Boštjan Cesar (born 9 July 1982) is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Since January 2026, he has been the manager of the Slovenia national team.
Besides Slovenia, Cesar played in Croatia, France, England and Italy. With 101 international appearances, he is Slovenia's most capped player of all time, and represented them at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
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Club career
Cesar joined Marseille from Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb in 2005 for a reported transfer fee of 2.5€ million. He then joined West Bromwich Albion on a season-long loan in August 2007, with an option for a permanent move. Cesar made his debut for West Bromwich in a 1–0 League Cup victory over Bournemouth on 14 August 2007. His league debut came more than two months later when West Bromwich defeated Blackpool 2–1 on 23 October 2007. He scored his only West Bromwich goal on 2 February 2008 in a 2–1 win against Burnley. Overall, he made 24 appearances for West Bromwich in all competitions, but returned to Marseille at the end of the season after the manager Tony Mowbray decided against pursuing a permanent deal for the player.
Cesar left Marseille in January 2009 and joined fellow French club Grenoble. He scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance in a 1–1 draw against Bordeaux. In May 2010, Chievo announced the capture of his signature on a free transfer; he officially joined the club on 1 July. On 31 May 2011, he signed a new two-year contract.
International career
Cesar made his international debut on 12 February 2003, playing the entirety of a 5–1 friendly defeat to Switzerland in Nova Gorica. On 9 October 2004, he scored his first international goal to defeat Italy in a World Cup qualifier; it was Italy's only defeat as they went on to win the World Cup.
On 15 November 2014, he made his 81st appearance for the national team, surpassing Zlatko Zahovič as their most capped player of all time.
On 8 October 2017, Cesar became the first Slovenian player to earn 100 national team caps, in a 2–2 home draw with Scotland in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. He was sent off at the end of the match. Cesar retired from the national team on 27 March 2018 in a home match against Belarus.
Career statistics
International
Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cesar goal.
Honours
Dinamo Zagreb
Prva HNL: 2002–03; runner-up: 2000–01, 2003–04
Croatian Cup: 2001–02, 2003–04
Croatian Supercup: 2002, 2003
Marseille
Ligue 1 runner-up: 2006–07
Coupe de France runner-up: 2006, 2007
West Bromwich Albion
Football League Championship: 2007–08