The legendary Croatian coach, Miroslav “Ciro” Blazevic, who won the bronze medal at the World Cup in 1998 with the checkered selection, died on Wednesday, two days before his 88th birthday, announced the Croatian Football Federation. “The football family today lost the coach of all coaches,” the nickname by which Blazevic was known across the Balkans, the Croatian FA tweeted.
He died after a long battle against cancer diagnosed in 2011. Born in Bosnia on February 10, 1935, Blazevic had led Croatia at the age of 63 to the semi-finals of the World Cup played in France, whose selection had beaten the Croats ( 2-1) in the semi-finals, before winning a final against Brazil.
During the World Cup, he made himself famous by wearing a kepi to pay tribute to French policeman Daniel Nivel, seriously injured by German hooligans before the Germany-Croatia quarter-final. This medal, won by beating the Netherlands (2-1), represented a great victory for the very young independent country since 1991, won only three years after a war (1991-95) which had left around 20,000 dead.
After a career as a player in the former Yugoslavia and Switzerland, “Ciro” began coaching in Switzerland in 1968, notably at FC Sion, the team with which he won the Swiss Cup in 1974. His first major victory had been the title of champion of Yugoslavia won with Dinamo Zagreb in 1982, which had made him very popular.
He has also trained in France (Nantes), Greece, China, Iran, Slovenia and Bosnia. He was coach of Switzerland, Iran, Bosnia and the Chinese Olympic football team.
Miroslav “Ciro” Blazevic, to whom Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic dedicated the 3rd place won at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was known above all for his ability to motivate, a coach “capable of completely changing the mentality of clubs in a short time” , according to the Croatian newspaper Vecernji List.