him, Alberto Guerra did it 40 years ago (1982-1983 season).
42. In his first season in charge of Chivas, he equaled 2 records that the club had had in short tournaments: the most points scored (34) and the most wins (10).
43. Fernando Beltrán calls him "Caño" because his style of play reminds him of the Argentinean Ariel Ibagaza, his former teammate at Mallorca and Atlético de Madrid.
44. On matchday 1 of the Apertura 2023, he debuted his first 3 players as coach of the Rebaño: Yael Sandoval, Jesús Brígido and Raúl Martínez.
45. In Liga MX, he has a 63 percent effectiveness rate. In fact, he has won 15 of 28 games under his management.
46. He is the father of four children: Tatjana, Stefan, Lorena and Petar.
Čivasa iz Gvadalahare
