Zagreb – The Croatian football mourns Miroslav Blazevic, who died at the age of 87. Especially at the 1998 World Cup in France, he attracted attention with his team.
Miroslav Blazevic († 87) led the “Vatreni” to third place in 1998 in their first World Cup participation since independence. © PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP
The coach died in a Zagreb hospital at the age of 87 after a long and serious illness, Hina news agency reported.
The Croatian association also confirmed the death of the “coach of all coaches” in a statement. He died two days before his 88th birthday.
Blazevic had led the Croatian national team, which he coached from 1994 to 2000, to third place in their first World Cup participation in France in 1998 and also beat Germany 3-0 in the quarter-finals.
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Born in the small Bosnian town of Travnik, Blazevic was considered an old-school football coach who consistently followed his own line and placed great value on discipline.
In addition to the Croatian, he coached the national teams of Switzerland, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In addition, he looked after club teams in several countries, such as the FC Nantes in France or PAOK Saloniki from Greece.