Igor Tudor was born in Split, on April 16 1978.
He started his career with local team Hajduk Split at 17 in 1995. He played 9 league games for the "Hajduci" before being sent on loan to Trogir in the second flight in January. He played 5 league games with 1 goal.
In 1996 he was back at Hajduk Split and stayed for two seasons, playing more regularly. He played another 49 league games with 5 goals and 8 games in the UEFA Cup with 1 goal.
In 1998 he signed for Juventus where he stayed seven seasons. He won the Scudetto twice (2002, 2003, under Marcello Lippi) and the Supercoppa twice (2002, 2003). He played a total of 174 games for Juventus with 21 goals.
In January 2005 he signed for Siena in Serie A. The Tuscans finished 14th and 15th. Tudor played 39 league games with 2 goals. His managers were Gigi Simoni and then Luigi De Canio. His teammates included Lazio connections Francesco Colonnese (2000-04), Enrico Chiesa (2002-03) and Paolo Negro (1993-2005).
In 2006-07 he went back to Juventus but never played due to injuries.
In 2007-08 he returned home to Hajduk Split and played another 8 league games with 1 goal. He then retired at 30.
Tudor also won 55 caps for Croatia with 3 goals and obtained a 3rd place at the France 1998 World Cup.
As a player he was a defender but later also played in midfield. He started as full-back or centre-back but then evolved into a defensive midfielder. He was tough but could also play the ball and had a good vision of the game. Due to his physicality (1.93) he was sometimes even used as centre-forward in times of need late in games. His career was affected by several injuries which earned him the nickname "gigante di cristallo" (crystal giant) which led to an early retirement.
After retiring he then started a coaching career. His first job was assistant manager at Hajduk Split in 2009-10. He then coached the U19's for two seasons.
In 2012-13 he was assistant manager to Igor Štimac with the Croatian national team.
In 2013-14 he started his club career. He was with Hajduk Split (From Apr 2013, 4th place, 2013-14, 3rd and 2014-Feb 2015, resigned), PAOK in Greece (2015-Mar 2016, sacked), Karabükspor in Turkey (2016-Feb 17, resigned), Galatasaray (From Feb 2017, 4th, then sacked in December), Udinese (From Apr 2018, 15th, Mar 2019, 12th and Aug 2019, sacked in November), Hajduk Split again (From Nov 2019-20, 5th), Verona (From Sept 2021-22, 9th), Olympique Marseille (2022-23, 3rd).
In March 2024 he was called by Lazio to replace Maurizio Sarri who had resigned. His first game was a tough one against his former team Juventus but Lazio deservedly won 1-0 with a 93rd minute Adam Marušić winner. Lazio then lost the derby 0-1 before winning 4 and drawing 3. The Biancocelesti also lost the Coppa Italia semi-final against Juve, 3-4 on aggregate.
The results on the field were not bad but Tudor did not ingratiate himself with the fans, still mourning Sarri's departure, or the local media. He came in immediately wanting to stamp down his authority, seemed to lack humility and had little empathy with the players. One example was not giving departing Luís Alberto even a minute of playing time in the last match. Luís Alberto had been at Lazio six seasons and was a fan favourite. Tudor obviously did not see eye to eye with owner Claudio Lotito about future strategies either, the fact is he resigned at the end of the season.
In his defence he was called in to get results not win hearts and Lazio finished 7th, qualifying for the Europa League.
Tudor is currently waiting for another coaching opportunity.
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