Last Updated: February 08, 2023, 16:40 IST
Miroslav Ciro Blazevic celebrates after Croatia’s third place end at 1998 World Cup (AP Photo)
Miroslav Ciro Blazevic, who guided Croatia to a third place end on the 1998 FIFA World Cup handed away aged 87
Miroslav “Ciro” Blazevic, who coached the Croatian national soccer team to the semifinals of the 1998 World Cup in France, has died. He was 87.
His family and friends said Blazevic died at a Zagreb hospital on Wednesday after a long battle with prostate cancer.
The “coach of all coaches,” as he was identified in his dwelling nation of Croatia, led 4 nationwide groups and a number of other home and overseas golf equipment throughout his profession.
Born right into a Catholic household in Travnik, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Blazevic was a mean participant. His profitable teaching profession began within the Nineteen Sixties, in the identical place the place his taking part in days ended — at Swiss membership Vevey.
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Blazevic additionally led the nationwide groups of Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Switzerland. Among the golf equipment he coached have been Dinamo Zagreb, Nantes, Grasshopper Zurich, Sion, Shanghai Shenhua, PAOK Thessaloniki and Hajduk Split.
The pinnacle of his teaching profession got here on the 1998 World Cup in France when Croatia completed in third place just a few years after rising from the bloody breakup of former Yugoslavia.
“The entire nation was proud, however I used to be unhappy,” Blazevic said recently about the 1998 success. “If I had the experience I have now, we would have been the world champions.”
He received over the crowds in France by carrying a policeman’s hat on the bench in honor of a French officer who was put in a coma by German hooligans early on within the event.
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A colourful public persona, Blazevic — who was identified within the Nineteen Eighties for all the time carrying a white scarf when in public — additionally had a stint in politics by unsuccessfully working for Croatia’s presidency in a 2005 election when he received lower than 1% of the vote.
“Some individuals from excessive politics have persuaded me to run for the presidency as they’re positive I might win,” Blazevic, a fierce right-wing sympathizer, said at the time.
“As for the 10,000 signatures necessary to endorse my bid, I could collect them simply by turning up at any soccer game and ask the fans to sign their names.”
He was to rejoice his 88th birthday on Thursday.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated news company feed)
Source: www.news18.com
