Miroslav Blažević

Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević ( 9 February 1935 – 8 February 2023) was a Bosnian-Croatian professional football manager and player.

Blažević was born to a Bosnian Croat family in Travnik, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 9 February 1935.

However, his parents did not register his birth until the next day, resulting in his official birthday being listed as 10 February.

He was the youngest of eight children.

In his teens he trained skiing.

Blažević began his youth career in local team NK Travnik, after which he moved to Zagreb and joined Dinamo Zagreb.

His career as a player was, by his own admission, average; therefore, he began his coaching career at a relatively early age.

As a player, he played for Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva Zagreb, Rijeka, Sarajevo, and Sion.

A former right winger, his professional playing career spanned from 1954 to 1966, during which he played for Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva Zagreb, Sarajevo, Rijeka and Swiss clubs Sion and Moutier.

He ended his career at Moutier in 1966 after gaining promotion to LNA.

Blažević started as a coach where he ended his playing days in Switzerland.

He first led FC Vevey (1968–71) then his former team FC Sion (1971–76), FC Lausanne-Sport (1976–79) and finally Switzerland's national team (as interim coach for two games in 1976).

With Sion he won the Swiss Cup with club as a player and as manager in 1974.

Blažević returned to Yugoslavia in 1979 to coach Rijeka.

Rijeka finished tenth in the 1979–80 season.

Although not a very good league season the club got to the quarter-finals of 1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup where they lost to Juventus.

NK Rijeka's best European placement.

Blažević also lost the 1979–80 Balkans Cup final to Studențesc București.

Blažević took over Dinamo Zagreb on 11 December 1980, one of Yugoslavia's big four clubs (the other three being Hajduk Split, Red Star Belgrade and Partizan) in 1980.

After a mediocre first season, in which Dinamo finished fifth, Blažević became an instant club legend in the 1981–82, winning the first Yugoslav league title for the Zagreb outfit after a 24-year drought.

Next year, Dinamo won the Yugoslav Cup and led a long battle with Partizan and Hajduk Split in the league.

Partizan became 1983 champions and Blažević left Dinamo for the first time.

Blažević went back to Switzerland, winning the Swiss Championship with Grasshopper-Club Zurich in 1984.

He advanced to the second round of 1984–85 European Cup where he lost to Juventus.

After a less than expected second season Blažević left Grasshopper mid-season.

In 1985, Blažević was once again in Yugoslavia, this time as manager of Kosovo's KF Prishtina.

Under Blažević's leadership Prishtina achieved First Division status.

To this day he is noted as a club legend.

In the same year he became Dinamo Zagreb's coach for second time; during this period he failed to accomplish any significant results and therefore left again in 1988.

His next team was FC Nantes of France; Blažević was there until 1990.

After Nantes he spent a season in Greek club PAOK FC.

In the 1990s, with Croatia gaining independence, Blažević joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and became President Tuđman's admirer and close friend.

For the third time he became Dinamo (then named NK Croatia Zagreb) coach and president at the same time.

From 29 March 1993 to 23 February 1995 he was president of Dinamo Zagreb.

Blažević maintained a colourful public persona in Croatia, where he was reverently known as "trener svih trenera" (the "coach of all coaches").

He won the 1993 Croatian Championship and 1994 Croatian Cup, but then left his favorite club once more, citing his reasons for doing so as needing to focus on managing the Croatia national team.

Blažević was national team manager from 1994 on a part-time basis, but only a year later it became a full-time job as Croatia faced its first qualifying cycle for the European Championship.

As a manager, his most successful period was with the Croatia national team, which he led to the quarter-finals in the 1996 European Championship and won third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

He also managed the following national teams: Switzerland, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina and China Olympic.

Blažević also had successful spells at Vevey, Sion, Lausanne-Sport, Rijeka, Dinamo Zagreb, Grasshopper Zürich, Prishtina, Osijek, Varteks, Zagreb, Shanghai Shenhua and Sloboda Tuzla.