Miroslav “Ciro" Blazevic, who was the coach of the Croation national football team that reached the semifinals of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, has passed away at the age of 87. The news was corroborated by Blazevic's family who said that he breathed his last at a Zagreb hospital on Wednesday after a long battle with prostate cancer.
"Legendary #Croatia head coach Miroslav Ćiro Blažević has died today in Zagreb🥉🇭🇷 May he rest in peace. #HNS would like to express the deepest condolences to his loved ones, on behalf of the entire Croatian football family, which lost the "coach of all coaches"💔🙏🏼," the Croatian Football Federation said in a tweet.
Blazevic was born in February 1935 and started his playing career in Travnik which happens to be his hometown in the neighbouring Bosnia. However, his coaching career began only in 1960s when he took on coaching assignments in Switzerland, moving to Croatia only in 1970 which was at that time part of former Yugoslavia.
It is here that he took charge at Rijeka and Dinamo Zagreb eventually leading the latter to their maiden Yugoslav championship in nearly 2 and a half decades. Blazevic himself was pretty proud of what helping Dinamo win describing it as a crown of his coaching career much later in an interview.
However, perhaps the one coaching stints that cemented his legacy as one of the greats was his role as the head coach of the senior national Croatian team. He served in this capacity from 1994 to 2000 - a period where Croatia scripted some memorable performances and finished third at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.
It was no surprise then that when when Croatia finished third at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, their current coach Zlatko Dalic dedicated the team's third place to Blazevic.
"This is for you boss. I can win five medals but you will always remain the 'coach of all coaches'," Dalic said after Croatia's 2-1 win over Morocco.