Football legend Miroslav Ciro Blazevic has died

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Legendary Croatian football coach Miroslav Kyro Blazevic died this morning after a long battle with cancer, two days before his 88th birthday. Blazevic earned the nickname "the coach of all coaches" after leading the Croatian national team to a historic third-place finish at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Blazevic was first diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and the disease returned four years ago.

Born in the Bosnian town of Travnik in 1935, Blazevic had a modest playing career, which ended at the age of 31 in Switzerland. He started coaching there in 1968, which took him to about 30 clubs and national teams on several continents.

He returned to Yugoslav football in 1979 and achieved his first great success when he won the championship title with Dinamo Zagreb in 1982, when the legend of Kyro and his white scarf began.

The breakup of Yugoslavia met him in France, and at the invitation of the first Croatian president, Franjo Tuđman, he returned home in 1992 to take over Dinamo again, now under the name Croatia.

He became the coach of Croatia in 1994. After the European Championship in 1996, Blazevic reached the zenith of his career at the World Cup in France, where Croatia created a sensation by reaching the semi-finals and winning third place. He retired from Croatia's bench in 2000, after a poor start to the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.

Then he led the selections of Iran and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and worked as a coach until 2015.

In 2005, he ran for the presidential elections in Croatia, but won only 0,8% of the votes, and the following year he did not achieve a significant result in the parliamentary elections either, but despite that, he remained one of the most popular figures in Croatia and the region. 

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Legendary Croatian football coach Miroslav Kyro Blazevic died this morning after a long battle with cancer, two days before his 88th birthday. Blazevic earned the nickname "the coach of all coaches" after leading the Croatian national team to a historic third-place finish at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Blazevic was first diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and the disease returned four years ago.

Born in the Bosnian town of Travnik in 1935, Blazevic had a modest playing career, which ended at the age of 31 in Switzerland. He started coaching there in 1968, which took him to about 30 clubs and national teams on several continents.

He returned to Yugoslav football in 1979 and achieved his first great success when he won the championship title with Dinamo Zagreb in 1982, when the legend of Kyro and his white scarf began.

The breakup of Yugoslavia met him in France, and at the invitation of the first Croatian president, Franjo Tuđman, he returned home in 1992 to take over Dinamo again, now under the name Croatia.

He became the coach of Croatia in 1994. After the European Championship in 1996, Blazevic reached the zenith of his career at the World Cup in France, where Croatia created a sensation by reaching the semi-finals and winning third place. He retired from Croatia's bench in 2000, after a poor start to the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.

Then he led the selections of Iran and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and worked as a coach until 2015.

In 2005, he ran for the presidential elections in Croatia, but won only 0,8% of the votes, and the following year he did not achieve a significant result in the parliamentary elections either, but despite that, he remained one of the most popular figures in Croatia and the region. 

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