A central commemorative event in tribute to legendary coach Miroslav Ciro Blazevic, who passed away on 8 February, was held in Zagreb's Vatroslav Lisinski hall on Wednesday, bringing together top state officials, FIFA and UEFA officials, and prominent people from all walks of life.
All the speakers at the commemoration praised Blazevic for his charisma and great successes in his long career as a football manager.
The delegation of the Croatian Football Association (HNS) was led by HNS president Marijan Kustic, a former long-standing secretary-general, Zorislav Srebric, and the current national team manager Zlatko Dalic, who recently dedicated the Croatian national team’s World Cup bronze to Blazevic.
All the clubs which cooperated with Blazevic sent their delegations to the commemorative event.
One of the speakers at the commemoration was BiH actor and director Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, who highlighted Blazevic’s relationship to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country in which he was born in 1935. The city of Travnik, central Bosnia, the birthplace of the legendary football coach, is likely to name a street after him or erect a monument in his honour. In mid-2022, Travnik declared Ciro, who often commented with pride on his birthplace, an honorary citizen.
The last speaker at today’s commemorative event was Ciro’s son Miroslav Blazevic Jr., who said that “Bosnia endowed him with a life instinct, Switzerland with precision, and France with virtuosity, while Croatia was above everything else for him, it was sacred to him.”
The government on Tuesday decided that Wednesday, 15 February, when Blazevic will be buried, would be observed as a day of national mourning, with state flags at public institutions displayed today at half-mast.
In attendance at today’s commemoration were President Zoran Milanovic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic, and other local officials.
Blazevic’s funeral is scheduled for 2 pm at Mirogoj Cemetery.
Blazevic, who led the national team to the bronze medal at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, passed away on 8 February, two days before his 88th birthday.
His coaching career started with Swiss club Vevey in 1963 and his last coaching job was with NK Zadar in 2015. He was in charge of more than 20 clubs in his career; Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Nantes, PAOK and Grasshopper-Club are some of the renowned names on a long list, UEFA reported.
His biggest success in club football came when he won Yugoslavia’s domestic title with Dinamo Zagreb in 1982 – the club’s first title in 24 years.
His career also included spells in charge of national teams – Croatia, Switzerland, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina and China’s Under-23 team.
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