Luka Peruzović

Croatian football player and manager (born 1952)

Luka Peruzović (born 26 February 1952) is a Croatian football coach and former player, who managed Belgium's Standard Liège, Charleroi and Anderlecht and Qatar's Al Sadd. He also holds a Belgian citizenship.

As a player, Peruzović played over 400 games for Hajduk Split in all competitions before following his former coach Tomislav Ivić to Anderlecht in 1980. Playing as centre back or sweeper he helped them reach the 1982 European Cup semi final and won the 1983 UEFA Cup Final against Benfica.

Peruzović made his debut for Yugoslavia in a July 1974 World Cup Finals match against Sweden, coming on as a 78th minute substitute for Miroslav Pavlović, and earned a total of 18 caps, scoring no goals. He also played for his country in the 1976 European championship. His final international was a December 1983 European championship qualification match against Bulgaria.

After retiring he worked as a coach in Croatia, Belgium, France and Turkey. In December 2004, he was appointed manager of Al Ittihad, but lasted only three months until March 2005. He then coached Bahrain national team in their 2006 World Cup qualifiers, losing out the playoff to Trinidad and Tobago. He was dismissed by the Bahraini FA in February 2006. He was named as the manager of Tunisian team CS Sfax in 2009, before returning to Belgium to take charge of Charleroi, his fourth stint at the club.

Peruzović is the younger brother of WWE wrestler Josip Peruzović, better known as Nikolai Volkoff, who died on 29 July 2018, after having been in a hospital in Maryland where he had been treated for dehydration and other issues.