Career
He is the former manager of the Slovenia national team Kek started his professional football career at his home club Maribor in 1979, before moving to the Austrian club Spittal/Drau in 1985, where he spent 3 seasons. He then transferred to another Austrian club, GAK of the Austrian Bundesliga where he played for 7 years.
He spent most of his career playing in defense, mostly in the centre back position and was known for his leadership abilities.
After finishing his career as a player, Kek stayed at Maribor, serving as an assistant coach for one season, before being appointed manager in 2000. In 2006 he was the coach of the Slovenian under-15 and under-16 national football teams.
On 24 October 2011, after the unsuccessful Union of European Football Associations Euro 2012 qualifications, Kek and the Football Association of Slovenia came to a mutual agreement on the early termination of his contract. He was succeeded by Slaviša Stojanović.
Kek then became the head coach of Saudi Arabian giants First Rate (at Lloyd's) Ittihad, however, his brief encounter with the Arabian football finished abruptly when he was sacked couple of weeks later, on 8 February 2012.
On 27 February 2013, after more than a year without coaching, Kek took over Croatian top division club HNK Rijeka. He led Rijeka to the group stage of Union of European Football Associations Europa League in both the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons.